| Siddham script Siddhaṃ 𑖭𑖰𑖟𑖿𑖠𑖽 | |
|---|---|
 The wordSiddhaṃ in Siddhaṃ script | |
| Script type | |
Time period | c. late 6th century[1] –c. 1200 CE[note 1] |
| Direction | left-to-right  |
| Languages | Sanskrit |
| Related scripts | |
Parent systems | |
Child systems | |
Sister systems | Sharada,[2][3][5]Tibetan,[4]Kalinga,Bhaiksuki |
| ISO 15924 | |
| ISO 15924 | Sidd(302), Siddham, Siddhaṃ, Siddhamātṛkā |
| Unicode | |
Unicode alias | Siddham |
| U+11580–U+115FF Final Accepted Script Proposal | |
Siddhaṃ (also spelledSiddhāṃ) is an ancient Indian script used from the 6th to 13th century. It is a type of abugida, meaning each character represents a consonant with an attached vowel. Siddhaṃ comes from the Gupta script and later developed into other scripts like Nāgarī, Tirhuta, Odia, and Nepalese. It was widely used by Indian Buddhists, especially to write mantras, seed syllables, and dharanis. Today, it is still used in East Asian Buddhist traditions..[7][8]
The wordSiddhaṃ means "accomplished", "completed", or "perfected" in Sanskrit. The script got its name from the tradition of writingSiddhaṃ orSiddhaṃ astu (which means "may there be perfection") at the top of documents. It is also known by other names, such asbonji in Japanese, meaning "Brahma's characters" or "Sanskrit script", and in Chinese asXītán wénzi, which means "Siddhaṃ script".
TheSiddham script evolved from the Gupta Brahmi script in the late 6th century CE.[1]
Siddhaṃ is an abugida, not a full alphabet. This means each character usually shows a syllable made of a consonant and a vowel. If the vowel isn’t written, it is understood to be a short "a". Small marks (called diacritics) are used to show other vowels and sounds like theanusvara andvisarga. A special symbol called theVirama can be added to show that a consonant has no vowel, which sometimes happens at the end of Sanskrit words.
Siddhaṃ was usually written from left to right, top to bottom—like most Indian scripts. But sometimes, it was written like traditional Chinese, from top to bottom and right to left. In texts that had both Siddhaṃ and Japanese, the page was turned sideways to write Japanese top to bottom. Then it was turned back to write Siddhaṃ normally, left to right—so the Japanese letters looked sideways.
| Independent form | Romanized | As diacritic with | Independent form | Romanized | As diacritic with |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | a | |  | ā |  |
 | i |  |  | ī |  |
 | u |  |  | ū |  |
 | e |  |  | ai |  |
 | o |  |  | au |  |
 | aṃ |  |  | aḥ |  |
 ā |  i |  i |  ī |  ī |  u |  ū |  o |  au |  aṃ |
| Independent form | Romanized | As diacritic with | Independent form | Romanized | As diacritic with |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ṛ |  |  | ṝ | |
 | ḷ |  | ḹ |
| Stop | Approximant | Fricative | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tenuis | Aspirated | Voiced | Breathy voiced | Nasal | |||
| Glottal | 𑖮 h | ||||||
| Velar | 𑖎k | 𑖏 kh | 𑖐 g | 𑖑 gh | 𑖒 ṅ | ||
| Palatal | 𑖓 c | 𑖔 ch | 𑖕 j | 𑖖 jh | 𑖗 ñ | 𑖧 y | 𑖫 ś |
| Retroflex | 𑖘 ṭ | 𑖙 ṭh | 𑖚 ḍ | 𑖛 ḍh | 𑖜 ṇ | 𑖨 r | 𑖬 ṣ |
| Dental | 𑖝 t | 𑖞 th | 𑖟 d | 𑖠 dh | 𑖡 n | 𑖩 l | 𑖭 s |
| Bilabial | 𑖢 p | 𑖣 ph | 𑖤 b | 𑖥 bh | 𑖦 m | ||
| Labiodental | 𑖪 v | ||||||
In Japan, Siddhaṃ is still used in certain Buddhist traditions like Shingon and Tendai, as well as the Shugendō sect. The script is calledBonji (梵字) orshittan (悉曇) there. It's mainly used to write mantras and copy sutras. TheTaishō Tripiṭaka, a major collection of Buddhist texts, keeps the original Siddhaṃ script for most mantras. Korean Buddhists also use a modified Siddhaṃ to write sacred syllables (bījas).
Today, people even useBonji creatively, like printing Japanese slogans in Siddhaṃ on T-shirts. Over time, the Japanese style of Siddhaṃ has changed and looks a bit different from the ancient version.
Siddhaṃ is mostly still written by hand. Some computer fonts exist, but none can show all the joined letters (conjuncts) Siddhaṃ uses. For example, the Chinese Buddhist Electronic Texts Association made a Siddhaṃ font for their Taisho Tripiṭaka, but it’s missing many of the joined forms. Another tool, Mojikyo, has Siddhaṃ fonts too, but it breaks them into different parts—so you need several fonts just to write one document.
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