5/10/2020 Grantha script - Wikipedia

Grantha script
The Grantha script (Tamil: ரந்த எ த் ,
romanized: Granta eḻuttu; Malayalam: ഗ ലിപി;) is Grantha
a South Indian script, found particularly in Tamil Nadu
and Kerala, that emerged between 5th- and 6th-century
CE . This early Grantha script was used to write
Sanskrit texts, inscriptions on copper plates and stones
of Hindu temples and monasteries.[2][3] It was also
used for classical Manipravalam – a language that is a
blend of Sanskrit and Tamil.[4] From it evolved the
middle and transitional Grantha script by about the
8th-century that remained in use till about the 14th-
century. A more evolved modern Grantha script and a
variant Tulu-Malayalam script has been in use since the
14th-century into the modern era, to write classical
texts in Sanskrit and Dravidian languages.[2][3] It is
also used to chant hymns and in traditional Vedic 7th-century inscription in Grantha script at the
schools.[5] Mandagapattu Hindu temple

Type Abugida
In its Pallava script origins, the Grantha script is
related to the Tamil and the Vatteluttu scripts.[3] The Languages Sanskrit, Tamil
modern Malayalam script of Kerala is a direct Time 6th Century CE -present
descendant of the Grantha script.[3] The Southeast period
Asian and Indonesian scripts such as Thai and Parent Brahmi script
Javanese respectively, as well as South Asian Tigalari systems
and Sinhala scripts are also derived or closely related to Tamil Brahmi
the Grantha through the early Pallava script.[6][7][8]
Pallava script
The Tamil purist movement of the colonial-era sought
Grantha
to purge Grantha script and use the Tamil script
exclusively. According to Kailasapathy, this was a part Child Cham script
of Tamil nationalism and resembled regional ethnic systems Tigalari script
chauvinism.[9] Malayalam script
Sinhala script
Dhives akuru
Contents Thai script[1]

History Sister Kolezhuthu, Tamil script

systems
Types of Grantha
Direction Left-to-right
Pallava Grantha
Western Grantha ISO 15924 Gran, 343

Medieval Grantha Unicode Grantha

alias
Modern Grantha
Unicode U+11300–U+1137F (https://www.unic
Modern Grantha typeface range ode.org/charts/PDF/U11300.pdf)
Vowels
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Consonants
Consonant clusters
Numerals
Text samples
Comparison with other South Indian scripts
Vowel signs
Consonant signs
Unicode
Unification with Tamil
Notes
References
See also
External links

History
In Sanskrit, grantha is literally 'a knot'.[10] It is a word that was used for books, and the script used to
write them. This stems from the practice of binding inscribed palm leaves using a length of thread held
by knots. Grantha was widely used to write Sanskrit in the Tamil-speaking parts of South Asia from
about the 5th-century CE into the modern times.[2][3]

The Grantha script was also historically used for writing

Manipravalam, a blend of Tamil and Sanskrit which was used in the
exegesis of Manipravalam texts. This evolved into a fairly complex
writing system which required that Tamil words be written in the
Tamil script and Sanskrit words be written in the Grantha script. By
the 15th century, this had evolved to the point that both scripts
A Chera era Grantha inscription. would be used within the same word – if the root was derived from
Sanskrit it would be written in the Grantha script, but any Tamil
suffixes which were added to it would be written using the Tamil
script. This system of writing went out of use when Manipravalam declined in popularity, but it was
customary to use the same convention in printed editions of texts originally written in Manipravalam
until the middle of the 20th century.

In modern times, the Grantha script is used in religious contexts by Tamil-speaking Hindus. For
example, they use the script to write a child's name for the first time during the naming ceremony, for
the Sanskrit portion of traditional wedding cards, and for announcements of a person's last rites. It is
also used in many religious almanacs to print traditional formulaic summaries of the coming year.

Types of Grantha
Grantha script may be classified as follows:[11]

Pallava Grantha

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An archaic and
ornamental variety of
Grantha is sometimes
referred to as Pallava
Grantha. They were
used by the Pallava in
some inscriptions.
Mamallapuram
Tiruchirapalli Rock 8th century Velvikudi grant inscription in the Grantha script (Sanskrit language).
Cut Cave
Inscriptions,
Kailasantha Inscription come under this type.

The Pallavas also produced a distinctive script separate from the

Grantha family.

Western Grantha

The Tigalari-Malayalam script is called Western Grantha (west

Tamil Nadu, Kerala). This type of Grantha was used by Cholas
approximately from 650 CE to 950 CE. Inscription of later Pallavas
and Pandiyan Nedunchezhiyan are also examples of this variety of
Grantha Script.

A variety of this form is called the Tigalari-Malayalam script,

traceable from the 8th or 9th century CE.[12] It later split into two
distinct scripts – Tigalari and Malayalam.

Medieval Grantha Pratyāhāra Sūtras in Grantha Script

Inscriptions of the Imperial Thanjavur Cholas are an example for

Medieval Grantha. This variety was in vogue from 950 CE to 1250 CE.

Modern Grantha

Grantha in the present form descended from later Pandyas and the Vijayanagara rulers. Two varieties
are found in modern era Grantha texts: the square form used by Hindus, and the round form used by
Jains. The Modern form of Grantha is very similar to Malayalam script and the Modern Tamil Script.

Modern Grantha typeface

The Grantha script has evolved over time. The modern Grantha is illustrated below and shares
similarities with the Modern Tamil Script.[13]

Vowels

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Consonants

As with other Abugida scripts Grantha consonant signs have the inherent vowel /a/. Its absence is
marked with Virāma:

Each letter below includes the inherent vowel:

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For other vowels diacritics are used:

Sometimes ligatures of consonants with vowel diacritics may be found, e.g.:

There are also a few special consonant forms with Virāma:

Consonant clusters

Grantha has two ways of representing consonant clusters. Sometimes, consonants in a cluster may form
ligatures.

Ligatures are normally preferred whenever they exist. If no ligatures exist, "stacked" forms of consonants
are written, just as in Kannada and Telugu, with the lowest member of the stack being the only "live"
consonant and the other members all being vowel-less. Note that ligatures may be used as members of
stacks also.

Special forms:

⟨ya⟩ when final in a cluster, and ⟨ra⟩ when non-initial become and respectively. These are
often called "ya-phalaa" and "ra-vattu" in other Indic scripts.

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⟨ra⟩ as initial component of a cluster becomes (called Reph as in other Indic scripts) and is shifted
to the end of the cluster but placed before any "ya-phalaa".

Numerals

Below is an image of a palm leaf manuscript with Sanskrit written in Grantha script:

Text samples

Kālidāsa's Kumārasambhavam:

A manuscript page

A Vedic text's palm leaf manuscript (Samaveda) in

Grantha script

Transliterated into Latin (ISO 15919),

astyuttarasyāṁ diśi devatātmā himālayo nāma nagādhirājaḥ.

pūrvāparau toyanidhī vagāhya sthitaḥ pr̥thivyā iva mānadaṇḍaḥ.

Transliterated into Devanāgarī script,

अ ु र ां िदिश दे वता ा िहमालयो नाम नगािधराजः।

पूवापरौ तोयिनधी वगा थतः पृिथ ा इव मानद ः॥

Comparison with other South Indian scripts

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Vowel signs

Grantha script vowel comparison with Malayalam, Tamil, Sinhala]:

Note: As in Devanāgarī ⟨e⟩ and ⟨o⟩ in Grantha stand for [eː] and [oː]. Originally also Malayāḷam and
Tamiḻ scripts did not distinguish long and short ⟨e⟩ and ⟨o⟩, though both languages have the phonemes
/e/ /eː/ and /o/ /oː/. The addition of extra signs for /eː/ and /oː/ is attributed to the Italian missionary
Constanzo Beschi (1680–1774), who is also known as Vīramāmunivar.

Consonant signs

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The letters ழ ற ன and the corresponding sounds occur only in Dravidian languages.

Another table that compares the consonants ka , kha, ga , gha, ṅa with other Southern Indic scripts such
as Grantha, Tigalari, Malayalam, Kannada and Sinhala.

Unicode

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Grantha script was added to the Unicode Standard in June 2014 with the release of version 7.0. The
Unicode block for Grantha is U+11300–U+1137F:

Grantha[1][2]
Official Unicode Consortium code chart (https://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U11300.pdf) (PDF)

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A B C D E F

U+1130x

U+1131x

U+1132x

U+1133x

U+1134x

U+1135x

U+1136x

U+1137x

Notes

1.^ As of Unicode version 13.0

2.^ Grey areas indicate non-assigned code points

Unification with Tamil

Some proposed to unify Grantha and Tamil;[14][15] however, the proposal triggered discontent by
some.[16][17] Considering the sensitivity involved, it was determined that the two scripts should not be
unified, except for the numerals.[18]

Notes
1. Grantha (https://www.omniglot.com/writing/grantha.htm), Omniglot (2014)
2. Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica (1998). Grantha alphabet (Alternative title: Grantha script) (http
s://www.britannica.com/topic/Grantha-alphabet). Encyclopaedia Britannica.
3. Richard Salomon (1998). Indian Epigraphy: A Guide to the Study of Inscriptions in Sanskrit, Prakrit,
and the other Indo-Aryan Languages (https://books.google.com/books?id=XYrG07qQDxkC). Oxford
University Press. pp. 40–42. ISBN 978-0-19-535666-3.
4. Giovanni Ciotti; Hang Lin (2016). Tracing Manuscripts in Time and Space through Paratexts (https://
books.google.com/books?id=-ezCDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA62). Walter De Gruyter. pp. 62–63. ISBN 978-
3-11-047901-0.
5. Singh, Upinder (2008-01-01). A History of Ancient and Early Medieval India: From the Stone Age to
the 12th Century (https://books.google.com/books?id=H3lUIIYxWkEC). Pearson Education India.
ISBN 9788131711200.

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6. J. G. de Casparis (1975). Indonesian Palaeography: A History of Writing in Indonesia from the

Beginnings to C. A.D. 1500 (https://books.google.com/books?id=cLUfAAAAIAAJ). BRILL Academic.
pp. 12–17. ISBN 90-04-04172-9.
7. Patricia Herbert; Anthony Crothers Milner (1989). South-East Asia: Languages and Literatures : a
Select Guide (https://books.google.com/books?id=-EqbeRzdDrsC&pg=PA127). University of Hawaii
Press. pp. 127–129. ISBN 978-0-8248-1267-6.
8. Pierre-Yves Manguin; A. Mani; Geoff Wade (2011). Early Interactions Between South and Southeast
Asia: Reflections on Cross-cultural Exchange (https://books.google.com/books?id=FuCYBgAAQBAJ
&pg=PA306). Institute of Southeast Asian Studies. pp. 283–285, 306–309. ISBN 978-981-4311-16-8.
9. K. Kailasapathy (1979), The Tamil Purist Movement: A Re-evaluation (https://www.jstor.org/pss/3516
775), Social Scientist, Vol. 7, No. 10, pp. 23-27
10. MACDONNELL, ARTHUR. A HISTORY OF SANSKRIT LITERATURE. 1. LONDON: MOTILAL
BANARASIDASS, 1900. 15. Print.
11. "EPIGRAPHY – Inscriptions in Grantha Script" (https://web.archive.org/web/20100111183842/http://w
ww.tnarch.gov.in/epi/ins3.htm). Tnarch.gov.in. Archived from the original (http://www.tnarch.gov.in/ep
i/ins3.htm) on 2010-01-11. Retrieved 2012-03-11.
12. "Tulu-Malayalam script (writing system) – Britannica Online Encyclopedia" (https://www.britannica.co
m/topic/Grantha-alphabet). Britannica.com. Retrieved 2012-03-11.
13. Grantha Alphabet (https://www.omniglot.com/writing/grantha.htm), Omniglot (2017), The Online
Encyclopedia of Writing Systems and Languages
14. Sharma, Shriramana. (2010a). Proposal to encode characters for Extended Tamil. (https://www.unico
de.org/L2/L2010/10256r-extended-tamil.pdf)
15. Sharma, Shriramana. (2010b). Follow-up to Extended Tamil proposal L2/10-256R. (http://unicode.or
g/L2/L2010/10379--extended-tamil.pdf)
16. Eraiyarasan, B. (2011). Dr. B.Eraiyarasan’s comments on Tamil Unicode And Grantham proposals.
(https://unicode.org/L2/L2011/11055-tamil-grantha.pdf)
17. Nalankilli, Thanjai. (2018). Attempts to "Pollute" Tamil Unicode with Grantha Characters. Tamil
Tribune. Retrieved 13 May 2019 from http://www.tamiltribune.com/18/1201.html
18. Government of India. (2010). Unicode Standard for Grantha Script. (https://www.unicode.org/L2/L201
0/10409-grantha-meeting-sum.pdf)

References
Grünendahl, Reinhold. (2001). South Indian Scripts in Sanskrit Manuscripts And Prints (https://archiv
e.org/details/SouthIndianScriptsInSanskritManuscriptsAndPrintsGrunendalh/). Wiesbaden, Germany:
Harrassowitz Verlag. ISBN 3-447-04504-3
Venugopalan, K. (1983). A primer in Grantha characters (https://web.archive.org/web/200909070041
29/http://dsal.uchicago.edu/digbooks/dig_toc.html?BOOKID=PK419.V468_1983).

See also
Malayalam script
Pallava script
Tamil script
Tigalari script
Vatteluttu script

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External links
Quick facts about Grantha at AncientScripts.com (http://www.ancientscripts.com/grantha.html)
Article at Omniglot (http://www.omniglot.com/writing/grantha.htm)
Tamil Nadu Archaeological Department – Grantha Webpage (https://web.archive.org/web/201001111
83842/http://www.tnarch.gov.in/epi/ins3.htm)
Digitised Grantha Books (http://noolaham.org/wiki/index.php/%E0%AE%B5%E0%AE%B2%E0%A
F%88%E0%AE%B5%E0%AE%BE%E0%AE%9A%E0%AE%B2%E0%AF%8D:%E0%AE%95%E0%
AE%BF%E0%AE%B0%E0%AE%A8%E0%AF%8D%E0%AE%A4%E0%AE%AE%E0%AF%8D)
Online Tutorial for Grantha Script (http://www.virtualvinodh.com/grantha-lipitva)
Learn Grantha Basics (https://www.scribd.com/document/380382710/Prarambha-Grantha-English)

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