Talk:Siksa:Scripts

By Sri Chandrasekharendra Saraswati Swami

The evolution of writing systems is based upon symbols representing the phonetic units of speech. While most European languages employ the Roman script, the inscriptions of Emperor Aśoka are written in the ancient Brāhmī script. From Brāhmī developed the scripts of most Indian languages, including Devanāgarī, Tamil, and Grantha.

Brāhmī developed into two principal branches. Of these, the Pallava Grantha script became predominant in South India, and from it evolved the writing systems of most of the Dravidian languages.

The Telugu script possesses a distinctive feature. Whereas the letters of most Indian scripts are formed with clockwise strokes, several Telugu characters are written with anticlockwise loops. This characteristic is associated with Parāśakti, who is traditionally visualised to the left of Īśvara, and with the Vāmamārga tradition of worship. It is also held that certain letters employed in the Śrīcakra are written specifically in the Telugu script.

Andhra is presented as a region with a strong Śaiva tradition. Unlike many other parts of India, where children traditionally begin learning to write with the Aṣṭākṣarī mantra, children in Andhra Pradesh are first taught the Śiva Pañcākṣarī mantra. The region itself is identified with Triliṅga, deriving its name from the three important Śaiva centres situated at its boundaries: Kālahasti in the south, Śrīśailam in the west, and Koṭaliṅgakṣetra in the north.

This association is illustrated through a verse attributed to Appayya Dīkṣita:

Āndhratvam Āndhrabhāṣā cāpy Āndhradeśa svajanmabhūḥ

Tatrāpi Yajuṣi Śākhā na 'lpasya tapasaḥ phalam.

Although Appayya Dīkṣita belonged to the Sāmaveda tradition, he expresses regret that he was not born in Andhra as a Yajurvedin, considering such a birth to be the fruit of great austerity. This sentiment is linked to the prominence of the Śiva Pañcākṣarī mantra within the Yajurveda and to the close association of the Andhra region with Śaiva worship.

The evolution of writing systems is based upon symbols representing the phonetic units of speech. Among the ancient scripts of India, Brāhmī served as the common script from which almost all later Indian writing systems developed. Although the scripts used today are derived from Brāhmī, their forms have changed so extensively that their connection with the original script is not immediately apparent. Because of its antiquity and difficulty, anything that is obscure or difficult to decipher came to be described as Brāhmī lipi. In later usage this expression evolved into Brahma-lipi, referring to the inscrutable "writing of Brahmā" or destiny inscribed upon one's forehead.

Another ancient script is Kharoṣṭhī. The name is interpreted as deriving from khara-oṣṭha ("the lips of a donkey"), the script being characterised by projecting loops resembling the shape of a donkey's lips. Persian is also associated with this script.

Just as the Roman alphabet functions as a common script for many European languages, Brāhmī once served as the common script of India. In later periods, Devanāgarī, with regional variations, became the principal script for most North Indian languages. Each letter of these scripts represents a distinct phonetic unit rather than merely a written symbol. Thus, although Tamil possesses two letters representing na, these denote subtly different sounds rather than identical phonemes.

Differences of this kind are also found in other Indian languages. Telugu has a single na but, like Tamil, preserves two varieties of ra, although their pronunciation differs between the two languages. In Tamil, one variety produces a distinctive consonantal sound when doubled, whereas Telugu pronounces both consonants fully, as in the word kurram (horse), corresponding to the Tamil kuṭirai. Telugu also preserves additional phonetic distinctions, including the pronunciation of certain forms of ja as za and the pronunciation of sa in some words as tsa. Whereas the Devanāgarī and Grantha alphabets contain fifty letters, the Telugu script includes fifty-two letters through the addition of distinct characters in the ja and ca groups. The interchange of tha and dha is also noted in Telugu, including in some compositions attributed to Tyāgarāja.

These phonetic distinctions become particularly important in transliteration. The distinction between the English letters v and w is cited as an example. The sound represented by v is produced by bringing the upper teeth into contact with the lower lip, whereas w is articulated with rounded lips that do not touch the teeth. Accordingly, Sanskrit words such as Sarasvatī and Īśvara are regarded as more accurately transliterated with v rather than w.

Among languages, Sanskrit is presented as exemplifying the principle of phonetic spelling more consistently than English. English orthography frequently diverges from pronunciation, as illustrated by words such as wound, wind, put, cut, walk, and chalk, where spelling does not reliably indicate pronunciation. By contrast, Indian languages generally preserve a closer correspondence between written form and spoken sound.

Tamil, despite incorporating many words of Sanskrit origin, employs a comparatively smaller set of consonantal symbols. Where Sanskrit and many other Indian languages distinguish between four consonants within each consonantal group, Tamil often represents them with a single character. Consequently, Sanskrit words such as Gaṅgā, ghaṭa, and gada are written using the same basic consonantal symbol that also represents ka, resulting in forms such as Kaṅgā, kaṭam, and kaṭai in Tamil orthography. This reflects the characteristics of the Tamil script rather than an absence of phonetic distinctions in the source language.

The scripts of Indian languages are presented as deriving from Brāhmī, although their forms have changed considerably over time. Because the original Brāhmī script became difficult to decipher, anything obscure or unintelligible came to be described as Brāhmī lipi. In later usage this expression evolved into Brahma-lipi, signifying the inscrutable "writing of Brahmā" or the destiny believed to be inscribed upon a person's forehead. Another ancient script, Kharoṣṭhī, is associated with projecting loops in its characters and is explained as deriving from khara-oṣṭha ("the lips of a donkey"), while Persian is identified with this script.

Brāhmī is presented as the common script from which most Indian scripts evolved, just as the Roman alphabet serves many European languages today. Devanāgarī subsequently became the common script of most North Indian languages. Each script represents distinct phonetic units, and apparent similarities between letters often conceal subtle phonetic differences. Thus, although Tamil possesses two forms of na, they represent distinct sounds rather than identical phonemes. Telugu, while having only one na, distinguishes two varieties of ra, although these differ from their Tamil counterparts. Telugu also preserves additional phonetic distinctions, including sounds represented by extra letters in the ja and ca groups, giving the script fifty-two letters in contrast to the fifty letters of Devanāgarī and Grantha.

Tamil orthography differs from most other Indian scripts in employing a single consonantal symbol to represent several related sounds. Thus ka also serves for kha, ga, and gha, while ta represents both ta and da. Consequently, words with different meanings may be written identically despite differing in pronunciation. To accommodate Sanskrit sounds absent from the native Tamil alphabet, additional letters from the Grantha script, such as śa, ha, ja, and kṣa, came to be employed. The abandonment of these supplementary characters in modern prose is criticised on the grounds that it obscures pronunciation and creates ambiguity, since a spelling such as catakam may equally be read as śatakam, sādhakam, or jātakam.

Although the Tamil script adequately represents native Tamil vocabulary, difficulties arise in writing loanwords from Sanskrit and other languages containing consonants such as kha, ga, and gha. Unlike Sanskrit, Telugu, or Kannada, which preserve the full consonantal groups (varga-s), Tamil represents these distinctions through contextual pronunciation rather than separate letters.

The distinction between spelling and pronunciation is illustrated through the example of a non-Tamil speaker attempting to read the Tēvāram solely from its written form. Words such as magaḷōṭu, iṭam, and kaṭavuḷ were pronounced exactly as written, whereas conventional Tamil pronunciation transforms them into mahaḷōṭu, idam, and kaḍavuḷ. This example is presented to show that, despite its generally phonetic character, Tamil orthography does not always directly reflect pronunciation.

Tamil grammatical works such as the Tolkāppiyam and the Naṉṉūl prescribe systematic rules governing these phonetic changes. Consonants retain their primary sounds at the beginning of words but frequently undergo voicing or aspiration in medial and final positions. Thus, initial ka, ta, and pa generally preserve their original values, whereas within words they are commonly pronounced as ga or ha, da, and ba respectively. The consonant ca displays a further peculiarity: at the beginning of a word it is ordinarily pronounced as sa, whereas doubled forms such as cca retain their distinct pronunciation. Malayalam, although derived from Tamil, differs in preserving the pronunciation of initial ca while pronouncing certain medial doubled forms as ssa.

Sanskrit is presented as exhibiting the closest correspondence between spelling and pronunciation, subject to two recognised exceptions. The first concerns the visarga before pa, where the following consonant acquires an fa-like pronunciation in accordance with the rules of Śikṣā. The second concerns consonant clusters containing ha, as in Subrahmaṇya, Brahmā, and vahni, which are conventionally pronounced as Subramhaṇya, Bramhā, and vanhi. This change, however, is not regarded as universal, since words such as jihvā, guhya, and Prahlāda retain their standard pronunciation.