35-594: The Bengali–Assamese script , sometimes also known as Eastern Nagari , is an eastern Brahmic script , primarily used today for the Bengali and Assamese language spoken in eastern South Asia . It evolved from Gaudi script , also the common ancestor of the Odia and Trihuta scripts . It is commonly referred to as the Bengali script by Bengalis and the Assamese script by the Assamese , while in academic discourse it
70-550: A Brahmin pandit. At this period he began work on his translation of the Mahabharata , securing strong support for his activities from the governor of British India, Warren Hastings . Though he never completed the translation, portions were later published. The most important was his version of the Gita, published in 1785 as 'Bhagvat-geeta', or Dialogues of Krishna and Arjun (London: Nourse, 1785). In his preface Wilkins argued that
105-483: A separate Assamese transliteration table used by linguists specialising in Assamese phonology are included along with IPA transcription. There are three major modern alphabets in this script: Bengali , Assamese , and Tirhuta . Modern Assamese is very similar to modern Bengali. Assamese has at least one extra letter, ৱ , that Bengali does not. It also uses a separate letter for the sound 'ro' ৰ different from
140-439: A total of 11 vowel letters, used to represent the seven vowel sounds of Bengali and eight vowel sounds of Assamese, along with a number of vowel diphthongs. All of these vowel letters are used in both Assamese and Bengali. Some of the vowel letters have different sounds depending on the word, and a number of vowel distinctions preserved in the writing system are not pronounced as such in modern spoken Bengali or Assamese. For example,
175-521: Is inherent . Notes Notes The Brahmi script was already divided into regional variants at the time of the earliest surviving epigraphy around the 3rd century BC. Cursives of the Brahmi script began to diversify further from around the 5th century AD and continued to give rise to new scripts throughout the Middle Ages. The main division in antiquity was between northern and southern Brahmi . In
210-715: Is U+0980–U+09FF: The Tirhuta block is U+11480–U+114DF: Brahmic script The Brahmic scripts , also known as Indic scripts , are a family of abugida writing systems . They are used throughout the Indian subcontinent , Southeast Asia and parts of East Asia . They are descended from the Brahmi script of ancient India and are used by various languages in several language families in South , East and Southeast Asia : Indo-Aryan , Dravidian , Tibeto-Burman , Mongolic , Austroasiatic , Austronesian , and Tai . They were also
245-517: Is sometimes called Eastern-Nāgarī . Three of the 22 official languages of the Indian Republic — Bengali , Assamese , and Meitei —commonly use this script in writing; Bengali is also the official and national language of Bangladesh . Besides, Bengali and Assamese languages, it is also used to write Bishnupriya Manipuri , Meitei , Chakma , Santali and numerous other smaller languages spoken in eastern South Asia. Historically, it
280-531: Is the source of most native Indian scripts including the South Indian languages and Devanagari, the script associated with classical Sanskrit and other Indo-Aryan languages. The modern eastern scripts (Bengali-Assamese, Odia, and Maithili) became clearly differentiated around the 14th and 15th centuries from the predecessor Gaudi . While the scripts in Bengal, Assam and Mithila remained similar to each other
315-656: The Asiatic Society . He is notable as the first translator of the Bhagavad Gita into English. He is also the first person to introduce the term Hinduism which would refer to all the different mythologies and cultures of which were existing in India as one. He supervised Panchanan Karmakar to create one of the first Bengali typefaces. In 1788, Wilkins was elected a member of the Royal Society . He
350-535: The Bengali alphabet , অ্যা is used when the intended pronunciation would otherwise be ambiguous. Some other languages use a vowel অৗ to denote / ɯ / which is not found in either Bengali or Assamese; and though the vowel diacritic ( matra , ৗ ) is found in Tirhuta the vowel letter itself is absent. Assamese alphabet uses an additional "matra" (ʼ) that is used to represent the phonemes অʼ and এʼ . Vowel signs can be used in conjunction with consonants to modify
385-499: The Bengali language that ultimately prevailed. It first commissioned Willem Bolt, a Dutch adventurer, to create a grammar for Bengali, but he had to leave India after he ran into trouble with the company. The first significant book with Bengali typography was Halhed 's 1778 "A Grammar of the Bengal Language" which he compiled from a meagre set of six Bengali manuscripts. When Halhed turned to Warren Hastings for publishing, he
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#1732776839436420-644: The Kadamba , Pallava and Vatteluttu scripts, which in turn diversified into other scripts of South India and Southeast Asia. Brahmic scripts spread in a peaceful manner, Indianization , or the spread of Indian learning. The scripts spread naturally to Southeast Asia, at ports on trading routes. At these trading posts, ancient inscriptions have been found in Sanskrit, using scripts that originated in India. At first, inscriptions were made in Indian languages, but later
455-665: The "divine script". In 1808 he published his Grammar of the Sanskrita Language . King George IV gave him the badge of the Royal Guelphic Order and he was knighted in recognition of his services to Oriental scholarship in 1833. He died in London at the age of 86. In addition to his own translations and type designs, Wilkins published a new edition of John Richardson 's Persian and Arabic dictionary – A Vocabulary Persian, Arabic, and English; Abridged from
490-459: The /r/ sound, and an extra letter for the /w/ or /v/ sound. The Bengali–Assamese script was originally not associated with any particular regional language, but was prevalent as the main script in the eastern regions of Medieval India for Old- and Middle-Indo-Aryan including Sanskrit . All of these eastern Magadhan scripts are based on a system of characters historically related to, but distinct from, Devanagari. Brahmi, an ancient Indian syllabary,
525-612: The 7th or 8th century, include Nagari , Siddham and Sharada . The Siddhaṃ script was especially important in Buddhism , as many sutras were written in it. The art of Siddham calligraphy survives today in Japan . The tabular presentation and dictionary order of the modern kana system of Japanese writing is believed to be descended from the Indic scripts, most likely through the spread of Buddhism . Southern Brahmi evolved into
560-493: The Gita was written to encourage a form of monotheist "unitarianism" and to draw Hinduism away from the polytheism he ascribed to the Vedas . He had a hobby to learn about other religions. He was also a scholar of Islam. He stayed in India for 16 years (1770–1786). He also made visits to holy shrines of other religions to learn about their customs. During a visit to Varanasi, he made a stop at Patna, and visited Patna Sahib Gurudwara,
595-582: The Odia script developed a curved top in the 13th–14th century and became increasingly different. Old Maithili also used a script similar to the Bengali–Assamese script, and Maithili scholars (particularly of the older generation) still write Sanskrit in that script. According to d'Hubert (2014) manuscripts written in the 17th–18th century from eastern Bihar in the west to Manipur in the east followed related scripts, that could be classed largely into three on
630-472: The basis of the letter ro : (1) western - with the current Bengali ro ; (2) northern - with the current Assamese ro ; and (3) eastern - largely lost today with a ro not seen today. Modern Bengali–Assamese script saw further standardisations following the introduction of printing. Though there were early attempts to cut Bengali types it was the East India Company 's interest in propagating
665-600: The birthplace of Guru Gobind Singh Ji. He wrote his account of this visit titled as 'Sikhs and their College at Patna'. He writes about Dasam Granth there and notes in this article. Meanwhile, inscriptions of the 6th century CE in late Brahmi script were deciphered in 1785 by Charles Wilkins, who published an essentially correct translation of the Gopika Cave Inscription written by the Maukhari king Anantavarman. Wilkins seems to have relied essentially on
700-495: The inherent vowel " অ " ô . Since the inherent vowel is assumed and not written, most letters' names look identical to the letter itself (e.g. the name of the letter " ঘ " is itself ঘ ghô , not gh ). Some letters that have lost their distinctive pronunciation in Modern Assamese and Bengali are called by a more elaborate name. For example, since the consonant phoneme /n/ can be written ন , ণ , or ঞ (depending on
735-519: The letter used for that sound in Bengali র and the letter ক্ষ is not a conjunct as in Bengali, but a letter by itself. The alphabetical orders of the two alphabets also differ, in the position of the letter ক্ষ , for example. Languages like Meitei and Bishnupriya use a hybrid of the two alphabets, with the Bengali র and the Assamese ৱ . Tirhuta is more different and carries forward some forms used in medieval Assamese. The script presently has
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#1732776839436770-565: The northern group, the Gupta script was very influential, and in the southern group the Vatteluttu and Kadamba / Pallava scripts with the spread of Buddhism sent Brahmic scripts throughout Southeast Asia. As of Unicode version 16.0, the following Brahmic scripts have been encoded: Charles Wilkins Sir Charles Wilkins KH FRS (1749 – 13 May 1836) was an English typographer and Orientalist , and founding member of
805-469: The pronunciation of the consonant (here exemplified by ক , kô). When no vowel Diacritic symbol is written, then the vowel " অ " (ô) is the default inherited vowel for the consonant. To specifically denote the absence of a vowel, a hôsôntô (্) may be written underneath the consonant. The names of the consonant letters in Eastern Nagari are typically just the consonant's main pronunciation plus
840-447: The same column all derive from the same Brahmi glyph. Accordingly: The transliteration is indicated in ISO 15919 . Vowels are presented in their independent form on the left of each column, and in their corresponding dependent form (vowel sign) combined with the consonant k on the right. A glyph for ka is an independent consonant letter itself without any vowel sign, where the vowel a
875-455: The script has two symbols for the vowel sound [i] and two symbols for the vowel sound [u]. This redundancy stems from the time when this script was used to write Sanskrit, a language that had a short [i] and a long [iː] , and a short [u] and a long [uː] . These letters are preserved in the script with their traditional names of "short i" and "long i", etc., despite the fact that they are no longer pronounced differently in ordinary speech. In
910-399: The scripts were used to write the local Southeast Asian languages. Hereafter, local varieties of the scripts were developed. By the 8th century, the scripts had diverged and separated into regional scripts. Some characteristics, which are present in most but not all the scripts, are: Below are comparison charts of several of the major Indic scripts, organised on the principle that glyphs in
945-525: The similarities with later Brahmic scripts , such as the script of the Pala period and early forms of Devanagari . His translation of the Gita was itself soon translated into French (1787) and German (1802). It proved to be a major influence on Romantic literature and on European perception of Hindu philosophy. William Blake later celebrated the publication in his picture The Bramins , exhibited in 1809, which depicted Wilkins and Brahmin scholars working on
980-466: The source of the dictionary order ( gojūon ) of Japanese kana . Brahmic scripts descended from the Brahmi script . Brahmi is clearly attested from the 3rd century BCE during the reign of Ashoka , who used the script for imperial edicts . Northern Brahmi gave rise to the Gupta script during the Gupta period , which in turn diversified into a number of cursives during the medieval period . Notable examples of such medieval scripts, developed by
1015-426: The spelling of the particular word), these letters are not simply called nô ; instead, they are called "dental nô", "cerebral nô" and niô . Similarly, the phoneme /ʃ/ in Bengali and /x/ in Assamese can be written as "palatal shô/xhô" শ , "cerebral shô/xhô" ষ , or "dental sô/xô" স , depending on the word. There are two Unicode blocks for Bengali–Assamese script, called Bengali and Tirhuta. The Bengali block
1050-422: The translation. With Hastings' departure from India, Wilkins lost his main patron. He returned to England in 1786, where he married Elizabeth Keeble . In 1787 Wilkins followed the Gita with his translation of The Heetopades of Veeshnoo-Sarma, in a Series of Connected Fables, Interspersed with Moral, Prudential and Political Maxims (Bath: 1787). He was elected a fellow of the Royal Society in 1788. In 1800, he
1085-518: Was appointed as translator of Persian and Bengali to the Commissioner of Revenue and as superintendent of the company's press. He successfully translated a Royal inscription in Kutila characters, which were thitherto indecipherable. In 1784, Wilkins helped William Jones establish the Asiatic Society of Bengal . Wilkins moved to Benares (Varanasi), where he studied Sanskrit under Kalinatha,
Bengali–Assamese script - Misplaced Pages Continue
1120-646: Was born at Frome in Somerset in 1749. He trained as a printer. In 1770, he went to India as a printer and writer in the East India Company 's service. His facility with language allowed him to quickly learn Persian and Bengali . He created with his own hands the first type for printing Bengali. He published the first typeset book in the language, earning himself the name "the Caxton of India". He also designed type for publications of books in Persian. In 1781, he
1155-556: Was invited to take up the post of the first director of the India House Library, which became over time the world-famous 'India Office Library' (now British Library – Oriental Collections). In 1801 he became librarian to the East India Company, He was named examiner at Haileybury when a college was established there in 1805. During these years he devoted himself to the creation of a font for Devanagari,
1190-524: Was referred to Charles Wilkins , the type-founder at the Company press at Hoogly. Learned in Sanskrit and Persian, Wilkins singlehandedly cut the most complete set. He was assisted by the Bengali blacksmith, Panchanan Karmakar, who is often erroneously credited as the father of the Bengali type. In this and other articles on Misplaced Pages dealing with the Assamese and Bengali languages, a Romanization scheme used by linguists specialising in Bengali phonology and
1225-424: Was used to write various Old and Middle Indo-Aryan languages, and, like many other Brahmic scripts, is still used for writing Sanskrit . Other languages, such as Bodo , Karbi , Maithili and Mising were once written in this script. The two major alphabets in this script – Assamese and Bengali – are virtually identical, except for two characters — Assamese differs from Bengali in one letter for
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