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41-516: As a scholarly article from 2022 has demonstrated, referring to the script as "Khojki" is a relatively new phenomenon, coined by the Russian scholar Wladimir Ivanow. This neologism began to replace the original terms used by Ismailis such as Sindhi and (when necessary to distinguish it from other forms of Sindhi script) Khwajah Sindhi. By this, they did not necessarily mean the Sindhi language, but rather

82-549: A "living script" access to this corpus can provide unique insights into the ways in which the Ismaili tradition grew and adapted in this specific cultural context, as well as offering insights into how this community envisioned and constructed their own history and identity. As is explained by Michel Boivin, for the contemporary Khoja community, because the gināns are at the core of the Khoja religious heritage, "they quickly became

123-523: A combination of colon-like marks and double danda-like marks, and other Latin punctuation is also present. Abbreviation marks are represented by a small circle to the side, as is found in Modi and in Goykanadi . Verse numbering is indicated by an overline and digits and number forms typically use those found throughout North India in the region. Some additional letters and forms have been found, are detailed in

164-506: A crucial stake in the process of identity construction." Asani argues that "in the Ismaili case the adoption of the Khojkī script, a ‘local’ script, was probably part of the attempt to make religious literature more accessible by recording it in a script with which the local population had the greatest familiarity." In reflecting upon the larger history of the script and the literary tradition Asani also posits several other reasons as to why Khojkī

205-525: A family of scripts classified as landā or ‘clipped’ alphabets primarily employed as commercial and mercantile scripts by various Hindu communities of Sind and Punjab. It is one of the two Landā scripts used for liturgy, the other being the Gurmukhī alphabet , which is associated with Sikhism . According to the Nizari Ismaili tradition Pīr Ṣadr al-Dīn, the 15th-century dā’ī (preacher), invented

246-410: A quasi-shorthand form of Devanagari. The consonants fall into three broad categories: 1) Those that always retain their isolated form and attach their dependent vowel forms in a way common to most Indic scripts; 2) Those that take on a "contextual" form and change their form only in the presence of a dependent vowel immediately after, in which case those vowel forms are attached to the contextual form of

287-462: A subjoined ra to the bottom right of a letter, and in joining at the end of other syllables, it is seen with a curved head. Following dependent vowel signs like -aa and punctuation marks like dandas, the ra also joins underneath, and any additional vowel marks are written directly on top of the subjoined ra . Modi also has an empty circle that indicates abbreviations, which also may have been borrowed by Goykanadi , used for writing Konkani , which

328-433: A very limited vowel system, lack of separation between words, inconsistent orthography, together with redundant and ambiguous characters. However, it is important to note that despite the apparent deficiencies of the script this did not mean that there were not already widespread local literary traditions, but rather that they existed primarily in oral forms. Over time solutions to some of these major issues were introduced into

369-593: Is a script used to write the Marathi language , which is the primary language spoken in the state of Maharashtra , India . There are multiple theories concerning its origin. The Modi script was used alongside the Devanagari script to write Marathi until the 20th century when the Balbodh style of the Devanagari script was promoted as the standard writing system for Marathi. The name "Modi " may be derived from

410-630: Is also found in addition. Most consonants are written using the virama pattern, as is found in the Saurashtra script or in the Tamil script , but some are written with a reduced consonant form on the second consonant in the cluster, typically with ra and ya. Gemination is indicated with the Arabic shadda, while nasalization is indicated with an anusvara that is reminiscent of Devanagari in position but of Telugu , Kannada , or Malayalam in shape. The nukta

451-427: Is closely related to Marathi . The head stroke in Modi is unlike Devanagari in that it is typically written before the letters are, in order to produce a "ruled page" for writing Modi in lines. Thus, there are no word boundaries that can be visibly seen, since the head stroke does not break between words. The Modi script was frequently used as a shorthand script for swift writing in business and administration. Modi

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492-472: Is composed of three dots, similar to the three dots found in modifying historically Arabic letters in the Persian script, and it is added to certain letters to form Arabic sounds. They can sometimes be ambiguous, with the nukta over the same letter sometimes mapping to multiple Arabic letters, as in ja or as in sa . Punctuation exists for marking word boundaries using colon-like marks, section boundaries using

533-568: Is similar to the existing Marathi (KaGaPa Phonetic) layout, but uses Modi's dedicated Unicode block for typing. Most documents in Modi are handwritten. The oldest document in the Modi script is from 1389 and is preserved at the Bhārat Itihās Sanshodhan Mandal (BISM) in Pune. The majority of documents and correspondence from before Shivaji Raje Bhonsle's times are written in the Modi script. The Modi alphabet (U+11600–U+1165F)

574-459: Is special, as it can take different visual positions as the first consonant in a conjunct cluster depending on whether it is palatalized or not. As the second consonant in a cluster, however, it functions almost identically as in Devanagari. Alternative forms of the letter ra are also used to make multisyllabic clusters involving it. This is seen in kara , tara , sara , and a few others as

615-514: The Marathi verb moḍaṇe ( Marathi : मोडणे), which means "to bend or break". Modi is believed to be derived from broken Devanagari characters, which lends support to that particular etymology. Hemāḍpant was a minister during the reign of Mahadeva (ruled 1261–1271) and the initial years of the reign of Rāmachandra (ruled 1271 to 1309) of the Yadava Dynasty . Hemāḍpant created the Modi script. The Modi script already existed in

656-464: The "lack of uniformity in the script in different geographical areas." Additionally, efforts made by the Ismaili Imamate institution to standardize rituals and shift away from the more "Indic" elements that became part of religious, cultural, and linguistic identity of Khoja communities also played a significant role in the shift away from using the Khojkī script. Even though Khojkī is no longer

697-583: The 12th century. The Yādava Era style, or yādavakālīn (यादवकालीन्) , emerged as a distinct style in the 13th century during the Yādava Dynasty . The Bahamanī Era style, or bahamanīkālīn (बहमनीकालीन्) , appeared in the 14th–16th centuries during the years of the Bahmani Sultanate . During the rule of Shivaji , the Shivaji style, or shivakālīn (शिवकालीन्) , which was during the 17th century,

738-503: The 13th century; it was refined and introduced as an official script for Marathi by Hemāḍpant. Hemāḍpant brought the Modi script to India from Sri Lanka. Bāḷājī Avajī Chitnis was the secretary of state to the Maratha king Shivaji Maharaj (ruled 1642–1680). There are various styles of the Modi script associated with a particular era. Many changes occurred in each era The proto-Modi, or ādyakālīn (आद्यकालीन्) style appeared in

779-645: The Chitnisi style of the Modi script developed. In the Peshwa Era , or peshvekālīn (पेशवेकालीन्) , various Modi styles proliferated during the time of the Maratha Empire and lasted until 1818. The distinct styles of Modi used during this period were Chitnisi, Bilavalkari, Mahadevapanti, and Ranadi. Even though all of these were quite popular, Chitnisi was the most prominent and frequently used script for Modi writing. The use of Modi has diminished since

820-666: The Common Indic Number Forms Unicode block (U+A830–U+U+A83F): Landa scripts Too Many Requests If you report this error to the Wikimedia System Administrators, please include the details below. Request from 172.68.168.226 via cp1108 cp1108, Varnish XID 222512258 Upstream caches: cp1108 int Error: 429, Too Many Requests at Thu, 28 Nov 2024 08:02:43 GMT Modi script Modi ( Marathi : मोडी , Mōḍī , Marathi pronunciation: [moːɖiː] )

861-464: The Khojkī script entered a new stage of its development in the early 20th century under the auspice of Lāljī Devrājī, who compiled, edited, and published a range of materials in Khojkī through his Khoja Sindhi Printing Press in Bombay. Despite these efforts to utilize various new printing technologies, Dr. Asani reflects that "ironically, the introduction of printing may have also sounded the deathknell for

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902-462: The Khojkī script.  While it is now firmly established through epigraphic evidence that the script predates the arrival of the dā’ī in the form of the Lohānākī or Lārī script, scholars argue that it is very likely that Pīr Ṣadr al-Dīn did in fact play a pivotal role in the evolution, refinement, and the more widespread use of the script. Dr. Ali Asani, a leading scholar of Ismaili literature and one of

943-505: The Unicode Proposal, and are being researched. Over time some of the characters represented different sounds, which makes it difficult to read certain texts with the historical phonological values as compared to those with the modern phonological values known to most modern readers of published Ismaili literature. This is particularly true of the implosives, aspirants, and normal forms of ba, da, and ja , which shifted to render

984-432: The behaviours of these characters in certain circumstances, such as consonant-vowel combinations and consonant conjuncts, which are standard features of Modi orthography. The Modi script has 46 distinctive letters, of which 36 are consonants and 10 vowels. The Modi script has several characteristics that facilitate writing, minimising having to lift the pen from the paper for dipping in ink while moving from one character to

1025-474: The common people. Traditionally, diphthong vowels were written as a combination of vowel forms, and there were multiple forms of writing some of them. This is also true of the virama. There are also contextual variants of consonant-vowel combinations for some vowels, as is found in the Modi script . For conjuncts, there are a few 'inherent' conjuncts found in most Indic scripts, such as ksa, jna , and tra , and dra

1066-528: The consonant in a uniform way as done with the consonants in Category 1 and with most other Indic alphabets; and 3) Those that form ligatures in the presence of vowel following the consonants. The ligatures are generally determined by the shape of the consonant and the presence of a loop on the right. Regarding conjuncts, as in Devanagari, ksha and tra have special conjuncts, while other consonants typically occupy half forms or contextual forms. The letter ra

1107-601: The implosive letter as a normal letter phonologically, the normal letter as an aspirant letter phonologically, and rendered the aspirant letter unnecessary. The implosive for ja began to represent za . Khojki script was added to the Unicode Standard in June, 2014 with the release of version 7.0. The Unicode block for Khojki is U+11200–U+1124F: Number forms and unit marks used in Khojki documents are located in

1148-745: The independence of India. Now the Balbodh style of Devanagari is the primary script used to write Marathi. However, some linguists in Pune have recently begun trying to revive the script. The Modi script derives from the Nāgari family of scripts and is a modification of the Balbodh style of the Devanagari script intended for continuous writing. Although Modi is based upon Devanagari, it differs considerably from it in terms of letter forms, rendering behaviours, and orthography. The shapes of some consonants, vowels, and vowel signs are similar. The differences are visible in

1189-519: The neologism ‘Khojki.’ However, many scholars writing in English and other Western languages dropped the traditional term ‘Sindhi’ was adopting the invented term ‘Khojki.’ The script was employed primarily to record Ismaili religious and devotional literature; most notably in the form of poetry called gināns (a term derived from the Sanskrit jnāna meaning contemplative knowledge). Khojkī belongs to

1230-426: The next. Some characters are "broken" versions of their Devanagari counterparts, and many characters are more circular in shape. These characteristics make Modi a sort of cursive style of writing Marathi. The cursive nature of the script also allowed scribes to easily make multiple copies of a document if required. Numerous modifications are made to the Modi script in writing as "shortcuts", reflecting its history as

1271-407: The script may have also served to confine religious literature within the community—this precaution being necessary to avoid persecution from outsiders not in agreement with the community’s doctrines and practices. In this respect, Khojkī may have served the same purpose as the secret languages, such as the so-called Balabailān language, used by Muslim mystics to hide their more esoteric thoughts from

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1312-576: The script utilized by their community, known as the Khwajahs or Khojas. To avoid confusion, the British administrative bureaucracy added the term Khwajah, referring to the script as "Khwajah Sindhi" The Ismailis sometimes did the same to distinguish the script from the language, as well as from other scripts used in Sindh. The Khwajah Ismaili community continued using the traditional term ‘Sindhi’ alongside

1353-417: The script, with one of the most significant being the development of medial vowel marks called lākanā. A colon-like form of punctuation was also introduced to distinguish between words. Although these developments came rather early and facilitated the recording of gināns, based on manuscript evidence, it can be inferred that the scrip was continuously evolving right up until the late 19th century. However, it

1394-404: The script." Several factors contributed to this decline. During the early 20th century, the "publication of religious literature was centralized and brought under the control of community institutions." While on the one hand this larger institutional backing aided in more widespread availability and distribution of texts in Khojkī. On the other, "regional variations were a serious problem" because of

1435-440: The very few academics to systematically study Khojkī manuscripts concludes: "we may surmise that Khojkī is most likely a polished or more developed form of Lohānakī with the legendary Pīr Ṣadr al-Dīn perhaps having played a role in its evolution." The early versions of this script were primarily used for trade and mercantilist documentation and by their nature were not well equipped to record literature. Several main issues included:

1476-729: Was a common practice for old and deteriorating manuscripts to be respectfully destroyed upon being recopied, thus making tracing the evolution of the script across time a challenge. Apart from the unknown number of manuscripts in private collections, there are currently three institutional collections at the ITREB-Pakistan (Ismaili Tariqa and Religious Education Board) in Karachi, at the IIS (Institute of Ismaili Studies) in London, and at Harvard University. In adapting to new printing technologies,

1517-491: Was a problem. William Carey published the first book on Marathi grammar in 1805 using Balbodh since printing in the Modi script was not available to him in Serampore , Bengal. At the time Marathi books were generally written in Balbodh. However, subsequent editions of William Carey's book on Marathi grammar, starting in 1810, were written in the Modi script. Using offset printing machines (previously Lithography ) printing

1558-469: Was adopted and continuously refined by the local Ismaili community: …by providing an exclusive means of written expression commonly shared by Ismailis living in the three regions (Sind, Punjab and Gujrat), was influential in the development of the cohesion and self-identity within a widely scattered and linguistically diverse religious community. No doubt the script facilitated the flow and the transmission of religious literature from one area to another. Use of

1599-429: Was in vogue. Most Modi fonts are clip fonts . Some well-known Modi clip fonts include kotem1, developed by Ashok Kothare; Hemadree, developed by Somesh Bartakke; ModiGhate, developed by Sameer Ghate; and Modi Khilari, developed by Rajesh Khilari. Of these fonts, Hemadree and Modi Khilar' are the ones currently available. Some other fonts for Modi use Devanagari Unicode Block to render Modi characters. The Modi script

1640-572: Was included in Unicode for the first time in version 7.0. This inclusion has recently led to the development of Unicode fonts for Modi, such as MarathiCursive and Noto Sans Modi. Also, a Unicode keyboard layout for Modi, named 'Modi (KaGaPa Phonetic)', has been recently added in the XKB keyboard stack, which is mainly used in Linux based operating systems. The character mapping of this keyboard layout

1681-490: Was used primarily by administrative people as well as businessmen in keeping their accounts and writing Hundis (credit notes). Modi was also used to encrypt the message since not all people were well-versed in reading this script. Before printing in Marathi was possible, the Modi script was used for writing prose and Balbodh was used for writing poetry. When printing in Marathi became possible, choosing between Modi and Balbodh

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