grantha script: writing system and evolutionary history
TRANSCRIPT
Grantha script:
Writing system, evolutionary history and inscriptions
Introduction
• Grantha (Also Grantham, Grandham) is currently used to write Sanskrit, and is now exclusively used by Tamil & Malayali Brahmins, especially for Vedic studies and astrology.
• It was earlier used for writing Malayalam, Tamil and 'Manipravalam'.
• It is a descendant, through the Southern Branch, of the Brahmi script.
• And like it, is classified as an abugida (i.e. each unit or akshara is made of a consonant + inherent vowel).
• Grantha takes its name from the Sanskrit word for 'book', and true to its name, is found a lot more on books and palm leaf manuscripts than on epigraphs.
Writing System
Writing System
• Vowels - 14• Consonants - 34• Numerals - 10
• Grantha, like all other Brahmic scripts except Mahajani has special diacritics called mātrā for vowels
• Complex conjuct forms are rampant in Grantha, unlike northern scripts. Malayalam also had them, till simplification of orthography in the 1960s & 70s.
Vowels - simple
अ आ इ ई उ ऊഅ ആ ഇ ഈ ഉ ഊ அ ஆ இ ஈ உ ஊ
Vowels - consonantal
ऋ ॠ ऌ ॡ ഋ ൠ ഌ ൡ
As far as I know, ऌ is attested in only one Sanskrit word, the verb क्ऌप meaning to manage or to be well ordered.The only purpose of ॡ seems to be to preserve the symmetry of the vowel arrangements.(http://sanskritdocuments.org/learning_tutorial_wikner/P003.html)
Vowels - derived
ए ऐ ओ औ ഏ ഐ ഓ ഔ ஏ ஐ ஓ ஔ
Vowels - nasal
अं अः അം അഃ - ஃ
अँ is unrepresented in the known Grantha corpus, though Telugu uses the half-moon (c) character to represent the anunāsika.(http://sanskritdocuments.org/learning_tutorial_wikner/P003.html)
Consonants - guttural (ka hya)ṇṭ
क ख ग घ ङ ക ഖ ഗ ഘ ങ க ங
Consonants - palatal (tālavya)
च छ ज झ ञ ച ഛ ജ ഝ ഞ ச ஜ* ஞ
*This character has been borrowed from Grantha into Tamil for writing loan words.
Consonants - retroflex (mūrdhanya)
ट ठ ड ढ ण ട ഠ ഡ ഢ ണ ட ண
Consonants - dental (dantya)
त थ द ध न ത ഥ ദ ധ ന த ந, ன
Consonants - labial (o hya)ṣṭ
प फ ब भ म പ ഫ ബ ഭ
മ ப ம
Consonants - approximant (antastha)
य र ल व ळ യ ര ല വ ള ய ர ல வ ள
Consonants - fricative (ū ma)ṣ
श ष स ह ശ ഷ സ ഹ ஶ* ஷ* ஸ* ஹ*
As in other Indian languages, the vocalisations of श and ष have merged into one sound.
*These characters has been borrowed from Grantha into Tamil for writing loan words.
Numerals
As in other Indian scripts, these numerals are no longer in use.
Mātrās
ക് ക കാ കി കീ കു കൂ க் க கா கி கீ க க
Mātrās
കൃ
Mātrās
െക ൈക െകാ െകൌ കം കഃெக ைக ெகா ெகௌ
Special Mātrā placements
Some consonant ligatures
Ligatures are written when possible, else the letters are stacked.
Stacking
-y and -r
Repha
Now write your namein Grantha
Write the nameof someone you love
Write your classmates' names
Write your address
Homework:write your favourite Bollywood song
in Grantha
Evolutionary History
INTERVAL
http://www.ancientscripts.com/sa_ws.html
Tigalari
Pallava*
Southern Brahmi
• The south developed a more cursive form of Brahmi, that by the 3rd c. AD had developed into the proto Kadamba-Pallava script
Chalukya scripts
• The script under the patronage of the Kadambas, Chalukyas, Rashtrakutas, Shilaharas and Hoysalas would ultimately evolve into the Halegannada script in the Deccan
• Under the later Western (Kalyani) & Eastern (Vengi) Chalukyas, the Cholas and then the Pandyas, the Kadamba-Pallava script underwent further evolution, to a tighter, less grandiose form, now looking more like modern Grantha
http://www.skyknowledge.com/pallava.htm
Burnell, Elements of South-Indian Palaeography, plate I
Vengi copper plate
http://www.skyknowledge.com/pallava.htm
Burnell, Elements of South-Indian Palaeography, plate III
Chalukya copper plate, 622 AD
http://www.skyknowledge.com/pallava.htm
Burnell, Elements of South-Indian Palaeography, plate IV
Pallava script
• Under Pallava patronage, the script developed into an elaborate form with large strokes
http://www.skyknowledge.com/pallava.htm
Cave temple inscription
• Dhalavanur rock-cut temple of Mahendravarman I Pallava (580-630 AD)
http://travel.bhushavali.com/2012_11_01_archive.html
Cave temple inscription
• Mahendravadi rock-cut temple of Mahendravarman I Pallava
http://travel.bhushavali.com/2012_11_01_archive.html
Mahendravaraman's coinagePa ka meaning either – 1 panam– short for 'Pakapetuku' (Terror to the Enemy)
http://www.worldofcoins.eu/forum/index.php?topic=31274.0
Pallava in South East Asia
Merchant contact with South East Asia in the Pallava and Chola periods took the Pallava-Grantha script continuum thither.
Pyu script (4th - 6th c AD)
http://lionslayer.yoeyar.com/?p=823
Examples
http://www.skyknowledge.com/pallava.htm, http://tamilnation.co/heritage/pallava.htm
Purnavarman of Java
Fang in North Thailand, est. late 7th c. AD
Post-Pallava period
• The Pallava script seems to be the basis for both the later Tamil script and the Grantha script.
• This is a possibly unique case of sympatric evolution of two scripts, each adapted to writing a different language.
• By Vijayanagar times, the Grantha script had stabilised to its current form.
http://www.skyknowledge.com/pallava.htm
Development of Grantha
http://www.ciillibrary.org/Sites/Photography/Images/Grantha - Tamil.jpg
http://www.ciillibrary.org/Sites/Photography/Images/Grantha - Tamil.jpg
Chera period inscription
• Prasasthi of King Rama Rajasekhara of Mahodayapura, 24 May 871
http://www.thehindu.com/features/friday-review/history-and-culture/ancient-inscription-throws-new-light-on-chera-history/article1200089.ece
Grantha - Pillar edict
Rajaraja I (985-1012),
Thanjavur Museum
http://www.tnarch.gov.in/epi/ins3.htm
Grantha - copper plate grant
Uttama Chola (Parakesarivarman), Chennai Museum
http://www.tnarch.gov.in/epi/ins3.htm
Grantha - coin
Travancore Velli Fanam - 1036 KE (1861 CE) 1 fanam
http://www.coinnetwork.com/photo/travancore-rama-varma-iv-1860-1880-velli-fanam-km-22-reverse
Symbol for 1000
Symbol for 10 Symbol for year(varusha)
Symbol for panam
Grantha - manuscript
• Sarvamoola granthas attributed to Madvacharya (1238-1317)
http://phys.org/news77908116.html
Grantha - manuscript
• Sarga 131 of the Yuddha Kanda of the Valmiki Ramayana
http://www.vidyavrikshah.org/manuscripts/mssa.html
Grantha - manuscript
• 19th c. palm leaf manuscript, Kaumara vyakaranam
http://www.tnarch.gov.in/epi/ins3.htm
Cursive scripts• In addition to the formal Tamil script, the Vatteluttu (rounded writing)
script developed alongside as a cursive for writing Tamil and Malayalam.• There are two more scripts from this period, Kolezhuthu (straight writing)
and Malayanma.
http://chintha.com/keralam/malayalam/vattezhuthu-kolezhuthu-malayanma.html
Vattezhuttu Malayanma Kolezhuttu
Vattezhuthu inscriptions
Rajaraja Chola I, Brihadisvara temple wall, Thanjavur.
http://www.tnarch.gov.in/epi/ins3.htm
849 AD copper-plate grant issued by the King of Venadu to the Syrian Christians
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tharisapalli_plates
Derivatives of Grantha
• A Western form of Grantha developed into the Tigalari script, from which both modern Malayalam and Tulu scripts are derived.
• Modern Malayalam owes its current form to Benjamin Bailey's CMS Press (1821). The advent of the press and the choice of a Tigalari-derived font led to the decline of other scripts used to write Malayalam, especially Grantha.
Tigalari/Tulu script
http://shivallibrahmins.com/tulu-language/tulu-language-and-script/
• Abandoned after 1841, with the advent of Samuel Hebich's Basel Mission Press. Hebich used a version of the Kannada script for Kannada, Tulu and Kodava Takk documents.
• Now being revived by the Tulu Sahitya Academy.
Another version
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tigalari_alphabet
Palm leaf manuscript
• Vidyamadhaviyam-Jyotisha Shastram
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/96/Tigalari-manuscript-Vidyamadhaviyam.jpg
Decline of Grantha
• The advent of printing to India led to a gradual decline of Grantha, due to a two-pronged attack.
• The first Tamil press set up in 1712 at Tranquebar (Tarangambadi) churned out tonnes of printed material in Tamil, especially Christian evangelical literature. To counter this, the native Tamil elite set up their own presses to mass produce Hindu religious literature (starting with Kalvi Vilakkam in 1834). This led to widespread literacy in Tamil, including among Tamil Brahmins, custodians of Grantha.
• The Devanagari script became prevalent for the mass printing of Sanskrit books, with publishers such as Gita Press of Gorakhpur.
Printing Press in South India
• As an aside, Hebich's standardisation also led to the evolution of the modern Kannada script from the Halegannada script.
• The modern Telugu script was standardised from an eastern version of Halegannada by Vavilla Sastrulu's Adi Saraswathi Nilayam (1854).
Homework:transcribe the given page into Devanagari.