Kaithi

Kaithī
Kayathi, Kayasthi
Type
Languages Angika, Awadhi, Bhojpuri, Magahi, Maithili, Urdu
Time period
 c. 16th–mid 20th century
Parent systems
Sister systems
 Devanagari, Nandinagari
Direction Left-to-right
ISO 15924 Kthi, 317
Unicode alias
 Kaithi
U+11080–U+110CF

Kaithi, also called "Kayathi" or "Kayasthi", is the name of a historical script used widely in parts of North India, primarily in the former North-Western Provinces, Awadh and Bihar. It was used for writing legal, administrative, and private records.[1]

Etymology

Kaithi script derives its name from the word Kayastha, a social group of India that traditionally consists of administrators and accountants.[2] The Kayastha community was closely associated with the princely courts and colonial governments of North India, and were employed by them to write and maintain records of revenue transactions, legal documents, and title deeds; general correspondence; and proceedings of the royal courts and related bodies.[3] The script used by them acquired the name Kaithi.

History

The printed form of the Kaithi script, as of the mid-19th century

Documents in Kaithi are traceable to at least the 16th century. The script was widely used during the Mughal period. In the 1880s, during the British Raj, the script was recognized as the official script of the law courts of Bihar. Although in general, Kaithi was much more widely used than Devanagari in some areas, it later on lost its popularity to the other officially-recognized scripts.

Unicode

Kaithi script was added to the Unicode Standard in October, 2009 with the release of version 5.2.

The Unicode block for Kaithi is U+11080–U+110CF:

Kaithi[1][2]
Official Unicode Consortium code chart (PDF)
  0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A B C D E F
U+1108x 𑂀 𑂁 𑂂 𑂃 𑂄 𑂅 𑂆 𑂇 𑂈 𑂉 𑂊 𑂋 𑂌 𑂍 𑂎 𑂏
U+1109x 𑂐 𑂑 𑂒 𑂓 𑂔 𑂕 𑂖 𑂗 𑂘 𑂙 𑂚 𑂛 𑂜 𑂝 𑂞 𑂟
U+110Ax 𑂠 𑂡 𑂢 𑂣 𑂤 𑂥 𑂦 𑂧 𑂨 𑂩 𑂪 𑂫 𑂬 𑂭 𑂮 𑂯
U+110Bx 𑂰 𑂱 𑂲 𑂳 𑂴 𑂵 𑂶 𑂷 𑂸 𑂹 𑂺 𑂻 𑂼  𑂽  𑂾 𑂿
U+110Cx 𑃀 𑃁
Notes
1.^ As of Unicode version 8.0
2.^ Grey areas indicate non-assigned code points

Magazine in Kaithi

Aakhar Bhojpuri Magazine[4] has started publishing one article in Kaithi every month. Ashwini Rudra who also designs the magazine worked for one year to learn the kaithi script. The article 'aapn baat' is regular column from aakhar magazine which gets published in both Kaithi and Devnagari.

References

  1. ↑ King, Christopher R. 1995. One Language, Two Scripts: The Hindi Movement in Nineteenth Century North India. New York: Oxford University Press.
  2. ↑ Grierson, George A. 1899. A Handbook to the Kaithi Character. Calcutta: Thacker, Spink & Co.
  3. ↑ Pandey, Anshuman. 2008. "Proposal to Encode the Kaithi Script in ISO/IEC 10646"
  4. ↑ http://www.aakhar.com
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