Devanagari The godly script edited

A book by Dhwanika Patel



Devanagari - The Godly Script Copyright©2022 Dhwanika Patel. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher, addressed “Attention: Permissions Coordinator,” at the address below. Printed by Chhaap edition 2022. DP Publications 111 Address St. City, State, 12345

ontents 6 8 1. Introduction 10 2. Picto Phonetic 12 3. Brahmi 14 4. Devanagari 16 5. Gramatic Tradition 18 6. Form & Sound 22 7. Akshars 8. Bibliography

ntroduction In a personal interview, Mukund the consonants) used in the process of W. Gokhale clarifies that “the Indian writing, is called an akshar.” letter is called an akshar. This word has the following meanings. Akshar is the All the knowledge which mankind combination of Devanagari “A” + the has acquired and will continue to acquire word kshara, which comes to mean the has been unveiled to us by letter forms. non-perishable or immortal. Akshar also These letter forms when woven into includes the two words aksha (which a sequence are known as a script. A means an eye in Sanskrit) + ra (derived script has the power to transfer ideas, from the words ramaniya /ramanare), concepts and thoughts from the writer’s denoting something that is pleasant brain, with the writer’s perspective, to or beautiful to the eyes. Further on, an audience irrespective of gender, age, the word akshar denotes all the vowels religion, nationality and time. beginning from a and concluding with Thousands of years ago in India, the the consonant ksha which are pleasing akshar or alphabet was etched with a to the eyes. Moreover, the combination pointed tool on tada-Patra (palm-leaves of swar (vowels), vyanjana (consonants) found in abundance in South India) or and swar vyanjana (vowels along with bhurja-patra (the bark 2 of the birch tree 6

from North India), and then smeared the Chinese, well- mannered Persian/ with lamp soot for visibility. Hence, the Arabic writings of the Middle East; and Indian script is termed as a lipi, derived the well- defined writings of the Indus from th Vedic Brahmi Script: e Sanskrit valley. These examples invariably reflect word lip i.e. “to smear” (Joshi 128). The not only the culture of these places, but purpose of language is to communicate, also the structural, spatial, technical both verbally as well as visually, with considerations as well as the high scripts that are symbolic in nature. aesthetic standards of the people at The visual characteristic enables us to that time. identify an “A” from “Z” or a comma One of the most interesting findings are from an exclamation mark. those of James Princep, an Anglo-Indian The fundamental purpose of writing scholar, wherein he saw a connection is to convey ideas, but man was a between Sanskrit and Roman. He designer long before he started writing. states, “even now while we are quite The inherent urge to make things “raw” in the study, we might almost look better and the artistic execution dare to advance that the oldest Greek of written expression have through was nothing more than Sanskrit turned the ages produced some of the most topsy-turvey.” beautiful writing styles of the world: well-proportioned Roman letters on the 7 Trojan’s column in Rome; the inscription plate above the entrance to the interior; well executed cuneiform signs of the Sumerians; well defined writings of the Indus valley; well- spaced and arranged hieroglyphs of the Egyptians, well- structured and spirited sign of

icto onetic Some ascetics in pre-found After analyzing which petals of Chakras meditation saw 50 petals. These included carries which sound, they finalized the the six ‘Chakras’ of human body namely: form (picture) of that particular sound. These were called ‘Varnakshare’ • Muladhar (4) (Picto-phonetic letters). • Swadhisthan (6) The early writings are represented by • Nabhi (10) painted symbols. These symbols were • Anahat (12) phonetic representations of sound letters. • Vishudhya (16) The Red Indians engraved and painted • Aadnya (2) ideograms in rock shelters. The complicated designs often painted in They visualized these Chakras in form the rock shelters of Vindhyan Sandstone of pictures and tried to draw them in the hills of India are the first attempts to soil on the land. They also tried to co- express the emotional enchanted pre- relate the different sounds produced by historic hunters and dancers. them to a particular petal of the Chakras. 8

These were the primary visual communications of pre-historic tribal groups which gradually evolved into the symbolic picto-phonetic script. 9

rahmi In ancient times, a script called sutras (the root of Indian grammar) Brahmi was widely used. Created by are the link to the Brahmi lipi. They Lord Brahma himself, Brahmi script include the sequential depiction of all or lipi is actually the ancient form of the vowels and consonants in the form of nagari (Devanagari) lipi. Although it is crescents. 4 The Indian script must have not known when the name nagai came been completed atleast a thousand years into existence, during the tantric age, before Christ. Brahmi evolved from the the name nagar was found in use. There signs of crescent. are several problems connected with The nagari or Devanagari alphabet learning the origin and developments hence descended from the Brahmi script of Indian scripts, much like the early sometime around the 11th century history of India. C.E. It was originally adapted to write With emphasis and focus on the human Sanskrit but later was adapted to many voice as the transmitter of knowledge, languages. Devanagari is unique for Hindu grammarians disapproved of having a design and phonetic similitude. reliability on writing, and hence a strong The Hindus had lost all knowledge of oral culture prevailed. Maheshwari the mother-script Maheshwari (Proto- 10

Brahmi). Its simple and unambiguous different vowel by drawing extra strokes, technique remained unknown until called matras, attached to the character. the patient and painstaking European Ligatures indicate consonant clusters. missionaries collected thousands of old The Brahmi continued to spread during inscriptions and studied them, and at last Buddhist and Jaina though the Aa James Princep succeeded in decoding kaar was not present. But it became the Asokan Brahmi letters in 1837. L.S. a permanent feature in the Bhagwat Wakankar, in his book “Devanagari Gita which is called as ‘Bharati Script’. lipi, udgam, vikaas va sambhavana”- (in The Bharati script began to evolve in Marathi), has illustrated his view. He Gupta period (4 to 6 century A.D.). The believed that all the languages of the transition can be seen from the Brahmi world have their origin in the Indian script to the Bharati script to the Gupta “Crescental Maheshwari” script to Nagari script to Devanagari. Vedic Brahmi Script The Brahmi script is a script evolved by the Vedic philologists after an inspection of sources of sound from Ganesh Vidhya and the causes of variations of sound. Brahmi was distinct and superior to all other scripts, perfect in phonetic arrangement and nasal signs. Each sign can be either a simple consonant or an inherent vowel. Brahmi (and all subsequent Brahmi-derived scripts) indicates the same consonant with a 11

evanagari Devanagari evolved from the traditional names for indicating sound Brahmi script. The word Devanagari pictures but there is no guarantee that has been mystery to scholars, there is a any one sign will have only one phonetic hypothesis that it might be combination value to it. of two Sanskrit words ‘Deva’ (God, The Devanagari script is an important king or Brahmans) and ‘Nagari’ (city). and widely used script of India. It is Literally, it combines to form ‘City of mainly used to write Hindi, Marathi, Gods’, ‘Script of Gods’. Nepali and Sanskrit languages. It also Devanagari, a development of Brahmi serves as an auxiliary script for other system of phonetics, is the only script languages such as Punjabi, Sindhi which has specific signs (grapheme) and Kashmiri. for the phonetically arranged sounds of the human speech (phonemes), and it is flexible enough to write foreign sounds by attaching marks to the nearer grapheme. The Roman, Greek, Hebrew, and Arabic alphabets have certain 12

13

ramatic radition In India, Nataraj Shiva who is Understanding all the Suktas Late A.B. known for going into dance to acquire a Walawalkar, who was drawn to this device to save the Vedas from being lost, subject, established the Maheshwari gave 14 aphorisms called Shivasootras. technic of logical vowel-consonantal He delivered them by striking his trinklet forms. The Damaru, as it strikes, gives 5 (Damaru). In addition to this, Ganapati classes of sound- the Guttural, Palatal, Atharna Sukta especially makes it Lingual, Dental and Labial. When you clear that Ganapati is Bramha, Vishnu, do a bi-section, you get two, and by tri- Rudra, Indra, Vayu, Surya, Chandrama, section of a circle, you get three. Brahma-bhu-Bhuwah-Swaha and Aum. The crescents obtained by bi-section The Sun is the first representation of were assigned to Guttural and Labial, God in the Vedas, praised by the Gayatri and those obtained by tri-section were Mantra- his circular form permeates assigned to Palatal, Dental classes. everywhere in the universe, so is the Thus the Crescent script was designed round end of the Damaru of Shiva. by Ganesha. (Interwoven with the Gayatri Mantra in Devanagiri). 14

Gutturals Palatal 23 4 Dental 5 1 Labials 15

orm & ound Before one delves into the details This power is inherent in tone, in sound.” of the various perspectives of the origin A mythological story from the Rig Veda of the script Devanagari however, it states that sound was created by Lord is necessary to understand the basic Nataraja when he danced the Tandav (the Hindu philosophy in brief, especially cosmic dance of Shiva). But this sound the relation between “form” and “sound” would vanish in the air because it did not Renowned Physicist Hans Jenny (1968) have a form. states, “The more one studies these When the form was given to sound, things, the more one realizes that akshars (the non-perishable) or letters sound is the creative principle. It must were born. They originate from our be regarded as primordial. No single vocal chords. Five contractual places in phenomenal category can be claimed our mouth were used to give them an as the aboriginal principle. These are identity. Gutturals (Kanthya), lingual categorical properties which are implicit (Talavya), palatals (Murdhanya), labials in what brings forth and what is brought (Aushthya) and dentals (Dantya) are forth. By using them in description we the five phonetic regions that have approach the heart of the matter. They been identified. are not themselves the creative power. 16

The Indian sages mastered this schools of thought - the Mantra and the relationship between the various forms Tantra perspectives. of existence and sound. The sacred Indian scriptures such as the Rig, Sama, 5 Crecents for places Yajur and Atharva Vedasare based on of articulation the idea of converting existence into the form of sound so that one can let Sun existence reverberate within oneself by uttering a certain sound. By having Gutturals Bi-Section mastery over sound, one also has Labials mastery over form. The method of preserving the purity of Tri-Section Dental the Vedas has been so ingenious and Palatal exacting that even after thousands of years, the content of the Vedas is with us. This relationship between form and sound is referred to as a mantra. When a thought is put in the form of auditory contemplation, it is called a mantra. When this is given a formal structure or technique that is visual in nature, it becomes a “tantra”. And if we make this form some kind of a machine, then it becomes a yantra (. Maheshwari-sutras are considered to be the “root of Indian grammar”. The origin of Devanagari has been presented through two different 17

kshars The structural elements of The Ordering of Devanagari akshar include an inherent Consonants vertibar, the cursive crescent form in all letters based on the impact of Shiva’s In order to appreciate the damaru’s arcs, top line on all akshars significance of the ordering of letters except the mystic “Aum”, and the ‘matra” in Devanagari, some background which is the vertical representative information is necessary. vowel mark. When the akshars are read vertically, it is said to be the Maheshwari Place of Articulation method of reading; when read in the horizontal line, it is the Paninian manner Consonants can be classified according of reading. to the place within the mouth that they 18 are articulated. • Velar consonants are pronounced with the back of the tongue touching

the soft palate. Examples of velar include the “p” in “pit”, the “b” in consontants in English include “k” as “boy”, and the “m” in “man”. in “keep”, and “g” as in “good”. • Palatal consonants are pronounced Manner of articulation with the tongue touching the hard palate. Examples of palatal Consonants can also be classified consonants in English include “ch” as according to their manner of in “change” and “j” as in “job”. articulation. • Retroflex consonants are • Unvoiced consonants are pronounced with the tongue curled slightly backward and touching the pronounced without vibrating the front portion of the hard palate. vocal cords. Examples in English There are no retroflex consonants include the “s” in “sit”, the “p” in “pit”, in English. As an example, try the “t” in “time”, etc. pronouncing the “t” in “tip”, yet curl • Voiced consonants are pronounced your tongue backward. by vibrating the vocal cords. • Dental consonants are pronounced Examples of voiced consonants in with the tip of the tongue touching English include the “z” in “zoo”, and the back of the upper front teeth. the “g” in “good”. Examples of dental consontants in • Unaspirated consonants are English include the “th” in “the”, and pronounced without a breath of air the “th” in “thin”. following the consonant. Contrast • Labial consonants are pronounced the pronunciation of the “p” in “spit” with the lips. Examples in English and the “p” in “pit”; the former is unaspirated. 19

• Aspirated consonants are • Labial vowels are pronounced using pronounced with a strong breath of the lips, as the “oo” in “boot”. air following the consonant, as the “p” in “pit”. • Retroflex vowels are pronounced with the tongue curled backward. • Nasal consonants are pronounced There are no retroflex vowels in with some air flowing through the English. nose. Examples of nasal consonants in English include the “n” in “punch”, • Palato-Guttural vowels are and the “m” in “me”. pronounced as a combination of palatal and velar articulation. Ordering of Vowels • Labio-Guttural vowels are The vowels in Hindi are likewise pronounced as a combination of ordered scientifically. labial and velar articulation. Place of Articulation of Vowels Manner of Articulation of Vowels • Velar/Guttural vowels are pronounced near the back of the The manner of articulation of vowels throat, as the “a” in “amid”. can be classified according to many categories, but we will discuss two • Palatal vowels are pronounced particular categories: with the tip of the tongue raised • Short vowels are sustained for a toward the hard palatte, as the “i” in “sing”. relatively shorter duration of time. 20

• Long vowels are sustained for a relatively longer duration of time. Monophthongs are vowels pronounced as a single, pure sound, whereas diphthongs are vowels pronounced as two adjacent sounds glided together within the same syllable. 21

ibliography 1. Multiple Perspectives of the origin of Devanagari Script 2. www.dsource.in Chitra Gohad, IDC, IITB 22

23

The book explores multiple perspectives of the origin of Devanagari Script and how it has taken form over the years. 24