The Gurmukhi (ਗੁਰਮੁਖੀ or ਗੁਰਮੁੱਖੀ) script, derived from the Later Sharada script and standardised by Guru Angad Dev in the 16th century, was designed to write the Punjabi (ਪੰਜਾਬੀ) language. The whole of the Guru Granth Sahib's 1430 pages are written in this script. The word Gurmukhi is commonly translated as "from the Mouth of the Guru". Image File history File links Created by me. ... The Brahmic family is a family of abugidas used in South Asia and Southeast Asia. ... Kashmiri Shaivaite manuscript (17th or 18th century) The Sharada script is an abugida writing system of the Brahmic family of scripts, developed from ca. ... Guru Angad Dev Ji (31 March 1504 - 29 March 1552) was the second of The Ten Gurus of Sikhism. ... (15th century - 16th century - 17th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 16th century was that century which lasted from 1501 to 1600. ... Punjabi (also Panjabi, ਪੰਜਾਬੀ in Gurmukhi, پنجابی in Shahmukhi) is the language of the Punjab regions of India and Pakistan. ... Illuminated Adi Granth folio with nisan (Mool Mantar) of Guru Gobind Singh. ...

Gurmukhi is a form of alphabet called an abugida, as each consonant has an inherent vowel (a), that can be changed using vowel signs. An alphabet is a complete standardized set of letters — basic written symbols — each of which roughly represents a phoneme of a spoken language, either as it exists now or as it may have been in the past. ... An abugida or alphasyllabary is a writing system composed of signs (graphemes) denoting consonants with an inherent following vowel, which are consistently modified to indicate other vowels (or, in some cases, the lack of a vowel). ...

Modern Gurmukhi has forty-one consonants (Vianjans), nine vowel symbols (Laga Matra), two symbols for nasal sounds (Bindi and Tippi) and one symbol which duplicates the sound of any consonant (Addak). In addition, four conjuncts are used: three subjoined forms of the consonants Rara, Haha and Vava, and one half-form of Yaiyya. Use of the conjunct forms of Vava and Yaiyya is increasingly scarce in modern contexts.

Gurmukhi has been adapted to write other languages, such as Sanskrit, Hindi and Braj Bhasha. The Sanskrit language ( संस्कृता वाक्) is one of the earliest attested members of the Indo-European language family and is not only a classical language, but also an official language of India. ... Hindi (हिन्दी) is a language spoken mainly in North and Central India. ... Braj Bhasha is language spoken in India by more than 42,000 people. ...

Origins

Like most of the North Indian writing systems, the Gurmukhi script is a descendant of the Brahmi script. The Proto-Gurmukhi letters evolved through the Gupta script, from 4th to 8th century, followed by the Sharada script, from 8th century onwards, and finally adapted their archaic form in the Devasesha stage of the Later Sharada script, dated between the 10th and 14th centuries. Brāhmī refers to the pre-modern members of the Brahmic family of scripts, attested from the 3rd century BC. The best known and earliest dated inscriptions in Brahmi are the rock-cut edicts of Ashoka. ... The Gupta script was used for writing Sanskrit and is associated with the Gupta Empire of India which was a period of material prosperity and great religious and scientific developments. ... Kashmiri Shaivaite manuscript (17th or 18th century) The Sharada script is an abugida writing system of the Brahmic family of scripts, developed from ca. ... Kashmiri Shaivaite manuscript (17th or 18th century) The Sharada script is an abugida writing system of the Brahmic family of scripts, developed from ca. ...

The traditional accounts, such as the references found in the Janamsakhi literature, say that the Gurmukhi script was invented by the second Sikh Guru, Guru Angad Dev. However, it would be correct to say that the script was standardised, rather than invented, by the Sikh Gurus. E.P. Newton (Panjabi Grammar, 1898) writes that at least 21 Gurmukhi characters are found in ancient manuscripts: 6 from 10th century, 12 from 3rd century BC and 3 from 5th century BC. Apparently, the first Sikh Guru, Guru Nanak Dev also used the Gurmukhi script for his writings. A Sikh man wearing a turban A Sikh is a follower of Sikhism, a religious faith originating in the Punjab. ... Guru Angad Dev Ji (31 March 1504 - 29 March 1552) was the second of The Ten Gurus of Sikhism. ... Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji (Punjabi: ਸ੍ਰੀ ਗੁਰੂ ਨਾਨਕ ਦੇਵ ਜੀ) (20 October 1469 - 7 May 1539), the founder of Sikhism and the first of the ten Gurus of the Sikhs, was born in the village of Talwandi, now called Nankana Sahib, near Lahore in present-day Pakistan. ...

There are two major theories on how the Proto-Gurmukhi script emerged in the 15th century. G.B. Singh (1950), while quoting Abu Raihan Al-Biruni's Ta'rikh al-Hind (1030 AD), says that the script evolved from Ardhanagari. Al-Biruni writes that the Ardhanagari script was used in Bathinda, including Sindh and western parts of the Punjab in the 10th century. For some time, Bhatinda remained the capital of the kingdom of Bhatti Rajputs of the Pal clan, who ruled North India before the Muslims occupied the country. Because of its connection with the Bhattis, the Ardhanagari script was also called Bhatachhari. According to Al-Biruni, Ardhanagari was a mixture of Nagari, used in Ujjain and Malwa, and Siddha Matrika or the Siddham script, a variant of the Sharada script used in Kashmir. Biruni - Wikipedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ... Ardhanagari (also: Bhatachhari), an abugida, was a mixture of Nagari, used in Ujjain and Malwa, and Siddha Matrika or the Siddham script, a variant of the Sharada script used in Kashmir. ... Ardhanagari (also: Bhatachhari), an abugida, was a mixture of Nagari, used in Ujjain and Malwa, and Siddha Matrika or the Siddham script, a variant of the Sharada script used in Kashmir. ... Bathinda is a city in Punjab state of northwestern India. ... Sindh (Sind) is one of the four provinces of Pakistan. ... Punjab, 1903 Punjab Province, 1909 The Punjab (Meaning: Land of five Rivers) (also Panjab, Gurmukhi: ਪੰਜਾਬ, Shahmukhi: پنجاب) is a region straddling the border between India and Pakistan. ... Ardhanagari (also: Bhatachhari), an abugida, was a mixture of Nagari, used in Ujjain and Malwa, and Siddha Matrika or the Siddham script, a variant of the Sharada script used in Kashmir. ... Ardhanagari (also: Bhatachhari), an abugida, was a mixture of Nagari, used in Ujjain and Malwa, and Siddha Matrika or the Siddham script, a variant of the Sharada script used in Kashmir. ... Ardhanagari (also: Bhatachhari), an abugida, was a mixture of Nagari, used in Ujjain and Malwa, and Siddha Matrika or the Siddham script, a variant of the Sharada script used in Kashmir. ... The Brahmic family is a family of abugidas used in South Asia and Southeast Asia. ... Ujjain (also known as Ujain, Ujjayini, Avanti) is an ancient city of central India, in the Malwa region of Madhya Pradesh, on the right bank of the Kshipra River. ... Malwa (Malvi: माळवा) is a region of western India, lying in the western part of Madhya Pradesh state. ... Siddham (Sanskrit, accomplished or perfectevd) — referred to in Japanese as bonji (梵字) — is the name of a North Indian script used for writing Sanskrit. ... Kashmiri Shaivaite manuscript (17th or 18th century) The Sharada script is an abugida writing system of the Brahmic family of scripts, developed from ca. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ...

Pritam Singh (1992) has also traced the origins of Gurmukhi to the Siddha Matrika.

Tarlochan Singh Bedi (1999) writes that the Gurmukhi script developed in the 10-14th centuries from the Devasesha stage of the Sharada script. His argument is that from the 10th century, regional differences started to appear between the Sharada script used in Punjab, the Hill States (partly Himachal Pradesh) and Kashmir. The regional Sharada script evolves from this stage till the 14th century, when it starts to appear in the form of Gurmukhi. Indian epigraphists call this stage Devasesha, while Bedi prefers the name Pritham Gurmukhi or Proto-Gurmukhi. Kashmiri Shaivaite manuscript (17th or 18th century) The Sharada script is an abugida writing system of the Brahmic family of scripts, developed from ca. ... Kashmiri Shaivaite manuscript (17th or 18th century) The Sharada script is an abugida writing system of the Brahmic family of scripts, developed from ca. ... Kashmiri Shaivaite manuscript (17th or 18th century) The Sharada script is an abugida writing system of the Brahmic family of scripts, developed from ca. ...

Gurus adopted the Proto-Gurmukhi script to write the Guru Granth Sahib, the religious scriptures of the Sikhs. Other contemporary scripts used in the Punjab were Takri and the Lande alphabets. Also Takri was a script that developed through the Devasesha stage of the Sharada script, and is found mainly in the Hill States, such as Chamba, where it is called Chambyali and in Jammu, where it is known as Dogri. The local Takri variants got the status of official scripts in some of the Punjab Hill States, and were used for both administrative and literary purposes until the 19th century. After 1948, when Himachal Pradesh was established as an administrative unit, the local Takri variants were replaced by Devanagari. Illuminated Adi Granth folio with nisan (Mool Mantar) of Guru Gobind Singh. ... Lande (Gurmukhi: ਲੰਡੇ, Singular: Landa), meaning an alphabet without tail, is a Punjabi word used to refer collectively to scripts in Northern India that do not use vowel signs. ... Kashmiri Shaivaite manuscript (17th or 18th century) The Sharada script is an abugida writing system of the Brahmic family of scripts, developed from ca. ... Chamba, the northwestern district of Himachal Pradesh, has a common border with Jammu. ... Jammu Skyline Jammu is one of the three regions comprising the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir. ... The Punjab Hill States now comprise the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. ... Rigveda manuscript in Devanagari (early 19th century) Devanāgarī (देवनागरी — in English pronounced ) (ISCII – IS13194:1991) [1] is an abugida alphabet used to write several Indian languages, including Sanskrit, Hindi, Marathi, Kashmiri, Sindhi, Bihari, Bhili, Konkani, Bhojpuri and Nepali from Nepal. ...

Meanwhile, the mercantile scripts of Punjab known as the Lande were normally not used for literary purposes. Landa means alphabet "without tail", applying that the script did not have vowel symbols. In Punjab, there were at least ten different scripts classified as Lande, Mahajani being the most popular. The Lande alphabets were used for household and trade purposes. Compared to the Lande, Sikh Gurus favoured the use of Proto-Gurmukhi, because of the difficulties involved in pronouncing words without vowel signs. Lande (Gurmukhi: ਲੰਡੇ, Singular: Landa), meaning an alphabet without tail, is a Punjabi word used to refer collectively to scripts in Northern India that do not use vowel signs. ... Lande (Gurmukhi: ਲੰਡੇ, Singular: Landa), meaning an alphabet without tail, is a Punjabi word used to refer collectively to scripts in Northern India that do not use vowel signs. ... Mahajani is an ancient Landa script that was used to record the Punjabi language. ... Lande (Gurmukhi: ਲੰਡੇ, Singular: Landa), meaning an alphabet without tail, is a Punjabi word used to refer collectively to scripts in Northern India that do not use vowel signs. ... Lande (Gurmukhi: ਲੰਡੇ, Singular: Landa), meaning an alphabet without tail, is a Punjabi word used to refer collectively to scripts in Northern India that do not use vowel signs. ...

The usage of Gurmukhi letters in Guru Granth Sahib meant that the script developed its own orthographical rules. In the following epochs, Gurmukhi became the prime script applied for literary writings of the Sikhs. Later in the 20th century, the script was given the authority as the official script of the Eastern Punjabi language. Meanwhile, in Western Punjab a form of the Urdu script, known as Shahmukhi is still in use. Illuminated Adi Granth folio with nisan (Mool Mantar) of Guru Gobind Singh. ... Punjabi (sometimes spelled Panjabi) is the language of the Punjab regions of India and Pakistan. ... Shahmukhi is a script used to record the Punjabi language. ...

Gurmukhi etymology

The word Gurmukhi is commonly translated as "from the Mouth of the Guru". However, the term used for the Punjabi script has somewhat different connotations. The opinion given by traditional scholars is that as the Sikh holy writings, before they were scribed, were uttered by the Gurus, they came to be known as Gurmukhi or the "Utterance of the Guru". And consequently, the script that was used for scribing the utterance was also given the same name. However, the prevalent view among Punjabi linguists is that as in the early stages the Gurmukhi letters were primarily used by Gurmukhs, or the Sikhs devoted to the Guru, the script came to be associated with them. Another view is that as the Gurmukhs, in accordance with the Sikh belief, used to meditate on the letters ਵ, ਹ, ਗ, ਰ which jointly form ਵਾਹਿਗੁਰੂ or God in Sikhism, these letters were called Gurmukhi or the "speech of the Gurmukhs". Subsequently, the whole script came to be known as Gurmukhi.

Alphabet

The Gurmukhi alphabet contains thirty-five distinct letters. The first three letters are unique because they form the basis for vowels and are not consonants. Except for Aira, the first three characters are never used on their own. See the section on vowels for further details.

In addition to these, there are six consonants created by placing a dot (bindi) at the foot (pair) of the consonant:

Lulla paireen bindi was only recently added to the Gurmukhi alphabet. Some sources may not consider it a separate letter.

Vowels

Gurmukhi follows similar concepts to other Brahmi scripts and as such, all consonants are followed by an inherent‘a’sound (unless at the end of a word when the ‘a’ is usually dropped). This inherent vowel sound can be changed by using dependent vowel signs which attach to a bearing consonant. In some cases, dependent vowel signs cannot be used – at the beginning of a word or syllable for instance – and so an independent vowel character is used instead. BrāhmÄ« refers to the pre-modern members of the Brahmic family of scripts, attested from the 3rd century BC. The best known and earliest dated inscriptions in Brahmi are the rock-cut edicts of Ashoka. ...

Independent vowels are constructed using three bearer characters: Ura (ੳ), Aira (ਅ) and Iri (ੲ). With the exception of Aira (which represents the vowel 'a') they are never used without additional vowel signs.

Dotted circles represent the bearer consonant. Vowels are always pronounced after the consonant they are attached to. Thus, Sihari is always written to the left, but pronounced after the character on the right.

Vowel Examples

Halant

The Halant (੍) character is not used when writing Punjabi in Gurmukhi. However, it may occasionally be used in Sanskritised text or in dictionaries for extra phonetic information. When it is used, it represents the suppression of the inherent vowel.

The affect of this is shown below:

ਕ – Ka

ਕ੍ – K

Numerals

Gurmukhi has its own set of numerals that behave exactly as Arabic numerals do. These are used extensively in older texts. In modern contexts, they are being replaced by standard Latin numerals although they are still in widespread use. Arabic numerals (also called Hindu numerals or Indian numerals ) are the most common set of symbols used to represent numbers. ...

0 - ੦

1 - ੧

2 - ੨

3 - ੩

4 - ੪

5 - ੫

6 - ੬

7 - ੭

8 - ੮

9 - ੯

Other Signs

Bindi (ਂ) and Tippi (ੰ) are used for nasalisation (similar to the ‘n’ sound in words ending in ‘ing’). In general, Onkar (ੁ) and Dulankar (ੂ) take Bindi in their initial forms and Tippi when used after a consonant. All other short vowels take Tippi and all other long vowels take Bindi. Older texts may not follow these conventions. In phonetics, nasalization is the production of a sound while the velum is lowered, so that air escapes partially or wholly through the nose during the production of the sound. ...

The use of Addak (ੱ) indicates that the following consonant is geminate. This means that the subsequent consonant is doubled or reinforced. In phonetics, gemination is when a spoken consonant is doubled, so that it is pronounced for an audibly longer period of time than a single consonant. ...

Visarg

The Visarg symbol (ਃ) is used very occassionally in Gurmukhi. It can either represent an abbreviation (like period is used in English) or it can act like a Sanskrit Visarg where a voiceless ‘h’ sound is pronounced after the vowel. The Sanskrit language ( संस्कृता वाक्) is one of the earliest attested members of the Indo-European language family and is not only a classical language, but also an official language of India. ...

Ek Onkar

Ek Onkar (ੴ) is a Gurmukhi symbol that is often used in Sikh literature. It literally means ‘one God’. Stylised Ek Onkar Simple Ek Onkar Ek Onkar (also à©´, Ek Omkar, Ik Omkar and other variants) meaning one God is a central tenet of Sikh religious philosophy. ... A Sikh man wearing a turban A Sikh is a follower of Sikhism, a religious faith originating in the Punjab. ...

Gurmukhi in Unicode

The Unicode range for Gurmukhi is U+0A00 to U+0A7F. Using Unicode for Gurmukhi has only recently started to become widespread. Many sites still use proprietary fonts that convert Latin ASCII codes to Gurmukhi glyphs. In computing, Unicode provides an international standard which has the goal of providing the means to encode the text of every document people want to store on computers. ... These are the astrological glyphs as most commonly used in Western Astrology A glyph is a carved figure or character, incised or in relief; a carved pictograph; hence, a pictograph representing a form originally adopted for sculpture, whether carved or painted. ...

Bibliography

Following books/articles have been written on the origins of the Gurmukhi script (all in the Punjabi language): Punjabi (sometimes spelled Panjabi) is the language of the Punjab regions of India and Pakistan. ...

Gurbaksh (G.B.) Singh. Gurmukhi Lipi da Janam te Vikas. Chandigarh: Punjab University, 1950.

Ishar Singh Tãgh, Dr. Gurmukhi Lipi da Vigyamulak Adhiyan. Patiala: Jodh Singh Karamjit Singh.

Kala Singh Bedi, Dr. Lipi da Vikas. Patiala: Punjabi University, 1995.

Kartar Singh Dakha. Gurmukhi te Hindi da Takra. 1948.

Piara Singh Padam, Prof. Gurmukhi Lipi da Itihas. Patiala: Kalgidhar Kalam Foundation Kalam Mandir, 1953.

Prem Parkash Singh, Dr. "Gurmukhi di Utpati." Khoj Patrika, Patiala: Punjabi University.

Pritam Singh, Prof. "Gurmukhi Lipi." Khoj Patrika. p.110, vol.36, 1992. Patiala: Punjabi University.

Sohan Singh Galautra. Punjab dian Lipiã.

Tarlochan Singh Bedi, Dr. Gurmukhi Lipi da Janam te Vikas. Patiala: Punjabi University, 1999.

External Links

• Punjabi Computing Resource Centre
• Saab - A free Unicode 4.0 OpenType Gurmukhi font
• Gurmukhi pseudo text generator
• Free online Punjabi (Gurmukhi) lessons
• Learn Gurmukhi
• Omniglot's guide to Gurmukhi
• Test for Unicode support in Web browsers
• Unicode script chart for Gurmukhi (PDF file)
• Introduction to Gurmukhi