The Gurmukhi alphabet is used to write the Punjabi language by the Sikhs in North India. Gurmukhi is primarily used in Punjab, India. It is an abugida; it is thus similar to the Devanagari script. It is the official script of Indian state of Punjab. Gurmukhi was created by the 2nd Sikh Guru, Guru Angad Dev in the 16th century, it was modified from the Lahnda scripts, which were used to write the Punjabi, Sindhi, and Lahnda languages in modern-day Pakistan.[1]

There are 35 native characters in Gurmukhi, In the 18th-19th century a new character family called Naveen Toli was added. This helps to pronounce and write Persian words with proper tone.

The word Gurmukhi literally means "from the mouth of Guru".

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The letters of the Gurmukhi alphabet

The other script to write Punjabi is Shahmukhi, which is primarily used in Pakistani Punjab.

References

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