Tirhuta script

Tirhuta, also called Mithilakshar or Maithili script, was traditionally used to write the Maithili language, spoken by about 35 million people in the Mithila region. It was also used for writing Sanskrit. Tirhuta belongs to the same script family as Bengali–Assamese, Newari, Odia, and Tibetan.^[4][5]

Tirhuta 𑒞𑒱𑒩𑒯𑒳𑒞𑒰
Script type	Abugida
Time period	c. 7th century–present day[1]
Direction	left-to-right
Languages	Maithili, Sanskrit
Related scripts
Parent systems	Proto-Sinaitic script Phoenician alphabet Aramaic alphabet Brāhmī Gupta Siddhaṃ[2] Gaudi[3] Tirhuta
Sister systems	Bengali–Assamese, Odia
ISO 15924
ISO 15924	Tirh (326), ​Tirhuta
Unicode
Unicode alias	Tirhuta
Unicode range	U+11480–U+114DF Final Accepted Script Proposal

History

Mandar Parvat inscriptions of 7th century AD, showing Tirhuta script

The Lalitavistara, an old Buddhist text, mentions the Vaidehi script. Around the late 600s AD, big changes happened in the writing style used in the northeast of India. This change first appeared in the writings of King Adityasena. Over time, the eastern version of this new script became the Maithili script, which later became popular in places like Assam, Bengal, and Nepal.^[1]

The earliest written evidence of the Maithili script comes from the 7th century AD. It appears in inscriptions by King Adityasena on the Mandar Hill Stone in Bounsi, Banka district, Bihar. These inscriptions are now kept in the Baidyanath Temple in Deoghar and are important for understanding the early form of the Maithili script.^[1] The script has been used throughout Mithila from Champaran to Deoghar.^[6]

12th Century Stone inscription from Simroungarh showing early Tirhuta writing

Current status

Sahodara Inscription in Maithili script of 950 AD

The use of the Maithili script has been declining over the past 100 years, which has also led to a decline in the culture. Even though Maithili is recognized by the constitution, its growth is held back because the script is not widely used today.^[6]

Today, the Maithili language is mostly written in the Devanagari script, but the Tirhuta script is still occasionally used by religious pundits and culturally aware families for ceremonial letters (pātā), documents, and cultural events, with ongoing efforts to revive and expand its use.^[4][7]

Maithili was officially recognized as one of Nepal’s 14 provincial languages and was added to the Eighth Schedule of the Indian Constitution in 2003, confirming its status as an independent language. However, only the Devanagari script is officially used today.^[7][8]

Letters

Consonant letters

Tirhuta script uses its own signs for the positional decimal numeral system.

Image Gallery

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  7th Century AD, Mandar Parvat inscriptions of Tirhuta
• 
  Tirhuta script found on Mandar Parvat
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  Image showing early Tirhuta writing in 7th century AD, Mandar Hills inscriptions
• 
  Table showing various alphabets used in Mithila
• 
  Varṇa Ratnākara manuscript in Maithili script
• 
  A Sanskrit Shloka written in three characters of Mithila
• 
  Hand written Mithilakshara scripts
• 
  Inscription of King Narasimha of the Oinwar dynasty in the Tirhuta script at the Kandaha Sun Temple in Saharsa district, (c. 1435 A.D.)

Unicode

Tirhuta script was added to the Unicode Standard in June 2014 with the release of version 7.0.Template:Unicode chart Tirhuta