Karani script

Karani or Chhata was a handwritten cursive writing system historically used to write the Odia language primarily for court, land, temple and accounting records, and other administrative purposes. Karani was quite different from the printed form, the Odia script, which replaced it. Karani gradually became unintelligible to the readers of the latter. The writers historically belonged to the Karan caste group who were designated to use Karani. The script was used in the Odia-speaking regions during British Raj including the Orissa Tributary States. Both the names "karani" and "karana" are derived from "karani", a metal stylus used for writing on palm leaf. Historical records from mid-eighteenth century were written in this script. Karani was written both on palm leaves and paper. Bhoimuls (Accountants) of Khurda Kingdom primarily used Karani script for writing and preparing documents for administrative purposes.

Karani is often explained as "karaninabaja" or "chhata", a "running" script with mistakes introduced by the Karanas, making it less standard. The script also did not use spaces between words and lacked punctuations, both allowing the writers to write fast, but making it hard to decipher later.

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  Karani script sample from Jnanamandala
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  Karani script sample from Jnanamandala
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  Karani script letters
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  Karani script letters
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  Karani writing