Tigalari script

Tulu-Tigalari script
Tulu Alphabet Chart (Tul̥u Barave)
Script type	Abugida
Period	c. 1250 CE – present
Direction	Left-to-right
Languages	Tulu Kannada Sanskrit
Related scripts
Parent systems	Egyptian Proto-Sinaitic Phoenician Aramaic Brahmi script Tamil Brahmi Pallava script Grantha Tigalari-Malayalam Tulu-Tigalari script
Sister systems	Malayalam script Thirke script Saurashtra script Dhives Akuru
ISO 15924
ISO 15924	Tutg (341), ​Tulu-Tigalari
Unicode
Unicode alias	Tulu Tigalari
Unicode range	U+11380–U+113FF

This article contains Indic text. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks or boxes, misplaced vowels or missing conjuncts instead of Indic text.

Tulu-Tigalari Script is a Southern Brahmic script which was used to write the Tulu, Kannada, and Sanskrit languages. It was primarily used for writing Vedic texts in Sanskrit. It evolved from the Grantha script. It bears high similarity and relationship to its sister script Malayalam, which also evolved from the Grantha script.

The script was used by Tulu-speaking Brahmins like Shivalli Brahmins and Kannada speaking Havyaka Brahmins and Kota Brahmins to write Vedic mantras and other Sanskrit religious texts. However, there has been a renewed interest among Tulu speakers to revive the script as it was formerly used in the Tulu-speaking region. The Karnataka Tulu Sahitya Academy, a cultural wing of the Government of Karnataka, has introduced Tuḷu language (written in Kannada script) and Tulu-Tigalari script in schools across the Mangalore and Udupi districts. The academy provides instructional manuals to learn this script and conducts workshops to teach it.

Names

The name by which this script is referred to is closely tied with its regional, linguistic or historical roots. It would not be wrong to assign all the names mentioned above to this script.

Arya Ezhuttu, or the more recently coined term Grantha Malayalam, is used to refer to this script in Kerala. Arya Ezhuttu covers the spectrum between the older script (that is Tigalari) until it was standardised by the lead types for Malayalam script (old style) in Kerala.

Tigalari is used to this day by the Havyaka Brahmins of the Malanadu region. Tigalari is also the term that is commonly used to refer to this script in most manuscript catalogues and in several academic publications today. Gunda Jois has studied this script closely for over four decades now. According to his findings that were based on evidences found in stone inscriptions, palm leaf manuscripts and early research work done by western scholars like B. L. Rice, he finds the only name used for this script historically has been Tigalari.

It is referred to as Tigalari lipi in Kannada-speaking regions (Malnad region) and Tulu speakers call it as Tulu lipi.

This script is commonly known as the Tulu script or Tulu Grantha script in the coastal regions of Karnataka. There are several recent publications and instructional books for learning this script. It is also called the Tigalari script in—Elements of South Indian Palaeography by Rev. A C Burnell and a couple of other early publications of the Basel Mission press, Mangalore. Tulu Ramayana manuscript found in the Dharmasthala archives refers to this script as Tigalari Lipi.

Geographical distribution

The script is used all over Canara and Western Hilly regions of Karnataka. Many manuscripts are also found North Canara, Udupi, South Canara, Shimoga, Chikkamagaluru and Kasaragod district of Kerala. There are innumerable manuscripts found in this region. The major language of manuscripts is Sanskrit, mainly the works of Veda, Jyotisha and other Sanskrit epics.

History

According to Arthur Coke Burnell, one form of the Grantha alphabet, originally used in the Chola dynasty, was imported into the southwest coast of India in the 8th or 9th century, and then modified in course of time in this secluded area, where communication with the east coast was very limited. It later evolved into Tigalari-Malayalam script, which was used by the Malayali, Havyaka Brahmins and Tulu Brahmin people, but was originally only used to write Sanskrit. This script split into two scripts: Tigalari and Malayalam. While Malayalam script was extended and modified to write vernacular language Malayalam, the Tigalari was written for Sanskrit only. In Malabar, this writing system was termed Arya-eluttu (ആര്യ എഴുത്ത്, Ārya eḻuttŭ), meaning "Arya writing" (Sanskrit is Indo-Aryan language while Malayalam is a Dravidian language).

The oldest record of the usage of the Tigalari script is found on a stone inscription at the Sri Veeranarayana temple in Kulashekara here is in complete Tigalari script and Tulu language and belongs to the 1159 CE. The various inscriptions of Tulu from the 15th century are in the Tigalari script. Two Tulu epics named Sri Bhagavato and Kaveri from the 17th century were also written in the same script.

Basel missionary Brigel writes in 1872 that the Tulu language had "no literature in the proper sense of the word", nor a writing system. He writes that a "modification of the Malayalam alphabet" was used to write Tulu, until the Basel Mission Press introduced Kannada script for printing in 1834, after which this precedent was generally followed. Missionary Männer similarly writes in 1886 that there was no literature in Tulu, except for "some legends" written on palm-leaves in "Malayalam character". He adds that this "Malayalam alphabet" was in vogue until the Mission introduced the Kannada script for printing. The New Testament was first translated into Tulu and printed using the Kannada script in 1847. According to Vaishnavi Murthy, the introduction of Kannada printing presses contributed to the disappearance of the traditional Tulu script, as Kannada became the script used for publishing Tulu works.

Usage

Historical use

Thousands of manuscripts have been found in this script such as Vedas, Upanishads, Jyotisha, Dharmashastra, Purana and many more. Most works are in Sanskrit. However, some Kannada manuscripts are also found such as Gokarna Mahatmyam etc. The popular 16th-century work Kaushika Ramayana written in Old Kannada language by Battaleshwara of Yana, Uttara Kannada is found in this script. Mahabharato of 15th century written in this script in Tulu language is also found. But earlier to this several 12th-13th century Sanskrit manuscripts of Madhvacharya are also found. Honnavar in Uttara Kannada District is known for its Samaveda manuscripts. Other manuscripts like Devi Mahatmyam, from the 15th century and two epic poems written in the 17th century, namely Sri Bhagavato and Kaveri have also been found in Tulu language.

Preservation

Keladi Museum & Historical Research Bureau, Shimoga, Karnataka

The museum has a library of about a thousand paper and palm leaf manuscripts written in Kannada, Sanskrit, Tamil and Telugu, besides four hundred palm leaf manuscripts in Tigalari script. They relate to literature, art, dharmaśāstra, history, astrology, astronomy, medicine, mathematics and veterinary science. There are several collections in the museum, including art objects, arms coins, stone sculptures and copper plate inscriptions belonging to the Vijayanagara and Keladi eras. The Institution is affiliated to Gnana Sahyadri, Shankaraghatta, Kuvempu University of Shimoga.

Oriental Research Institute Mysore

The Oriental Research Institute Mysore houses over 33,000 palm leaf manuscripts. It is a research institute which collects, exhibits, edits and publishes rare manuscripts in both Sanskrit and Kannada. It contains many manuscripts, including Sharadatilaka, in Tigalari script. The Sharadatilaka is a treatise on theory and practice of Tantric worship. While the exact date of the composition is not known, the manuscript itself is thought to be about four hundred years old. The author of the text, Lakshmana Deshikendra, is said to have written the text as an aid to worship for those unable to go through voluminous Tantra texts. The composition contains the gist of major Tantra classics and is in verse form.

Saraswathi Mahal Library, Thanjavur

Built up by the Nayak and Maratha dynasties of Thanjavur, Saraswathi Mahal Library contains a very rare and valuable collection of manuscripts, books, maps and painting on all aspects of arts, culture and literature. The scripts include Grantha, Devanagari, Telugu and Malayalam, Kannada, Tamil, Tigalari and Oriya.

French Institute of Pondicherry

The French Institute of Pondicherry was established in 1955 with a view to collecting all material relating to Saiva Āgamas, scriptures of the Saiva religious tradition called the Shaiva Siddhanta, which has flourished in South India since the eighth century BCE The manuscript collection of the Institute was compiled under its Founder–Director, Jean Filliozat. The manuscripts, which are in need of urgent preservation, cover a wide variety of topics such as Vedic ritual, Saiva Agama, Sthalapurana and scripts, such as Grantha and Tamil. The collection consists of approximately 8,600 palm-leaf codices, most of which are in the Sanskrit language and written in Grantha script; others are in Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu, Nandinagari and Tigalari scripts.

The Shaiva Agama is composed in Sanskrit and written in Tigalari script. Though there may be a few copies of these texts available elsewhere, this particular codex comes from southern Karnataka, providing glimpses into the regional variations and peculiarities in ritual patterns. The manuscript was copied in the 18th century on (sritala) palm leaf manuscripts.

Apart from these they are also found in Dharmasthala, Ramachandrapura Matha of Hosanagar, Shimoga, Sonda Swarnavalli Matha of Sirsi and the Ashta Mathas of Udupi.

Characters

The following charts show a complete list of the consonants, vowels and mmarks used in the Tigalari script.

Comparison with other scripts

Tigalari and Malayalam are both descended from Grantha script, and resemble each other both in their individual letters and in using consonant conjuncts less than other Indic scripts. It is assumed that a single script around 9th-10th century called Western Grantha, evolved from Grantha script and later divided into two scripts.

The following table compares the Tigalari consonants with other Southern Indic scripts such as Grantha, Malayalam, Kannada and Sinhala.

South Indian Script Consonants

I.P.A.	/k/	/kʱ/	/g/	/gʱ/	/ŋ/	/t͡ʃ/	/t͡ʃʱ/	/d͡ʒ/	/d͡ʒʱ/	/ɲ/	/ʈ/	/ʈʱ/	/ɖ/	/ɖʱ/	/ɳ/	/t̪/	/t̪ʱ/	/d̪/	/d̪ʱ/	/n̪/	/n/	t	/t͡s/	/d͡z/	/p/	/pʱ/	/b/	bʱ	/m/	/j/	y	ɾ	/ɽ/	/r/	/l/	/ɭ/	/ɻ/	/ʋ/	/ʃ/	/ʂ/	/s/	/h/	/kʂ/	/d͡ʒɲ/
Tamil Brahmi	𑀓	𑀔	𑀕	𑀖	𑀗	𑀘	𑀙	𑀚	𑀛	𑀜	𑀝	𑀞	𑀟	𑀠	𑀡	𑀢	𑀣	𑀤	𑀥	𑀦	𑀷				𑀧	𑀨	𑀩	𑀪	𑀫	𑀬		𑀭		𑀶	𑀮	𑁵	𑀵	𑀯	𑀰	𑀱	𑀲	𑀳	𑀓𑁰𑀱	𑀚𑁰𑀜
Tamil	க				ங	ச		ஜ		ஞ	ட				ண	த				ந	ன				ப				ம	ய		ர		ற	ல	ள	ழ	வ	ஶ	ஷ	ஸ	ஹ	க்ஷ
Grantha	𑌕	𑌖	𑌗	𑌘	𑌙	𑌚	𑌛	𑌜	𑌝	𑌞	𑌟	𑌠	𑌡	𑌢	𑌣	𑌤	𑌥	𑌦	𑌧	𑌨					𑌪	𑌫	𑌬	𑌭	𑌮	𑌯		𑌰			𑌲	𑌳		𑌵	𑌶	𑌷	𑌸	𑌹	𑌕𑍍𑌷	𑌜𑍍𑌞
Tigalari	𑎒	𑎓	𑎔	𑎕	𑎖	𑎗	𑎘	𑎙	𑎚	𑎛	𑎜	𑎝	𑎞	𑎟	𑎠	𑎡	𑎢	𑎣	𑎤	𑎥					𑎦	𑎧	𑎨	𑎩	𑎪	𑎫		𑎬		𑎴	𑎭	𑎳	𑎵	𑎮	𑎯	𑎰	𑎱	𑎲	𑎒𑏐𑎰	𑎙𑏐𑎛
Malayalam	ക	ഖ	ഗ	ഘ	ങ	ച	ഛ	ജ	ഝ	ഞ	ട	ഠ	ഡ	ഢ	ണ	ത	ഥ	ദ	ധ	ന	ഩ	ഺ			പ	ഫ	ബ	ഭ	മ	യ		ര		റ	ല	ള	ഴ	വ	ശ	ഷ	സ	ഹ	ക്ഷ	ജ്ഞ
Kannada	ಕ	ಖ	ಗ	ಘ	ಙ	ಚ	ಛ	ಜ	ಝ	ಞ	ಟ	ಠ	ಡ	ಢ	ಣ	ತ	ಥ	ದ	ಧ	ನ	ನ಼				ಪ	ಫ	ಬ	ಭ	ಮ	ಯ	ಯ಼	ರ		ಱ	ಲ	ಳ	ೞ	ವ	ಶ	ಷ	ಸ	ಹ	ಕ್ಷ	ಜ್ಞ
Telugu	క	ఖ	గ	ఘ	ఙ	చ	ఛ	జ	ఝ	ఞ	ట	ఠ	డ	ఢ	ణ	త	థ	ద	ధ	న	ౝ		ౘ	ౙ	ప	ఫ	బ	భ	మ	య	య఼	ర	ౚ	ఱ	ల	ళ	ఴ	వ	శ	ష	స	హ	క్ష	జ్ఞ
Sinhala	ක	ඛ	ග	ඝ	ඞ	ච	ඡ	ජ	ඣ	ඤ	ට	ඨ	ඩ	ඪ	ණ	ත	ථ	ද	ධ	න					ප	ඵ	බ	භ	ම	ය		ර			ල	ළ		ව	ශ	ෂ	ස	හ	ක්‍ෂ	ඥ

Notes:

  Letters used in the modern script

  Letters rarely used in the modern script

  Archaic letters not used in the modern script

Sample Text

The following text is Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, written in Tulu::

Tigalari script

Malayalam script

Kannada script

Romanisation

Translation

Unicode

The Tigalari script was added to the Unicode Standard in September 2024 with the release of version 16.0. The Unicode block for Tigalari, named Tulu-Tigalari, is located at U+11380–U+113FF:

References

Further reading

• S. Muhammad Hussain Nainar (1942), Tuhfat-al-Mujahidin: An Historical Work in The Arabic Language, University of Madras, ISBN 9789839154801 {{citation}}: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)
• J. Sturrock (1894), Madras District Manuals - South Canara (Volume-I), Madras Government Press
• Harold A. Stuart (1895), Madras District Manuals - South Canara (Volume-II), Madras Government Press
• Government of Madras (1905), Madras District Gazetteers: Statistical Appendix for South Canara District, Madras Government Press
• Government of Madras (1915), Madras District Gazetteers South Canara (Volume-II), Madras Government Press
• Government of Madras (1953), 1951 Census Handbook- South Canara District (PDF), Madras Government Press
• J. I. Arputhanathan (1955), South Kanara, The Nilgiris, Malabar and Coimbatore Districts (Village-wise Mother-tongue Data for Bilingual or Multilingual Taluks) (PDF), Madras Government Press
• Rajabhushanam, D. S. (1963), Statistical Atlas of the Madras State (1951) (PDF), Madras (Chennai): Director of Statistics, Government of Madras

See also

• Grantha script
• Malayalam script
• Tulu Nadu

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Tulu-Tigalari script.

• Tulu Alphabet - Tulu Lipi: Tulu Akshara Male by GVS Ullal
• Lessons on Tulu alphabets by Karnataka Tulu Sahitya Academy
• Tending to the Inheritance of Tulu Script Archived 13 July 2019 at the Wayback Machine