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History

Sharda script is named after the Hindu goddess Śāradā, also known as Saraswati, the goddess of learning and the main Hindu deity of the Sharada Peeth temple.⁶

Although originally a script restricted to only Brahmins, Sharda was later spread throughout the larger Hindu population in Northwestern Indian subcontinent, as Hinduism became the dominant religion in the region again.⁷⁸⁹

The Bakhshali manuscript uses an early stage of the Sharada script.¹⁰ The Sharada script was used in Afghanistan as well as in the Himachal region in India. In Afghanistan, the Kabul Ganesh has a 6th to 8th century Proto-Sharada inscription mentioning the, Turk Shahis, king Khingala of Oddiyana.¹¹ At the historic temple of Mirkula Devi (also Mrikula Devi) in Lahaul, [Himachal Pradesh], the goddess Mahishamardini has a Sharada inscription of 1569 CE.¹²

From the 10th century onwards, regional differences started to appear between the Sharada script used in Punjab, the Hill States (partly Himachal Pradesh) and Kashmir. Sharada proper was eventually restricted to very limited ceremonial use in Kashmir, as it grew increasingly unsuitable for writing the Kashmiri language.¹³ With the last known inscription dating to 1204 C.E., the early 13th century marks a milestone in the development of Sharada.¹⁴ The regional variety in Punjab continued to evolve from this stage through the 14th century; during this period it starts to appear in forms closely resembling Gurmukhī and other Landa scripts. By the 15th century, Sharada had evolved so considerably that epigraphists denote the script at this point by a special name, Devāśeṣa.¹⁵

Letters

Vowels

Consonants

Numerals

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

Image gallery

Unicode

Main article: Sharada (Unicode block)

Śāradā script was added to the Unicode Standard in January, 2012 with the release of version 6.1.¹⁶

The Unicode block for Śāradā script, called Sharada, is U+11180–U+111DF:

See also

• Lipi – writing scripts in Buddhist, Hindu and Jaina texts
• Sharada Peeth in Kashmir

Works cited

• Brown, Robert (1991), Ganesh: Studies of an Asian God, Albany: State University of New York, ISBN 978-0791406571

External links

• Aksharamukha: Sharada script
• Saerji. (2009). Śāradā script: Akṣara List of the Manuscript of Abhidharmadīpa (ca. the 11th Century). Research Institute of Sanskrit Manuscripts & Buddhist Literature, Peking University.
• Prevalence of the Śāradā Script in Afghanistan Archived 2010-09-20 at the Wayback Machine

References

1. Selin, Helaine (2008). Encyclopaedia of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine in Non-Western Cultures. Springer Science & Business Media. p. Bakhshali Manuscript entry. Bibcode:2008ehst.book.....S. ISBN 9781402045592. 9781402045592 ↩

2. Singh, Upinder (2008). A History of Ancient and Early Medieval India: From the Stone Age to the 12th Century. Pearson Education India. p. 43. ISBN 9788131711200. 9788131711200 ↩

3. Sir George Grierson. (1916). "On the Sharada Alphabet". Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, 17. https://archive.org/details/244194891OnTheSharadaAlphabetJournalOfTheRoyalAsiaticSociety171916SirGeorgeGriersonKCIEMRAS/page/n17 ↩

4. Singh, Upinder (2008). A History of Ancient and Early Medieval India: From the Stone Age to the 12th Century. Pearson Education India. p. 43. ISBN 9788131711200. 9788131711200 ↩

5. "Pandits to visit Sharda temple". The Hindu. 17 May 2006. Archived from the original on 4 February 2007. Retrieved 13 August 2012. https://web.archive.org/web/20070204050822/http://www.hindu.com/2006/05/17/stories/2006051704920900.htm ↩

6. "Pandits to visit Sharda temple". The Hindu. 17 May 2006. Archived from the original on 4 February 2007. Retrieved 13 August 2012. https://web.archive.org/web/20070204050822/http://www.hindu.com/2006/05/17/stories/2006051704920900.htm ↩

7. "Pandits to visit Sharda temple". The Hindu. 17 May 2006. Archived from the original on 4 February 2007. Retrieved 13 August 2012. https://web.archive.org/web/20070204050822/http://www.hindu.com/2006/05/17/stories/2006051704920900.htm ↩

8. "The Indigenous Script of Kashmir – The Sharda Script". June 12, 2020. Archived from the original on September 24, 2023. Retrieved September 24, 2023. https://eduindex.org/2020/06/12/the-indigenous-script-of-kashmir-the-sharda-script/ ↩

9. Fogelin, Lars (2015). An Archaeological History of Indian Buddhism. Oxford University Press. p. 149. ISBN 9780199948239. Retrieved September 24, 2023. ...the emergence and spread of Hinduism through Indian society helped lead to Buddhism's gradual decline in India. 9780199948239 ↩

10. Selin, Helaine (2008). Encyclopaedia of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine in Non-Western Cultures. Springer Science & Business Media. p. Bakhshali Manuscript entry. Bibcode:2008ehst.book.....S. ISBN 9781402045592. 9781402045592 ↩

11. From Persepolis to the Punjab: Exploring Ancient Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan, Elizabeth Errington, Vesta Sarkhosh Curtis, British Museum Press, 2007 p. 96 https://books.google.com/books?id=x2cuAQAAIAAJ&q=khingala+ganesha+sarAda ↩

12. Observations on the Architecture and on a Carved Wooden Door of the Temple of Mirkulā Devī at Udaipur, Himachal Pradesh, Francesco Noci, East and West, Vol. 44, No. 1 (March 1994), pp. 99-114 https://www.jstor.org/stable/29757141 ↩

13. Pandey, Anshuman (2009-03-25). "N3545: Proposal to Encode the Sharada Script in ISO/IEC 10646" (PDF). Working Group Document, ISO/IEC JTC1/SC2/WG2. https://unicode.org/L2/L2009/09074r-n3595-sharada.pdf ↩

14. Pandey, Anshuman (2009-03-25). "N3545: Proposal to Encode the Sharada Script in ISO/IEC 10646" (PDF). Working Group Document, ISO/IEC JTC1/SC2/WG2. https://unicode.org/L2/L2009/09074r-n3595-sharada.pdf ↩

15. Pandey, Anshuman (2009-03-25). "N3545: Proposal to Encode the Sharada Script in ISO/IEC 10646" (PDF). Working Group Document, ISO/IEC JTC1/SC2/WG2. https://unicode.org/L2/L2009/09074r-n3595-sharada.pdf ↩

16. Pandey, Anshuman (2009-08-05). "L2/09-074R2: Proposal to encode the Sharada Script in ISO/IEC 10646" (PDF). https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2009/09074r2-n3595-sharada.pdf ↩