21/9/2014 Indian calligraphy - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_calligraphy 1/3

A fragment of Ashoka's 6th pillaredict.

Indian calligraphyFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Contents

1 Historical evolution of Indian Calligraphy1.1 Early calligraphy1.2 Middle ages

2 Features of Indian calligraphy3 See also4 Sources5 External links

Historical evolution of Indian Calligraphy

Early calligraphy

On the subject of Indian calligraphy, Anderson 2008 writes:

Aśoka's edicts (c. 265–238 BC) were committed to stone.These inscriptions are stiff and angular in form. Following theAśoka style of Indic writing, two new calligraphic typesappear: Kharoṣṭī and Brāhmī. Kharoṣṭī was used in thenorthwestern regions of India from the 3rd century BC to the4th century of the Christian Era, and it was used in CentralAsia until the 8th century.

Copper was a favoured material for Indic inscriptions. In the north of India, birch bark wasused as a writing surface as early as the 2nd century AD. Many Indic manuscripts werewritten on palm leaves, even after the Indian languages were put on paper in the 13thcentury. Both sides of the leaves were used for writing. Long rectangular strips weregathered on top of one another, holes were drilled through all the leaves, and the book washeld together by string. Books of this manufacture were common to Southeast Asia. Thepalm leaf was an excellent surface for penwriting, making possible the delicate letteringused in many of the scripts of southern Asia.

Middle ages

Indian traders, colonists, military adventurers, Buddhist monks and missionaries brought the Indic scriptto the countries of South East Asia.

21/9/2014 Indian calligraphy - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_calligraphy 2/3

An illustrated manuscript of theMahabharata with calligraphy

Ghalib poem in Nastaliq

An eleventh century vaṭṭeḻuttuinscription, from the Brihadisvaratemple in Thanjavur

A page from the Guru GranthSahib, the holy book of the Sikhreligion.

The languages of these regions were influenced by Indiclanguage and culture; the influence came in the form of thebasic internal structure, the arrangement and construction ofsyllabic units, manner of representation of characters, andthe direction of writing (left to right) (Gaur 2000: 98). FineSanskrit calligraphy, written on palm-leaf manuscripts wastransported to various parts of South East Asia, includingBali (Ver Berkmoes ?: 45).

It is hypothesized that Persianinfluence in Indian calligraphygave rise to a unique andinfluential blend in Indiancalligraphy (although a numberof different calligraphic traditions existed in India) and that Indian scriptswere fundamentally different from scripts used in Arabic and Persian

traditions. The notable achievements of the Mughals included some of their fine manuscripts; usuallyautobiographies and chronicles of the noble class, these manuscripts were initially written in flowingPersian script. This style of calligraphy was thought to influence other traditions of India, such as theIndian epics, including the Ramayana and Mahabharata (Bose & Jalal 2003: 36).

Emperor Humayun had bought Persian calligraphers into India;they would later be joined by native Hindu artists of India tofurther promote this art in the court of emperor Akbar,even oneof queen Mariyam Anjumam who was the adopted daughter ofRajput King Bharmal was the Persian her name was Harkha also(Bose & Jalal 2003:36).

The Arabic text on the QutabMinar is in the Kufic style ofcalligraphy; decorations withflowers, wreaths and basketsshow the native influence ofHindu and Jaina traditions

(Luthra ?: 63).

From the 16th century onwards Sikhism played a key role in thehistory of Indian calligraphy. Sikhs have traditionally handwrittentheir holy book, the Guru Granth Sahib, and furnished it withillumination. Sikh calligrapher Pratap Singh Giani (1855–1920) isknown for one of the first definitive translations of Sikh scripturesinto English.

The Oxford manuscript of Shikshapatri in the Bodleian Library (Williams 2004: 61) offers an excellentexample of Sanskrit calligraphy.

Features of Indian calligraphy

Religious texts are the most frequent vehicle for calligraphy in India. Monastic Buddhist communitieshad members trained in calligraphy and having shared responsibility for duplicating sacred scriptures(Renard 1999: 23-4). Jaina traders incorporated illustrated manuscripts celebrating Jaina saints. These

21/9/2014 Indian calligraphy - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_calligraphy 3/3

Inscriptions in the Kuficstyle of calligraphy formregular bands throughoutthe Qutb Minar, Delhi,built 1192 CE

A Calligraphic design in Oriya script

manuscripts were produced using inexpensive material with fine calligraphy (Mitter 2001: 100).

See also

Calligraphy

Sources

Salomon, Richard. Indian Epigraphy : A guide to the study ofinscriptions in Sanskrit, Prakrit, and other Indo-aryan languages.New York, Oxford University Press : 1999.Stevens, John . Sacred Calligraphy of the East. Boston, Shambala :1995.Anderson, D. M. (2008), Indic calligraphy, EncyclopædiaBritannica 2008.

External links

Devanagari script on Omniglot(http://www.omniglot.com/writing/devanagari.htm). Thissite also has information on a range of Indian scripts.Scripts and Languages of India(http://www.cs.colostate.edu/~malaiya/scripts.html)

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Indian_calligraphy&oldid=562643274"

Categories: Calligraphy Indian literature

This page was last modified on 3 July 2013 at 04:11.Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional termsmay apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is aregistered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.