Newar script
Nepalese script
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Through Nepal, Manuscript and Epigraphy
Etymology
The Newar script is known as Nepālākṣara or Nepāla lipi, which means script of Nepal. This script is colloquially referred as Nevāḥ ākhaḥ in Modern-Newar language, and Nevārī lipi in Nepali language. The Newar script is also known as Pracalit lipi ("popular script"), as it was one of the most widely used script among all of the scripts used in Nepal, with majority of manuscripts and inscriptions written in it.
The multilingual stone inscription of Pratap Malla dated to 1654 CE, uses "Nevāra ākhara" (Newar script) to refer this script in Classical Newar. Similarly, in a 1747 CE work, Capuchin friar Costantino da Ascoli refers to this script as Nepalese.
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History
The Newar script first appeared in a manuscript entitled Laṅkāvatāra Sutra dated 908 CE. The first inscription in the Newar script is the inscription of King Shankaradeva at Jaishideval, Kathmandu, dated to 920 CE. The first coin in this script appeared during the reign of King Shivadeva (1098–1126 CE). The oldest surviving manuscript of the Abhijnana Shakuntala, dated to the 12th century, was written in this script and is now situated at the Asiatic Society. Similarly, the oldest surviving manuscript of the Ramayana dated 1019, was written in the Newar script.
During the Malla dynasty, official records and inscriptions were written in Newar script. It was also used in official documents by the early Shah rulers, as shown by the Nepal-Tibet treaty of 1775, which was written in this script. In 1905, official documents written in Newar were declared illegal during the Rana regime. Since then, the script started to be replaced by Devanagari.
Alphabet
Vowels
Some of the vowel diacritics have different appearances depending on whether the consonant has a top line or not. There are seven consonants without top lines: ga, ña, ṭha, ṇa, tha, dha and śa.
Consonant
Consonants with vowel diacritics
The following table contains the consonants with vowel diacritics.
Some letters in Newar have alternative forms that are used when combined with certain vowel diacritics or included in a consonant cluster.
- Letter bha and ha changes appearance when combined with any of the vowel diacritics u, ū, ṛ, ṝ, ḷ and ḹ.
- Letter ja and ra forms ligatures together with the vowels u and ū.
- Vowels u changes appearance when combined with the letters ga, ta, bha and śa.
Consonant conjuncts
Consonant clusters are written by writing several consonant letters together in complex ligatures. How they are written depends on the shape of the letters and some letters have alternative shapes that are used depending on their position in the cluster. The following table shows the consonant conjunction in the Newar script.
Symbols
Numerals
Sample Text
The following sample text is the Newar translation of Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the United Nations:
𑐢𑐵𑐬𑐵 𑑑: 𑐦𑐸𑐎𑑂𑐎 𑐩𑐣𑐹𑐟 𑐖𑐣𑑂𑐩𑐖𑐵𑐟 𑐳𑑂𑐰𑐟𑐣𑑂𑐟𑑂𑐬 𑐰 𑐥𑑂𑐬𑐟𑐶𑐲𑑂𑐛𑐵 𑐣𑐵𑐥 𑐀𑐢𑐶𑐎𑐵𑐬𑐫𑑂 𑐳𑐩𑐵𑐣 𑐖𑐸𑐂 𑑋 𑐂𑐥𑐶𑑄 𑐰𑐶𑐰𑐾𑐎 𑐰 𑐎𑐵𑐬𑐞𑑄 𑐫𑐸𑐎𑑂𑐟 𑐖𑐸𑐃𑑋 𑐂𑐩𑐶𑐐𑐸 𑐨𑐵𑐟𑐺𑐟𑑂𑐰 𑐨𑐵𑐰𑐣𑐵 𑐎𑐫𑐵 𑐕𑐩𑑂𑐴𑐾𑐳𑑂𑐫𑐵𑑄 𑐩𑐾𑐩𑑂𑐴𑐾𑐳𑐶𑐟 𑐰𑑂𑐫𑐰𑐴𑐵𑐬 𑐫𑐵𑐫𑐾𑐩𑐵𑑅 𑑋
Romanization
Dhārā 1: phukka manūta janmajāta svatantra va pratiṣṭhā nāpa adhikāray samāna jui. ipiṃ viveka va kāraṇaṃ yukta jui. imigu bhātṛtva bhāvanā kayā chamhesyāṃ memhesita vyavahāra yāyemāḥ.
Translation
Article 1: All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
Unicode
Newar script was added to the Unicode Standard in June, 2016 with the release of version 9.0.
The Unicode block for Newar, called Newa, is U+11400–U+1147F: