Gupta script

Template:Short description Template:EngvarB Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox Writing system Template:Brahmic The Gupta script (sometimes referred to as Gupta Brahmi script or Late Brahmi script) was used for writing Sanskrit and is associated with the Gupta Empire of the Indian subcontinent, which was a period of material prosperity and great religious and scientific developments. The Gupta script was descended from Brāhmī and gave rise to the Śāradā and Siddhaṃ scripts. These scripts in turn gave rise to many of the most important Indic scripts, including Devanāgarī (the most common script used for writing Sanskrit since the 19th century), the Gurmukhī script for Punjabi, the Odia script, the Bengali-Assamese script and the Tibetan script.

Origins and classification

The Gupta script was descended from the Ashokan Brāhmī script, and is a crucial link between Brahmi and most other Brahmic scripts, a family of alphasyllabaries or abugidas. This means that while only consonantal phonemes have distinct symbols, vowels are marked by diacritics, with being the implied pronunciation when the diacritic is not present. In fact, the Gupta script works in exactly the same manner as its predecessor and successors, and only the shapes and forms of the graphemes and diacritics are different.

Through the 4th century, letters began to take more cursive and symmetric forms, as a result of the desire to write more quickly and aesthetically. This also meant that the script became more differentiated throughout the Empire, with regional variations which have been broadly classified into three, four or five categories; however, a definitive classification is lacking, because even in a single inscription, there may be variation in how a particular symbol is written. In this sense, the term Gupta script should be taken to mean any form of writing derived from the Gupta period, even though there may be a lack of uniformity in the scripts.

Inscriptions

The surviving inscriptions of the Gupta script are mostly found on iron or stone pillars, and on gold coins from the Gupta Dynasty. One of the most important was the Prayagraj (Allahabad) Prasasti. Composed by Harisena, the court poet and minister of Samudragupta, it describes Samudragupta's reign, beginning from his accession to the throne as the second king of the Gupta Dynasty and including his conquest of other kings. It is inscribed on the Allahabad pillar of Ashoka.

Alphabet

The Gupta alphabet is composed of 37 letters: 32 consonants with the inherent ending "a" and 5 independent vowels. In addition diacritics are attached to the consonants in order to change the sound of the final vowel (from the inherent "a" to other sounds such as i, u, e, o, au ...). Consonants can also be combined into compounds, also called conjunct consonants (for example sa+ya are combined vertically to give "sya").

Independent vowels

Letter	IAST and Sanskrit IPA	Letter	IAST and Sanskrit IPA
File:Gupta allahabad a.svg	Template:Transliteration	File:Gupta allahabad aa.svg	Template:Transliteration
File:Gupta allahabad i.svg	Template:Transliteration		Template:Transliteration
File:Gupta allahabad u.svg	Template:Transliteration		Template:Transliteration
File:Gupta allahabad e.svg	Template:Transliteration	File:Gupta allahabad o.svg	Template:Transliteration
	Template:Transliteration	File:Gupta allahabad au.svg	Template:Transliteration
Template:Script	Template:Transliteration	Template:Script	Template:Transliteration
Template:Script	Template:Transliteration	Template:Script	Template:Transliteration

Consonants

	Stop								Nasal		Approximant		Fricative
Voicing →	Voiceless				Voiced								Voiceless		Voiced
Aspiration →	No		Yes		No		Yes		No				Yes
Velar	File:Gupta allahabad k.svg	Template:Transliteration	File:Gupta allahabad kh.svg	Template:Transliteration	File:Gupta allahabad g.svg	Template:Transliteration	File:Gupta allahabad gh.svg	Template:Transliteration	File:Gupta allahabad ng.svg	Template:Transliteration					File:Gupta allahabad h.svg	Template:Transliteration
Palatal	File:Gupta allahabad c.svg	Template:Transliteration	File:Gupta allahabad ch.svg	Template:Transliteration	File:Gupta allahabad j.svg	Template:Transliteration	File:Gupta ashoka jh.svg	Template:Transliteration	File:Gupta allahabad ny.svg	Template:Transliteration	File:Gupta allahabad y.svg	Template:Transliteration	File:Gupta allahabad sh.svg	Template:Transliteration
Retroflex	File:Gupta allahabad tt.svg	Template:Transliteration	File:Gupta allahabad tth.svg	Template:Transliteration	File:Gupta allahabad dd.svg	Template:Transliteration	File:Gupta allahabad ddh.svg	Template:Transliteration	File:Gupta allahabad nn.svg	Template:Transliteration	File:Gupta allahabad r.svg	Template:Transliteration	File:Gupta allahabad ss.svg	Template:Transliteration
Dental	File:Gupta allahabad t.svg	Template:Transliteration	File:Gupta allahabad th.svg	Template:Transliteration	File:Gupta allahabad d.svg	Template:Transliteration	File:Gupta allahabad dh.svg	Template:Transliteration	File:Gupta allahabad n.svg	Template:Transliteration	File:Gupta allahabad l.svg	Template:Transliteration	File:Gupta allahabad s.svg	Template:Transliteration
Labial	File:Gupta allahabad p.svg	Template:Transliteration	File:Gupta allahabad ph.svg	Template:Transliteration	File:Gupta allahabad b.svg	Template:Transliteration	File:Gupta allahabad bh.svg	Template:Transliteration	File:Gupta allahabad m.svg	Template:Transliteration	File:Gupta allahabad v.svg	Template:Transliteration

In Unicode

The Unicode Standard does not explicitly state that the Gupta script is considered a stylistic variation of Brahmi, though use of the Brahmi encoding is one approach.

Gupta numismatics

File:Kushan signet in Gupta Brahmi script 3rd century CE.jpg

Kushan Empire signet in Gupta Brahmi script, showing Septimius Severus and Julia Domna. The seal reads Damputrasya Dhanguptasya ("[Seal of] Dhangupta son of Dama). 3rd century CE.

File:Coin of Vikramaditya Chandragupta II with the name of the king in Brahmi script 380 415 CE.jpg

Coin of Vikramaditya (Chandragupta II) with the name of the king in Gupta Brahmi script 380–415 CE.

File:Mihirakula of the Alchon Huns.jpg

Coin of Alchon Huns ruler Mihirakula. Obv: Bust of king, with legend in Gupta script (File:Gupta allahabad j.svg)File:Gupta allahabad y.svgFile:Gupta allahabad tu.jpgFile:Gupta allahabad mi.jpgFile:Gupta ashoka hi.jpgFile:Gupta allahabad r.svgFile:Gupta allahabad ku.jpgFile:Gupta allahabad l.svg (Ja)yatu Mihirakula ("Let there be victory to Mihirakula"). Rev: Dotted border around Fire altar flanked by attendants.

The study of Gupta coins began with the discovery of a hoard of gold coins in 1783. Many other such hoards have since been discovered, the most important being the Bayana (situated in Bharatpur district of Rajasthan) hoard, discovered in 1946, which contained more than 2000 gold coins issued by the Gupta Kings. Many of the Gupta Empire's coins bear inscriptions of legends or mark historic events. In fact, it was one of the first Indian Empires to do so, probably as a result of its unprecedented prosperity. Almost every Gupta king issued coins, beginning with its first king, Chandragupta I.

The scripts on the coin are also of a different nature compared to scripts on pillars, due to conservatism regarding the coins that were to be accepted as currency, which would have prevented regional variations in the script from manifesting on the coinage. Moreover, space was more limited especially on their silver coins, and thus many of the symbols are truncated or stunted. An example is the symbol for /ta/ and /na/, which were often simplified to vertical strokes.

Gallery

• The Allahabad pillar inscription of Samudragupta, with its standardised Gupta characters.
  The Allahabad pillar inscription of Samudragupta, with its standardised Gupta characters.
• Brahmi and its descendent scripts.
  Brahmi and its descendent scripts.
• The 5th- or 6th-century Gupta script Gopika Cave Inscription in Sanskrit about goddess Durga
  The 5th- or 6th-century Gupta script Gopika Cave Inscription in Sanskrit about goddess Durga
• Gupta script decipherment table
  Gupta script decipherment table
• A palm leaf Sanskrit manuscript in early Gupta Brahmi script, discovered in Miran, northwest China.[13]
  A palm leaf Sanskrit manuscript in early Gupta Brahmi script, discovered in Miran, northwest China.
• The name File:Gupta allahabad shrii.jpgFile:Gupta allahabad y.svgFile:Gupta allahabad sho.jpgFile:Gupta allahabad dh.svgFile:Gupta allahabad rmm.jpg Śrī Yaśodharmma ("Lord Yashodharman") in Gupta script in Line 4 of the Mandsaur stone inscription of Yashodharman-Vishnuvardhana.[14]
  The name File:Gupta allahabad shrii.jpgFile:Gupta allahabad y.svgFile:Gupta allahabad sho.jpgFile:Gupta allahabad dh.svgFile:Gupta allahabad rmm.jpg Śrī Yaśodharmma ("Lord Yashodharman") in Gupta script in Line 4 of the Mandsaur stone inscription of Yashodharman-Vishnuvardhana.

See also

• Bengali–Assamese script
• Bhattiprolu script
• Brahmic scripts
• Kadamba script
• Lipi scripts
• Pallava script
• Telugu-Kannada alphabet

Further reading

• Carl Faulmann (1835–1894), Das Buch der Schrift, Druck und Verlag der Kaiserlichen Hof-und Staatsdruckerei, 1880

External links

• Template:In lang The Gupta Alphabet
• AncientScripts.com entry on the Gupta Script
• Ye, Shao-Yong. (2009). An eastern variety of the post-Gupta script: Akṣara List of the Manuscripts of the Mūlamadhyamakakārikā and Buddhapālita's Commentary (ca. 550–650 CE). Research Institute of Sanskrit Manuscripts & Buddhist Literature, Peking University.