Variants of script called Nāgarī, recognisably close to Devanagari, are first attested from the 1st century CE Rudradaman inscriptions in Sanskrit, while the modern standardised form of Devanagari was in use by about 1000 CE. Some of the earliest epigraphical evidence attesting to the developing Sanskrit Nagari script in ancient India is from the 1st to 4th century CE inscriptions discovered in Gujarat. Devanagari has been widely adopted across India and Nepal to write Sanskrit, Marathi, Hindi, Hindi dialects, Konkani, Boro, and various Nepalese languages. It is a descendant of the 3rd century BCE Brahmi script, which evolved into the Nagari script which in turn gave birth to Devanagari and Nandinagari. History ĭevanagari is part of the Brahmic family of scripts of India, Nepal, Tibet, and Southeast Asia. According to Fischer, Nagari emerged in the northwest Indian subcontinent around 633 CE, was fully developed by the 11th-century, and was one of the major scripts used for the Sanskrit literature. The use of the name devanāgarī emerged from the older term nāgarī. And hence interpret it as " of the city of the gods". ĭevanagari Script known as 'Script of the divine city' came from Devanagara or the 'city of the god'. It is a phrasing with lipi ("script") as nāgarī lipi "script relating to a city", or "spoken in city". Nāgarī is the Sanskrit feminine of Nāgara "relating or belonging to a town or city, urban". Hence, Devanagari denotes from the abode of divinity or deities. Nagari comes from नगरम् ( nagaram) a Sanskrit word which means town.
Hindi barakhadi pdf full#
It is written from left to right, has a strong preference for symmetrical rounded shapes within squared outlines, and is recognisable by a horizontal line, known as a shirorekhā, that runs along the top of full letters. Unlike the Latin alphabet, the script has no concept of letter case.
The orthography of this script reflects the pronunciation of the language. The Devanagari script, composed of 47 primary characters including 14 vowels and 33 consonants, is the fourth most widely adopted writing system in the world, being used for over 120 languages. It was developed in ancient India from the 1st to the 4th century CE and was in regular use by the 7th century CE. Devanagari ( / ˌ d eɪ v ə ˈ n ɑː ɡ ə r i/ DAY-və- NAH-gə-ree देवनागरी, IAST: Devanāgarī, Sanskrit pronunciation: ), also called Nagari ( Sanskrit: नागरी, Nāgarī ?), is a left-to-right abugida (a type of segmental writing system), based on the ancient Brāhmī script, used in the Indian subcontinent.