IV. SCRIPT AND SPELLING

13.1. Type of the script:

All scripts used in writing Maithili are purely alphabetic and are divided into three groups, viz: vowels, consonants, semivowels and sibilants, all arranged strictly in order of oral points of utterance from velar to labial. This arrangement differs slightly from that of international phonetic tradition in as much as it starts from lips and nasals as separately grouped.

13.2. Name of the scripts:

The main traditional script of Maithili is known as Tirhuta, the script of the land of Tirabhukti i.e. Mithila. It is also called Mithilakshar and Maithili lipi.

Its second script is known as Newari, the script of Newar tribe of Nepal.

Its third script is called Kaithi the script of Kayasthas or bookkeepers.

The fourth script of Maithili is called Devanagari or simply Nagari - The common script of many Indian languages. It is called Nagarakshar.

13.3. Domain of the scripts:

Tirhuta was in use for all purposes throughout Mithila for long. But with the advent of Kaithithi script, it was confined to academic and cultural affairs, as kaithi occupied the domain of administration, trade and commerce and other day-to-day business of the mass. As the academic and cultural affairs were in the hands of only Brahmanas and Kayasthas, Tirhuta was confined with these two castes. Allured by the printing facility, even Brahmanas and Kayasthas took Devanagari as an alternative script. Now Tirhuta survives only in ceremonial and cultural affair and some culture – conscious families. Newari was always confined to the territory of Nepal and dominated entire area of activity throughout the Malla dynasty (1380-1775). Now it is replaced by Devanagari.

13.4. Official recognition:

Devanagari is officially recognised script of Maithili in primary and secondary education. In higher education Tirhuta is recognised optionally along with Devanagari. In national level, decision in this regard is awaited.

13.5. Introduction to graphemes:

In respect of graphemes, only Tirhuta as Kaithili and Newari have become obsolute and Devanagati is widely known through other sources via Hindi.

13.6. Number of graphemes:

There are 41 graphemes , 33 consonants and 8 vowels in Tirhuta script.

(a) Consonants -

+++++ + +

(b) Vowels -

+++++ + +

N.B. The long counterparts of the first four ++++++ are not counted because they are differentiated only by diacritics.

(c) Diphthongs -

++ and ++.

(d) Clusters -

See. Table...(Page 178).

13.7. Allographs:

+++++ + + +++++ + + nasals.

13.8. Matras and Other diacritics:

(a) Matras represent the vowels preceded by consonants. Vowel ++ /a/ is represented by zero matra i.e. it is inherent in consonant- graph itself and the absence of this inherent /a/ is indicated by a mark below the consonant as ++ /k+a/, but __ /k/. Other matras are as follows:

	+++++ + +  	+++++ + +  
	+++++ + +  	+++++ + +  
	+++++ + +  	+++++ + +  
	+++++ + +  	+++++ + +  

(b) Diacritics denoting length in vowels:

	+++++ + +  	+++++ + +  +++++ + +  	+++++ + +  

(c) Other Diacritics:

	+++  denotes absence of inherent /a/. 
	+++  denotes nasalisation of vowels. 
	___  represents all nasals followed by consonant, as +++++ + +  	+++++ + +  
		+++++ + +  	+++++ + +  +++++ + +  	+++++ + +  
	++++  represents word final  ḥ  
	+++    denotes the end of sentence.
	+++   denotes trilled pronunciation.  

13.9. Distribution of Allographs:

	Allograph differs from script to script. In Tirhuta, following allographs are common:  

	____ and __, __ and ___, __ and ++  
	____ and __, __ and ___, __ and ___,  __ and ___;  

Other are closed side by side.

13.10. Rules for combination:

Graphemes are often twisted, truncated or irregularly placed. Tirhuta for this reason is more complicated than Devanagari. (i) In serial No. 68 /ku/ both the components have almost lost their identification. (ii) In 58, 69, 70 and 76 matra /u/ shows four forms (++++++++), (iii) Likewise /u:/ show two forms in 81 (e) and in 83 (++) (iv) /k/ is distorted in 69,81, 85, 98, 103. (v) /t/ is truncated in 70, 86, 95, 99 and 125. (vi) Some graphemes rides over another as in 88, 89, 91 etc., and (viii) Some clustered side by side as in 92, 114, 115 etc (ix) /r/ followed by consonant is placed over that consonant in a changed form as in 109, and (x) When preceded by a consonant is place below it in another form as in 102, 104,120 etc., 110 is quite abnormal.

It is curious that the alphabet as conventionally taught to learners concludes with three (and only three) consonant clusters S.N. 52, 53 and 54 as if there are only three consonant clusters. The graphemes 52 and 54 are obscure, 53 is not so.

The above rules (i to x) rather hint, are meant only to facilitate learners.

13.11. Pronunciation of clusters:

           In Maithili clusters are pronounced as they are written. Exceptions are only two: ր+ and ղ+ :  

			कण्चन / kaրcana / (kancan).  
			कण्टक / kaղtak / (kanŧak).  

A third cluster क्षृ / kʂa / also may be said an exception because it is pronounced in older generation as / ccha / instead of / kʂa/.

13.12. Phonemic – graphemic fit:

In Maithili, generally each grapheme represents one phoneme. Exceptions are as follows:

			Grapheme		Phoneme  

			(से) ......		(i)  / ai / कैलाश / kaila:s / 
					(ii) / æ / कैल  / kæl / 'did' 
					(iii) / aĕ / ऐल / aĕl / 'came'  

			(औ) ......		(i)  / u / कौआ / kaua: / 'crow' 
					(ii)  / כ / और / כr / 'and' 
					(iii)  / aǒ / पौल / paǒl / 'got'. 

Table 10

Tirhuta script with Bangla is Devanagari equivalent.

Vowels:

Consonants:

Consonants with matras:

Clusters:

Numerals:

13.13. Directions for writing:

Tirhuta is written from left to right hanging down a straight headline. In writing, the hand moves downward, upward, left to right and right to left as the component of the grapheme demand. Verticals move downward (2) or upwards (17,18). Curves facing left move downward (34). Slants leaning to left move downward and meet vertical line forming an angle (18), Matra of /e/ starts with a dot at bottom and moves upward (unlike Bengali style from top to bottom) (62). Hooks either facing up or down move left to right (17, 37, 40). To sum up the direction of hand is a matter of only convenience and not of principle.

13.14. Features:

It is curious to note that Tirhuta abounds in angles and has no circle. On that account it sharply contrasts with Devanagari. Even headlines are usually curved.

13.15. History of script:

Tirhuta is the only script exclusively used in writing Maithili. Like all Indian script it has descended from the Brahmi script. Historians have tried their best to trace the origin of this Brahmi in Harappan script, in northern Semitic, in southern Semitic, in Greek and the like, but nothing could be gained. Therefore the history of Indian scripts starts from the Brahmi script of the edicts of the Mauryan emperor Ashoka. The line of descent is clear from the successive inscriptions and manuscripts found and studied elaborately by the historians as well as epigraphist of India and abroad.

An attempt has been made to trace the development stages of the Brahmi script leading to the evolution of Tirhuta. The result Table shows the two most important stages in respect of Tirhuta.

It is interesting to note that in Mithila one finds Brahmi and its other stages of development, culminating the modern Tirhuta.

(1) Brahmi of the first stage is found in the edicts of Asoka inserted on the stupa in village Lauria near Betia (Champaron).

(2) The second stage of Brahmi, called Gupta script or Kutilakshara is mainly seen in numerous seals found in Vaishali excavations and elsewhere.

(3) The third stage, called Vaidehi or Gaudi, appears in a number of inscriptions of kings of Pala dynasty scattered in Eastern and southern Mithila and Magadha. To mention a few:

(4) The fourth stage, called Magadhi or Proto Tirhuta, is the common source of early Bengali, Assamese, Oriya and Tirhuta. It appears in a good number of manuscripts belonging to Nalanda and Vikramashila Mahaviharas’s (now deposited in Bihar society, Patna). Chandidasa’s Shrikiṣnakirtan (Deposited in Bangiya Sahitya Parisad, Kolkata), in Pashupali Shilastambha inscription, Nepal, dated Nepal era 777 (1228 A.D.) and the like.

(5) The fifth stage is proper Tirhuta. Harivamsha copied (in 1445 A.D.) by Pakshadtrara Mishra and Shrimadbhagavata copied (in L.S. 309) by Vidyapati Thakur (1350-1490) are the best specimen. This is perhaps the last stage in the development of Tirhuta’s.

Table 11

13.16.Comparison with other scripts:

It is often said that Tirhuta or Maithili script slightly differs from Bengali. This is true only in respect of its appearance. If the individual graphemes of Tirhuta are compared with those of Bengali and differences are counted, the real picture will emerge. The inclusion of Bengali and differences are counted for the real picture to emerge. The inclusion of Bengali in the Table is intended to clarify this real position. The table shows that 51 simple graphemes differs from Bengali in seventeen (i.e. 1-10, 15, 23, 40, 45, 47 and 51), which amounts to 33%. Besides, matras of u and u: in Maithili script are quite different (cf. 68, 70, 75, 77, 79, 80, 82 & 84). In respect of consonant clusters, Bengali has simplified several clumsy forms while Maithili has preserved them (cf. 85, 86, 87, 95, 96, 110, 124). In numerals, Maithili differs in 128, 129, 130, 133 (i.e. 5 in 9; more than 50%). In respect of free hand writing of today the difference appears more and more. For instance matra of e in Bangla moves downward and ends in sharp point while in Maithili it starts from below with thick dot. The differences shown above are quite different from Bangla.

Up to the fifteenth century, early Oriya and Tirhuta scripts were very much similar as is evident from the inscription of kanaka banga (JBORS, Vol. II, pp. 355ff.).

13.17.Change of script:

Tirhuta has always been considered to be the sole or main script of Maithili. It is the political power that has been ousting it from time to time, place to place and domain to domain.

Towards the end of 14th century, with the establishment of Malla rule in Nepal, the official script Newari was adopted for writing Maithili side by side with Tirhuta. But Newari remained confined to Nepal and never reached Mithila. Newari was replaced by Devanagari, as the Mallas were ousted by Gorkha king., Prithvinarayana Shah in 1768. The literary activity in Maithili also stopped there with ouster of the Malla rule and of Newari script.

In proper Mithila, the revenue administration guided by Todarmal, under mughal rule, brought a band of book keepers (Munims) from the west, mostly of Kayastha caste. (Known as Pachima kaeth in Mithili well versed in a variety of Gujarati script known as kaithi.) As the revenue records concerned the mass, kaithi gained ground in Mithila and Tirhuta took refuge in the cottages of learned Brahmanas and native Kayasthas mostly in literature and cultural affairs. This in the third change monitored politically.

In the middle of 19th century, Government of India began to take active steps, spreading modern education in pursuance of educational dispatch of 1854. The executives of their policy took Mithila to be a part of Hindi speaking area and introduced Hindi in Devanagari script as the medium of instruction. In the mean time printing facility and a large number of books available in Devanagari tempted the literate section of Maithili community to adopt Devanagari more and more cornering their own script, Tirhuta. Thus Tirhuta gave the way to Devanagari. This was the fourth and the last change brought about by the rulers as well as by the people themselves.

13.18.Development of script:

Deletion – Dot below a, qu, gh, and z sounds, in words of Arabic and Persian origin, are carefully preserved in writing Hindi , but are totally omitted in Maithili. For instance:

			Hindi  :  मुग़ल  ख़जाना  कैदी
			Maithili: मुगल  खजाना  कैदी

Addition - Maithili has two varieties of /e/, /o/, /ai/ and /au/ long and short, but in the scripts no distinction is made. To fill this up, void attempts were made by Grierson and Pustak Bhandar, Patna, which proved futile.

In Tirhuta Pt. Jivanath Ray introduced two new graphemes æ and ɔ which lack in this script. This two met the same fate. But absence of the symbols for these two sounds is strongly felt even now.

The grapheme ++ / ŋ / was, formerly, used only in cluster ++ / ŋk / and ++ / ŋg /. But now due to phonetic change it is used separately. For example:

आड / a:ŋ / 'body' from अग्ड / aŋga / माडब / ma:ŋab / 'demanding' from माग्डब / ma:ŋgab / It is only a novelty in its use.

The grapheme, ++ / ɲ / in full form, found in maithili, disappeared in the middle period. But it reappears in certain words in the modern period. For example:

		कुइणा  / kuiրa: / 'well' for कुइआँ  / kuiã:/  

13.19. Punctuation:

In early and middle periods Maithili had only two signs of punctuation: single vertical line “І” and double vertical line “І І”. The first indicated the end of sentence and the second the end of line or rhyming point in verse. The modern period uses all other signs of punctuation imported from English via Hindi and modern English education.

In early and medieval manuscripts several signs are seen to mark additions, corrections, notes etc. written in the margin with line number.

13.20.Numerals:

There are ten graphemes of numerals as required in decimal system, +++ and +. The words generally associated with particular numbers are rarely used as numerical symbols. For example:

			अनल रच्चा कर लक्कण नरवइ
			सक समुद्ध कर  अगिनि  ससी

			/anala randhra kara  lakkhana naravai 
			saka samudda kara agina sasi:/  

In the era of fire (3), hole (9) and hand (2) of king Lakshmaṇa and saka era ocian (4) hand (2), fire (3) and moon (1). Read in reverse order this means 293 and 1324 respectively.

13.21. Calligraphy:

Calligraphy is conspicuously absent in Tirhuta and negligible in Devanagari. However it is recently introduced in the title of the standard literary production. A few artists have specialized Tirhuta Calligraphy.

13.22. Diaspora and script:

Maithili has two specific words: ɖi:hi for natives and pa:hi: for diaspora or outsiders. As Maithili has adopted Devanagari, the most widely spread script in the country, diaspora pose no problem. Even Urdu knowing Muslims adopt Devanagari in writing Maithili, and they never use Urdu script.

13.23.Research on script / Orthography:

No academic research work in the field of script or orthography of Maithili has come into sight. Only one work on Tirhuta script entitled Mithilaksharak Udbhava O vika:sa has come into light , but it is not a research work. Orthography in Maithili is highly problematic and controversial.

13.24.Script and Technology:

Tirhuta is yet to enter the area of printing technology. In the early 20th century some Sanskrit works were printed in this script through lithographic process. Later on Pusk Bhandar, Laheriasarai managed to forget a set of types and published a few works in Tirhuta, but could not go ahead. In the middle of the last century, All India Maithili Conference came with a new set of types and used it in the prestigious publication of Brihat Maithili Shabdakosha. Electronic technology is yet out of reach for this script.

(1) Spacemen of Tirhuta Character (Hand written):

	++++++++++++++++   +++++++++  

(2) Spacemen of Tirhuta Character (Printed):

	++++++++++++++++  ++++++++++  

(3) Spacemen of Newari Character:

	++++++++++++++++  +++++++++  

(4) Spacemen of Kaithi Character:

	+++++++++++++++++  ++++++++