Sharada script
Abugida
The Śāradā (also spelled Sarada or Sharada) script is an abugida writing system of the Brahmic family of scripts. The script was widespread between the 8th and 12th centuries in the northwestern parts of Indian Subcontinent (in Kashmir and neighbouring areas), for writing Sanskrit and Kashmiri. Although originally a signature Brahminical script created in the valley, it was more widespread throughout northwestern Indian subcontinent, and later became restricted to Kashmir, and is now rarely used, except by the Kashmiri Pandit community for religious purposes.
01Name
Sharda script is named after the Hindu goddess Śāradā, also known as Saraswati, the goddess of learning and the main Hindu deity of the Sharada Peeth temple.
02History
The Bakhshali manuscript uses an early stage of the Sharada script. The Sharada script was used in Afghanistan as well as in the Himachal region in India. In Afghanistan, the Kabul Ganesh has a 6th to 8th century Proto-Sharada inscription mentioning the, Turk Shahis, king Khingala of Oddiyana.
From the 10th century onwards, regional differences started to appear between the Sharada script used in Punjab, the Hill States (partly Himachal Pradesh) and Kashmir. Sharada proper was eventually restricted to very limited ceremonial use in Kashmir, as it grew increasingly unsuitable for writing the Kashmiri language. With the last known inscription dating to 1204 C.E., the early 13th century marks a milestone in the development of Sharada. The regional variety in Punjab continued to evolve from this stage through the 14th century; during this period it starts to appear in forms closely resembling Gurmukhī and other Landa scripts. By the 15th century, Sharada had evolved so considerably that epigraphists denote the script at this point by a special name, Devāśeṣa. At the historic temple of Mirkula Devi (also Mrikula Devi) in Lahaul, [Himachal Pradesh], the goddess Mahishamardini has a Sharada inscription of 1569 CE.
Although originally a script restricted to only Brahmins, Sharda was later spread throughout the larger Hindu population in Northwestern Indian subcontinent, as Hinduism became the dominant religion in the region again.
03Letters
Vowels
| Letter | Diacritic on ⟨𑆥⟩ | Special forms |
|---|---|---|
| 𑆃- a IPA: [ɐ] | 𑆥 pa | |
| 𑆄𑆳 ā IPA: [aː] | 𑆥𑆳 pā | 𑆕 → 𑆕𑆳; 𑆘 → 𑆘𑆳; 𑆛 → 𑆛𑆳; 𑆟 → 𑆟𑆳 |
| 𑆅𑆴 i IPA: [ɪ] | 𑆥𑆴 pi | |
| 𑆆𑆵 ī IPA: [iː] | 𑆥𑆵 pī | |
| 𑆇𑆶 u IPA: [ʊ] | 𑆥𑆶 pu | 𑆑 → 𑆑𑆶; 𑆓 → 𑆓𑆶; 𑆙 → 𑆙𑆶; 𑆚 → 𑆚𑆶; 𑆝 → 𑆝𑆶; 𑆠 → 𑆠𑆶; 𑆨 → 𑆨𑆶; 𑆫 → 𑆫𑆶; 𑆯 → 𑆯𑆶 |
| 𑆈𑆷 ū IPA: [uː] | 𑆥𑆷 pū | 𑆑 → 𑆑𑆷; 𑆓 → 𑆓𑆷; 𑆙 → 𑆙𑆷; 𑆚 → 𑆚𑆷; 𑆝 → 𑆝𑆷; 𑆠 → 𑆠𑆷; 𑆨 → 𑆨𑆷; 𑆫 → 𑆫𑆷; 𑆯 → 𑆯𑆷 |
| 𑆉𑆸 r̥ IPA: [r̩] | 𑆥𑆸 pr̥ | 𑆑 → 𑆑𑆸 |
| 𑆊𑆹 r̥̄ IPA: [r̩ː] | 𑆥𑆹 pr̥̄ | 𑆑 → 𑆑𑆹 |
| 𑆋𑆺 l̥ IPA: [l̩] | 𑆥𑆺 pl̥ | |
| 𑆌𑆻 l̥̄ IPA: [l̩ː] | 𑆥𑆻 pl̥̄ | |
| 𑆍𑆼 ē IPA: [eː] | 𑆥𑆼 pē | |
| 𑆎𑆽 ai IPA: [aːi̯], [ai], [ɐi], [ɛi] | 𑆥𑆽 pai | |
| 𑆏𑆾 ō IPA: [oː] | 𑆥𑆾 pō | |
| 𑆐𑆿 au IPA: [aːu̯], [au], [ɐu], [ɔu] | 𑆥𑆿 pau | |
| 𑆃𑆀𑆀 am̐ IPA: [◌̃] | 𑆥𑆀 pam̐ | |
| 𑆃𑆁𑆁 aṃ IPA: [n], [m] | 𑆥𑆁 paṃ | |
| 𑆃𑆂𑆂 aḥ IPA: [h] | 𑆥𑆂 paḥ |
Consonants
| 𑆑 ka IPA: [kɐ] | 𑆒 kha IPA: [kʰɐ] | 𑆓 ga IPA: [ɡɐ] | 𑆔 gha IPA: [ɡʱɐ] | 𑆕 ṅa IPA: [ŋɐ] |
| 𑆖 ca IPA: [tɕɐ] | 𑆗 cha IPA: [tɕʰɐ] | 𑆘 ja IPA: [dʑɐ] | 𑆙 jha IPA: [dʑʱɐ] | 𑆚 ña IPA: [ɲɐ] |
| 𑆛 ṭa IPA: [ʈɐ] | 𑆜 ṭha IPA: [ʈʰɐ] | 𑆝 ḍa IPA: [ɖɐ] | 𑆞 ḍha IPA: [ɖʱɐ] | 𑆟 ṇa IPA: [ɳɐ] |
| 𑆠 ta IPA: [tɐ] | 𑆡 tha IPA: [tʰɐ] | 𑆢 da IPA: [dɐ] | 𑆣 dha IPA: [dʱɐ] | 𑆤 na IPA: [nɐ] |
| 𑆥 pa IPA: [pɐ] | 𑆦 pha IPA: [pʰɐ] | 𑆧 ba IPA: [bɐ] | 𑆨 bha IPA: [bʱɐ] | 𑆩 ma IPA: [mɐ] |
| 𑆪 ya IPA: [jɐ] | 𑆫 ra IPA: [rɐ], [ɾɐ], [ɽɐ], [ɾ̪ɐ] | 𑆬 la IPA: [lɐ] | 𑆭 ḷa IPA: [ɭɐ] | 𑆮 va IPA: [ʋɐ] |
| 𑆯 śa IPA: [ɕɐ] | 𑆰 ṣa IPA: [ʂɐ] | 𑆱 sa IPA: [sɐ] | 𑆲 ha IPA: [ɦɐ] |
04Numerals
| 0 𑇐 | 1 𑇑 | 2 𑇒 | 3 𑇓 | 4 𑇔 | 5 𑇕 | 6 𑇖 | 7 𑇗 | 8 𑇘 | 9 𑇙 |
Sharada script uses its own signs for the positional decimal numeral system.
05Unicode
Śāradā script was added to the Unicode Standard in January, 2012 with the release of version 6.1.
The Unicode block for Śāradā script, called Sharada, is U+11180, U+111DF:
| Sharada[1] Official Unicode Consortium code chart (PDF) | ||||||||||||||||
| 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | A | B | C | D | E | F | |
| U+1118x | 𑆀 | 𑆁 | 𑆂 | 𑆃 | 𑆄 | 𑆅 | 𑆆 | 𑆇 | 𑆈 | 𑆉 | 𑆊 | 𑆋 | 𑆌 | 𑆍 | 𑆎 | 𑆏 |
| U+1119x | 𑆐 | 𑆑 | 𑆒 | 𑆓 | 𑆔 | 𑆕 | 𑆖 | 𑆗 | 𑆘 | 𑆙 | 𑆚 | 𑆛 | 𑆜 | 𑆝 | 𑆞 | 𑆟 |
| U+111Ax | 𑆠 | 𑆡 | 𑆢 | 𑆣 | 𑆤 | 𑆥 | 𑆦 | 𑆧 | 𑆨 | 𑆩 | 𑆪 | 𑆫 | 𑆬 | 𑆭 | 𑆮 | 𑆯 |
| U+111Bx | 𑆰 | 𑆱 | 𑆲 | 𑆳 | 𑆴 | 𑆵 | 𑆶 | 𑆷 | 𑆸 | 𑆹 | 𑆺 | 𑆻 | 𑆼 | 𑆽 | 𑆾 | 𑆿 |
| U+111Cx | 𑇀 | 𑇁 | 𑇂 | 𑇃 | 𑇄 | 𑇅 | 𑇆 | 𑇇 | 𑇈 | 𑇉 | 𑇊 | 𑇋 | 𑇌 | 𑇍 | 𑇎 | 𑇏 |
| U+111Dx | 𑇐 | 𑇑 | 𑇒 | 𑇓 | 𑇔 | 𑇕 | 𑇖 | 𑇗 | 𑇘 | 𑇙 | 𑇚 | 𑇛 | 𑇜 | 𑇝 | 𑇞 | 𑇟 |
Notes
| ||||||||||||||||
Kashmiri-specific vowels for contemporary use with Śāradā script were added in September 2025 with the release of version 17.0.
They are in the Sharada Supplement block, which is U+11B60-U+11B7F:
| Sharada Supplement[1][2] Official Unicode Consortium code chart (PDF) | ||||||||||||||||
| 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | A | B | C | D | E | F | |
| U+11B6x | | | | | | | | | ||||||||
| U+11B7x | ||||||||||||||||
| Notes | ||||||||||||||||
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Sharada script”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- Śāradā Varnamāla.png by Symphonicallyu, CC0
- Gardesh Ganesha dedicated by Khingila, Kabul, 7-8th century CE.jpg by ISKapoor at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0
- Bakhshali manuscript.jpg by National Geographic, Public domain
- Om in Sharada script.svg by KittenBroEeev, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Śāradāstotra.png by Rajaka-skt, CC0
- Shukla Sharada.svg by Rishu Shukla, Public domain
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