Oriya Alphabet - History

History

The Oriya script is developed from the Kalinga script, one of the many descendants of the Brahmi script of ancient India. The earliest known inscription in the Oriya language, in the Kalinga script, dates from 1051. Oriya language has undergone through several phases. They are broadly:

1. Transitional Oriya
2. Proto Oriya
3. Kutila
4. Gupta scripts

The script in the Ashokan edicts at Dhauli and Jaugada and the inscriptions of Kharavela in Hati Gumpha of Khandagiri give the first glimpse of possible origin of the Oriya language. From a linguistic perspective, the Hati Gumpha inscriptions are similar to modern Oriya and essentially different from the language of the Ashokan edicts. The question has also been raised as to whether Pali was the prevalent language in Orissa during this period. The Hati Gumpha inscriptions, which are in Pali, are perhaps the only evidence of stone inscriptions in Pali. This may be the reason why the famous German linguist Professor Oldenburg mentioned that Pali was the original language of Orissa.

There are noticeable similarities between Oriya and Thai scripts, which provides clues about the Sadhavas, earlier Kalinga traders who traveled to south Asian countries and ruled there, leaving evidence of the Oriya script on the Thai script, along with a cultural impact.

The curved appearance of the Oriya script is a result of the practice of writing on palm leaves, which has a tendency to tear the leaves when many straight lines are written.

Oriya is a syllabic alphabet or an abugida wherein all consonants have an inherent vowel embedded within. Diacritics (which can appear above, below, before, or after the consonant they belong to) are used to change the form of the inherent vowel. When vowels appear at the beginning of a syllable, they are written as independent letters. Also, when certain consonants occur together, special conjunct symbols are used to combine the essential parts of each consonant symbol.

"Oṛiyā is encumbered with the drawback of an excessively awkward and cumbrous written character. ... At first glance, an Oṛiyā book seems to be all curves, and it takes a second look to notice that there is something inside each." (G.A. Grierson, Linguistic Survey of India, 1903)