Grantha script

E25665

Grantha script is a historical South Indian writing system primarily used to record Sanskrit texts, especially in the Tamil-speaking regions.

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Statements (46)

Predicate Object
instanceOf Brahmic script
historical script
writing system
associatedWithLanguage Tamil (for Sanskrit loanwords and religious use)
currentUse traditional religious and scholarly contexts
derivedFrom Brahmi script
encodedInStandard Unicode
geographicFocus southern parts of the Indian subcontinent
hasConsonantCount approximately 34 basic consonant letters
hasFeature conjunct consonants
consonant-vowel ligatures
dependent vowel signs
diacritic marks
distinct letters for Sanskrit sounds not present in Tamil
independent vowel letters
hasVariant Pallava Grantha
Pallava Grantha
surface form: Tamil Grantha
hasVowelCount approximately 14 vowel signs
historicalUse copying Hindu religious texts
copying Vedic texts
copying classical Sanskrit literature
influenced Malayalam script
Tigalari script
primaryUse writing Sanskrit texts
relatedTo Malayalam script
Tamil script
scriptCodeISO15924 Gran
scriptFamily Brahmic scripts
surface form: Southern Brahmic scripts
status no longer widely used for everyday writing
timePeriod in use until modern period in traditional contexts
used from approximately 5th century CE
unicodeBlock Grantha (U+11300–U+1137F)
usedByCommunity Hindu scholars in South India
Brahmins
surface form: Tamil Brahmins
usedForLanguage Sanskrit
usedForReligion Hinduism
usedForTextType inscriptions
manuscripts
usedInRegion South India
Tamil Nadu
Tamil-speaking regions
writingDirection left-to-right
writingMedium copper-plate inscriptions
palm-leaf manuscripts
stone inscriptions
writingSystemType abugida

Referenced by (9)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Burmese script derivedFrom Grantha script
Malayalam script derivedFrom Grantha script
Brahmi script hasDescendant Grantha script
Brahmic scripts influenced Grantha script
Pallava script relatedTo Grantha script
Vatteluttu script replacedBy Grantha script
Kannada script sharesOriginWith Grantha script
Dravidian languages writingSystem Grantha script
Sanskrit writingSystem Grantha script