Pallava script

Pallava script
'Pallava' in Pallava script
Script type
Time period
4th century CE to 8th century CE[1]
DirectionLeft-to-right Edit this on Wikidata
LanguagesTamil, Old Khmer, Old Malay, Burmese, Thai, Sri Lankan Sinhala, Lao, Mon, Balinese, etc.
Related scripts
Parent systems
Child systems
Tamil, Grantha, Mon-Burmese, Khmer, Cham, Kawi
Sister systems
Vatteluttu
 This article contains phonetic transcriptions in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA. For the distinction between [ ], / / and ⟨ ⟩, see IPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters.
Brahmic scripts
The Brahmi script and its descendants
Northern Brahmic
Southern Brahmic

The Pallava script, or Pallava Grantha, is a Brahmic script named after the Pallava dynasty of Southern India (Tamilakam) and is attested to since the 4th century CE. In India, the Pallava script evolved from Tamil-Brahmi.[2] The Grantha script originated from the Pallava script.[3] Pallava also spread to Southeast Asia and evolved into scripts such as Balinese,[4] Baybayin,[5] Javanese,[6] Kawi,[7] Khmer,[8] Lanna,[9] Lao,[10] Mon–Burmese,[11] New Tai Lue,[12] Sundanese,[13] and Thai.[14] This script is the sister of the Vatteluttu script which was used to write Tamil and Malayalam in the past.[15]

Epigrapher Arlo Griffiths argues that the name of the script is misleading as not all of the relevant scripts referred to have a connection with the Pallava dynasty. He instead advocates that these scripts be called Late Southern Brāhmī scripts.[1]

  1. ^ a b Griffiths, Arlo (2014). "53-57". LOST KINGDOMS: Hindu-Buddhist Sculpture of Early Southeast Asia. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art. ISBN 9781588395245.
  2. ^ Salomon, Richard (1998). Indian Epigraphy. p. 40.
  3. ^ "Grantha alphabet". Retrieved 13 September 2018.
  4. ^ "Balinese alphabet". Retrieved 13 July 2019.
  5. ^ "Tagalog". Retrieved 13 September 2018.
  6. ^ "Javanese alphabet". Retrieved 13 September 2018.
  7. ^ "Kawi alphabet". Retrieved 13 September 2018.
  8. ^ "Khmer". Retrieved 13 September 2018.
  9. ^ "Lanna alphabet". Retrieved 13 September 2018.
  10. ^ "Lao". Retrieved 13 September 2018.
  11. ^ "Mon". Retrieved 13 September 2018.
  12. ^ "New Tai Lue script". Retrieved 13 September 2018.
  13. ^ "Sundanese". Retrieved 13 September 2018.
  14. ^ "Thai". Retrieved 13 September 2018.
  15. ^ Coulmas, Florian (1999). The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Writing Systems. Blackwell Publishing. p. 542. ISBN 9780631214816.