Takri script

The Tākri script (Takri: 𑚔𑚭𑚊𑚤𑚯; Devanagari: टाकरी; Gurmukhi: ਟਾਕਰੀ; sometimes called Tankri 𑚔𑚭𑚫𑚊𑚤𑚯) is an abugida writing system of the Brahmic family of scripts. It is closely related to and derived from, the Sharada script formerly employed for Kashmiri. It is also related to the Gurmukhī script used to write Punjabi. Until the late 1940s, an adapted version of the script (called Dogri, Dogra or Dogra Akkhar) was the official script for writing Dogri in the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir and for Kangri, Chambyali and Mandyali in Himachal Pradesh

Takri written in Takri Script
"Takri" redirects here. For The Korean Kingdom, see Takri Kingdom.
Takri
𑚔𑚭𑚊𑚤𑚯
Type
LanguagesDogri, Kangri, Sirmauri, Chambeali, Kahluri, Mandeali, Jaunsari, Kullui, Bhattiyali, Churahi, Kishtwari, Gaddi, Saraji, Mahasui, Pahari-Pothwari, Mirpuri, Poonchi
Time period
16th century CE to present
Parent systems
Proto-Sinaitic alphabet [a]
Child systems
Dogri Akkhar
Sister systems
Gurmukhī
DirectionLeft-to-right
ISO 15924Takr, 321
Unicode alias
Takri
Unicode range
U+11680–U+116CF
[a] The Semitic origin of the Brahmic scripts is not universally agreed upon.
Brahmic scripts
The Brahmic script and its descendants

History

The Takri alphabet developed through the Devāśeṣa stage of the Sharada script from the 14th-18th centuries[1] and is found mainly in the Hill States such as Chamba, Himachal Pradesh and surrounding areas, where it is called Chambyali, and in Jammu Division, where it is known as Dogri. The local Takri variants got the status of official scripts in some of the Punjab Hill States, and were used for both administrative and literary purposes until the 19th century.[1] After 1948, when Himachal Pradesh was established as an administrative unit, the local Takri variants were replaced by Devanagari.

Takri itself has historically been used to write a number of Dardic and Western and Central Pahari languages in the Western Himalaya, such as Gaddi or Gaddki (the language of the Gaddi ethnic group), Kashtwari (the dialect centered on the Kashtwar or Kishtwar region of Jammu and Kashmir) and Chambyali (the language of the Chamba region of Himachal Pradesh). Takri used to be most prevalent script for business records and communication in various parts of Himachal Pradesh including the regions of Chintpurni, Una, Kangra, Bilaspur[2] and Hamirpur. The aged businessmen can still be found using Takri in these areas, but the younger generation have now shifted to Devanagari and even English (Roman). This change can be traced to the early days of Indian independence (1950s−80s).

Revival movement

Since Takri fell into disuse,[3] there have been sporadic attempts to revive the script in Himachal Pradesh. Recent efforts have been made to teach the script to Himachalis.[4]

The Takri (Tankri) script was also used in cinema. The first film in Himachali dialects of Western Pahari called Saanjh directed by Ajay Saklani released in April 2017 used Takri script in its title and beginning credits. Workshops are being conducted in small scale in the state of Himachal Pradesh, in districts like Chamba[5] and Kullu, Kangra and Shimla.[6] An organization named Sambh (Devanagari: सांभ​) based at Dharamshala has decided to develop fonts for this script.[7][8]

A Western Pahari Corridor from Shimla to Murree has also been proposed under the Aman ki Asha initiative to link the similar Western Pahari language-based regions of Himachal Pradesh, Jammu, Azad Kashmir and Pothohar Plateau and revive the script. [9] [10]

The Himachal Pradesh government under the National Manuscript Mission Yojana has set up a Manuscript Resource Centre and so far 1.26 lakh (1,26,000) manuscripts, including those in Takri, have been catalogued and has decided to be digitised.[11]

Varieties

There are several regional varieties of Takri, “with each Hill State or tract having its own style ”. There is considerable variation in the spellings of the names of the regional forms and the languages they represent. The names of languages have also changed, so that the names used in Grierson and other sources differ from current practices. In order to assist in the identification of languages and the forms of Takri associated with them, the language names below are denoted using ISO639-3 codes. Specimens of Takri representative of the regional form is also indicated.

  • Bhattiyali [bht]: Bhateali, Bhatiali
  • Chambeali [cdh]: Chambiali, Chameali, Chamiali
  • Dogri [dgo], [doi]: Dogari
  • Gaddi [gbk]: Bharmauri, Gadi
  • Gahri [bfu]: Bunan
  • Jaunsari [jns]
  • Kangri [xnr]: Kangra, Kangra-Dogri
  • Kinnauri [kjo]: Kanauri
  • Kishtwari [kas]: Kashtwari, recorded as dialect of Kashmiri
  • Kulvi [kfx]: Kullu, Kului, Kullvi
  • Mahasu [bfz]: Kochi, Kiunthali
  • Mandeali [mjl]: Himachali, Mandi
  • Sirmauri [srx]

The standard for the script has been the Chambeali version; which has been encoded in the Unicode.

A variety of Takri which was used for Sirmauri and Jaunsari has been proposed to be encoded in the Unicode.[12]

Unicode

Takri script was added to the Unicode Standard in January 2012 with the release of version 6.1. This project was made possible in part by a grant from the United States National Endowment for the Humanities, which funded the Universal Scripts Project (part of the Script Encoding Initiative at the University of California, Berkeley).

Block
Takri
RangeU+11680..U+116CF
(80 code points)
PlaneSMP
ScriptsTakri
Major alphabetsChambeali
Dogri
Assigned67 code points
Unused13 reserved code points
Unicode version history
6.166 (+66)
12.067 (+1)
Note: [13][14]

The Unicode block for Takri is U+11680–U+116CF:

Takri[1][2]
Official Unicode Consortium code chart (PDF)
 0123456789ABCDEF
U+1168x 𑚀 𑚁 𑚂 𑚃 𑚄 𑚅 𑚆 𑚇 𑚈 𑚉 𑚊 𑚋 𑚌 𑚍 𑚎 𑚏
U+1169x 𑚐 𑚑 𑚒 𑚓 𑚔 𑚕 𑚖 𑚗 𑚘 𑚙 𑚚 𑚛 𑚜 𑚝 𑚞 𑚟
U+116Ax 𑚠 𑚡 𑚢 𑚣 𑚤 𑚥 𑚦 𑚧 𑚨 𑚩 𑚪 𑚫 𑚬 𑚭 𑚮 𑚯
U+116Bx 𑚰 𑚱 𑚲 𑚳 𑚴 𑚵 𑚶 𑚷 𑚸
U+116Cx 𑛀 𑛁 𑛂 𑛃 𑛄 𑛅 𑛆 𑛇 𑛈 𑛉
Notes
1.^ As of Unicode version 13.0
2.^ Grey areas indicate non-assigned code points

The following Unicode-related documents record the purpose and process of defining specific characters in the Takri block:

Version Final code points[lower-alpha 1] Count L2 ID WG2 ID Document
6.1 U+11680..116B7, 116C0..116C9 66 L2/07-419 Pandey, Anshuman (2007-12-14), Proposal to Encode the Takri Script in ISO/IEC 10646
L2/09-111 Pandey, Anshuman (2009-04-06), Proposal to Encode the Takri Script in ISO/IEC 10646
L2/09-424 N3758 Pandey, Anshuman (2009-12-31), Proposal to Encode the Takri Script in ISO/IEC 10646
L2/10-015R Moore, Lisa (2010-02-09), "C.9", UTC #122 / L2 #219 Minutes
N3803 (pdf, doc) "M56.09", Unconfirmed minutes of WG 2 meeting no. 56, 2010-09-24
12.0 U+116B8 1 L2/17-279 N4866 Sharma, Shriramana (2017-08-01), Proposal to encode 116B8 TAKRI LETTER ARCHAIC KHA
L2/17-255 Anderson, Deborah; Whistler, Ken; Pournader, Roozbeh; Moore, Lisa; Liang, Hai (2017-07-28), "9. Takri", Recommendations to UTC #152 July-August 2017 on Script Proposals
L2/17-222 Moore, Lisa (2017-08-11), "D.12.3", UTC #152 Minutes
N4953 (pdf, doc) "M66.16f", Unconfirmed minutes of WG 2 meeting 66, 2018-03-23
  1. Proposed code points and characters names may differ from final code points and names
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References
  1. Pandey, Anshuman (2009-03-25). "N3545: Proposal to Encode the Sharada Script in ISO/IEC 10646" (PDF). Working Group Document, ISO/IEC JTC1/SC2/WG2.
  2. "Takri in Land Dispute in Bilaspur".
  3. "Tankri once the language of royals, is now dying in Himachal Pradesh - Hindustan times". Archived from the original on 2017-02-02. Retrieved 2017-01-25.
  4. "Ancient scripts of Indian Mountains fights for survival - Zee News". Retrieved 2017-01-09.
  5. "Takri workshop at Chamba".
  6. "Workshop at Shimla".
  7. "Takri worshop at Kullu, Kangra and Saambh".
  8. "Sambh Youtube Channel".
  9. "Dreaming of peace dividends: Revival of Shimla-Murree linkages - Aman Ki Asha". Retrieved 2020-08-01.
  10. "Dreaming of peace dividends: Revival of Shimla-Murree linkages - The Wire". Retrieved 2020-08-01.
  11. "Catalouging of Scripts".
  12. "Preliminary proposal to encode Sirmauri in Unicode" (PDF).
  13. "Unicode character database". The Unicode Standard. Retrieved 2016-07-09.
  14. "Enumerated Versions of The Unicode Standard". The Unicode Standard. Retrieved 2016-07-09.

External resources
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