![\"image\"](\"https:\/\/pandey.github.io\/unicode\/images\/gujarati_arabic.jpg\")
<\/p>\nUsage of new diacritic marks in Ismaili orthography<\/p>","content":"
Ismaili communities such as the Ithnashari Khoja (“Twelver Shia”) and Agakhani Khoja \nuse a convention for transliterating Arabic into the Gujarati script. The \nconvention allows for the representation of Arabic letters and signs for which \nthere are no corresponding characters in Gujarati. The diacritics used in \nthe convention are written with Gujarati letters that mostly closely \napproximate the Arabic sound being represented. \nThe creation of the full set and the first documented printing of\nthese signs was undertaken by the Ithnashari Khoja publisher Gul\u0101mal\u012b Ism\u0101\u02beil of\nBhavnagar, Gujarat in 1901. The characters are now standard elements of the \nGujarati orthography used by these communities.\nSome of these diacritics are shown below, with \ncolor coding added, in an excerpt of a printed version of the Qur\u02be\u0101n in the \nGujarati script:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I’ve written a proposal<\/a> \nto encode these characters as combining signs in the Gujarati block of the Unicode \nstandard. I am interested in communicating with users about these and other signs \nused in Gujarati for similar purposes. Thank you to Iqbal Akhtar for informing me \nabout these signs.<\/p>","category":[{"@attributes":{"term":"unicode"}},{"@attributes":{"term":"gujarati"}}]},{"title":"A \u201cNew\u201d Khojki\u00a0Inscription","link":{"@attributes":{"href":"https:\/\/pandey.github.io\/unicode\/posts\/2014-01-05-new-khojki-inscription.html","rel":"alternate"}},"published":"2014-01-05T15:39:00-08:00","updated":"2014-01-05T15:39:00-08:00","author":{"name":"Anshuman Pandey"},"id":"tag:pandey.github.io,2014-01-05:\/unicode\/posts\/2014-01-05-new-khojki-inscription.html","summary":" It’s sort of a reverse Rorschach Test: if I see\na blank slate, my mind will fill it with orthographic \nimprints. Usually ethereal calligraphy, more recently, \ntranslucent epigraphy. I’ve always marvelled\nat the craftsmen who meticulously engrave complex scripts upon \nmarble facades and copper plates; bringing a blank \u2026<\/p>","content":" It’s sort of a reverse Rorschach Test: if I see\na blank slate, my mind will fill it with orthographic \nimprints. Usually ethereal calligraphy, more recently, \ntranslucent epigraphy. I’ve always marvelled\nat the craftsmen who meticulously engrave complex scripts upon \nmarble facades and copper plates; bringing a blank slate \nto life with visible language. I recently had a chance to \nmaterialize my orthographic fantasies.<\/p>\n In early December 2013, I attended an\nopen house at Equinox Studios in the Georgetown neighborhood of\nSeattle. The artists had flung open the doors\nof their studios for the public to experience\nthe spaces where inspiration meets the workbench. \nIn one space an artist swung a wrecking ball into massive, ornate glass \nsculptures. In another, iron-wrights lit up the sky with \npyrotechnic displays emanating from giant, intricate lattices \nand delicate cut-metal trees. While watching these \nindustrial artists cast light and sound into the night, a \nmore silent performance in one corner of the studio caught my ears.<\/p>\n As I walked over I saw stacks of sandstone blocks \nand people hunched over tables. I peered over the shoulder of a \ncouple and saw them carving the logo of the\nSeattle Seahawks into one of these blocks. A few feet away, \nmetal workers fed wood into the blazing mouth of a \nfurnace. I watched as a pair of workers reached into the furnace \nwith a heavy metal yoke and extracted a crucible filled with \nbubbling liquid. Another worker collected finished blocks with \ncarvings and placed them on a metal rack resting upon a bed of\nblack sand. At her signal, the bearers of the crucible inched\nover to the rack and steadily poured the molten liquid into each\nblock. Further along the perimeter, a worker cracked the cooled \nblocks to release a metal tile, each bearing an \nembossed image of what has been etched into the block.<\/p>\n I was engrossed by this process of sandstone etchings being\nformed into pictographs on steel and nearly forgot about the\nrest of the open house. Some of my companions wandered onto the\nother installations as I grabbed a sandstone block and \nfound a spot at the table. I began thinking about what \nI would want to see wrought in steel. Luckily, my friend \nsaved me from writer’s, um, block by exclaiming\n“Oh, write my last name in Hindi!”.<\/p>\n For the next 45 minutes I stood hunched over my block,\nsketching her name first in pencil, then lightly tracing it with a\ncarving tool, then going over the grooves repeatedly until the\ndepths reached a quarter of an inch. Then the devil of details\narrived and he sat on my shoulder as I tried to coax the stone\nto yield curves that resemble those of inked letters. When\nI finished, I brushed off my shoulder and handed the finished\nblock to my friend, who ran her finger over the grooved of the\netched imprint of her name in reverse. Thumbs up. She passed it\nonto the metal worker, who sprayed it with a graphite coat and\nset it on the rack. We watched as the two crucible bearers\narrived with a fresh trove of molten steel and poured it onto\nthe carving…<\/p>\n The experience at Equinox loomed in my mind. I still wasn’t \nsure what I wanted to see cast in metal. A few days later it \nstruck me while I was researching variant letter-forms used in\nKhojki manuscripts while listening to Raageshwari Loomba’s\nrendition of the Ismaili ginan<\/i> “Aaye Rahim Raheman” by\nImam Begam. I read the ginan<\/i> in a printed Khojki book earlier in\nthe month:<\/p>\n I wondered if I could reproduce the\nletter-forms that Laljibhai Devraj had cut in Germany in 1903\nfor the first ever Khojki metal types, which he used at his\nKhoja Sindhi Printing Press in Bombay. I thought it\nmight be nice to do an etching of “Aaye Rahim Rahman”, the\nginan<\/i> which inspired me to think about a Khojki etching\nin the first place, but that seemed a bit ambitious. After all,\nI had only done one etching. So, I thought of the next best\nthing I would want to etch in Khojki…<\/p>\n But first, I would need my blank slate. My friend contacted\nAlair Wells, a talented sculptress and metal artist, whose\nstudio Tinder Heart\nMetals<\/a> at Equinox was hosting the metal working during the \nopen house. I described my idea to Alair, who was excited \nto help. We produced a wooden cast for the block by\nusing four 2” x 4”s and affixing it to a plywood board. Then\nAlair cut an 8” x 10” block from a pine board and we fixed that\nto the plywood. We poured Washington grade 7 white silica into\nthe cast to measure the amount of sand we would need. Then\nafter we placed the silica into a bucket, Alair and my\nfriend mixed a catalyst and bonding agent into it, mixed\nvigorously for minutes, and then poured the preparation into the\nblock. The 25 lb. sandstone block turned out beautifully:<\/p>\n Now, I had my blank slate. Then, I chose my tools: \na \u215c<\/span>” nib, a The first step was to sketch out the Khojki text using a pencil.\nThe text must be etched as a mirror image so that the embossing\non the tile will have the correct orientation. I had thought of\nmaking a stencil by printing out the Khojki text in reverse and\ncutting out the letters using a fine blade, but the glyphs of\nthe only Khojki font I have do not possess the sort of modulated\nstrokes I desired for the etching. So, I decided to do a free\nhand rendering of the text in reverse:<\/p>\n I then performed an initial etching. I held my breath quite a\nbit during this part. Unlike writing on paper or composing in\ntypesetting software, you really cannot ‘erase’ or ‘undo’ an\nerron without having extra\nsilica and bonding agent on hand. I lightly scraped the The first phase of the etching of the upper portion of the block\nis shown below. The grooves are shallow. I would eventually\ndeepen the routes:<\/p>\n Then time to sketch out the text for the bottom portion of the\netching. I could have sketched out the entire text first, but I\nhad a feeling that my palm would just smudge the graphite.<\/p>\n Below is the first run of the etching:<\/p>\n I used the broad nib for the text of the upper portion. It \nproduced a very pleasant width and modulation that\nresembled the style of Khojki I wanted to emulate.<\/p>\n Etching the tail of a vowel sign:<\/div><\/p>\n For the bottom portion, I used the medium nib. <\/p>\n I used the needle point to take care of the small details, like\nthe dots and the terminals of letters:<\/p>\n Working on the details:<\/p>\n I was concerned about the size of the dots. I feared that if I\nspaced them too closely, then the molten metal might just\nobliterate the sandstone in between and I’d end up with a blob\ninstead of three dots:<\/p>\n Here’s the before picture of the silica block:<\/p>\n and the after picture:<\/p>\n And a close up of the text: <\/div><\/p>\n On the morning of New Year’s Eve, I returned the finished block\nto Alair, who did another pouring in Tacoma that evening. This\nis how it turned out:<\/p>\n Exactly the best Khojki text to fill that blank slate!<\/p>\n While I was I developed my proposal for encoding Khojki in Unicode in\n2009, I was contacted by Irfan Gowani, who was enthusiastic\nabout the future encoding. We spoke intermittently, but I did\nnot meet Irfan until I returned to Seattle in 2013. During the\npast year Irfan and his wife Shelina have become wonderful\nfriends of mine. They are inspirational, creative, and lovely\npeople. And they are damned good cooks. One evening, a few days\nbefore Christmas, as I left their home after dinner Shelina\nhanded me two jars of homemade quince and fig jam, sourced from\nthe fruit of their own trees. Apart from the kababs they feed\nme, this was yet another testament of their giving nature. It\ngot me to thinking: what in the world could I offer them as an\nexpression of my friendship?<\/p>\n What else would express my gratitude for their\npresence in my life more uniquely than an 8” x 10” x\n\u00be<\/span>” metal plaque weighing 17 lb, which bears the names of\ntheir family embossed in Khojki by my own hands?! I have yet to\npresent it to them. But, I have a feeling that it will always remind \nthem of me… especially whenever they need to move it…<\/p>\n Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, Irfan and Shelina!<\/p>\n \u0101ye rahem rahem\u0101n, ab to rahem karoge,<\/i> \n\nej\u012b tana mana dhana guru ne arpa\u1e47a k\u012bje<\/i> \n\nej\u012b d\u0101na sakh\u0101vat har dam k\u012bje, <\/i> \n\nej\u012b saba gha\u1e6d ekaja rahem\u0101n k\u012bse,<\/i> \n\nej\u012b kahet \u012bm\u0101m begam mer\u0101 p\u012br hasan sh\u0101h,<\/i> Native Japanese analysis of the Indic inherent vowel<\/p>","content":" The below excerpt from the Shittan Hidenki<\/em> [\u6089\u66c7\u7955\u50b3\u8a18] (Taish\u014d Shinsh\u016b Daiz\u014dky\u014d<\/em>, \nvol. 84, no. 270) of Shinpan [\u4fe1\u7bc4] shows an analysis of independent vowel letters, \ntheir dependent forms, and the combinations of these dependent forms with the Siddham \nconsonant letter KA<\/span>:<\/p>\n It also shows a horizontal stroke associated with Siddham vowel letter A that correlates \nwith the dependent forms of the other vowel letters. In Japanese, this stroke is known as \nthe \u30a2\u70b9 a-ten<\/em> “a<\/em> mark” and is considered to be an elongated form of the \u547d\u70b9 \nmy\u014d-ten<\/em> “life mark”. The my\u014d-ten<\/em> is the initial brush stroke used in the writing \nof all Siddham letters. The a-ten<\/em> is produced by extending the my\u014d-ten<\/em> to the right. \nIt is not a true vowel sign; it is the headstroke of each consonant letter.<\/p>\n My hunch is that the concept of the a-ten<\/em> was developed by Japanese \nscholars as a way of explaining \nthe inherent vowel \/a\/ possessed by every consonant letter. All Indic vowels \nhave both independent and dependent forms, except for the letter A, which has only an \nindependent form. The a-ten<\/em> raises several philosophical questions regarding the \nsound and forms of letters: How does one capture this inherent sound, which is part of the \nphonetic identity of each consonant letter, but which is graphically unmarked? Is it contained \nsomehow in the letter form? If so, where in the glyph does it reside? As it represents the \ninitial brush stroke used for writing the vowel letter A, it may be said to contain the graphical \nand phonetic essence of the letter.<\/p>\n I raise the matter of the Siddham my\u014d-ten<\/em><\/a> \nand a-ten<\/em> because it is significant from an ideographic perspective, as are the other \nelemental strokes identified in pedagogical texts. I am \ncurrently investigating the potential of encoding these elemental strokes, which I \nmentioned in my Siddham proposal as being out of scope for the basic encoding. I \nwelcome any information on the my\u014d-ten<\/em> from users familiar with its philosophical \ninterpretations and its use in Siddham pedagogy.<\/p>\n","category":[{"@attributes":{"term":"unicode"}},{"@attributes":{"term":"siddham"}}]},{"title":"Siddham my\u014d-ten: the essence of a\u00a0character?","link":{"@attributes":{"href":"https:\/\/pandey.github.io\/unicode\/posts\/2013-11-13-siddham-myoten.html","rel":"alternate"}},"published":"2013-11-13T12:46:06.879000-08:00","updated":"2013-11-13T12:46:06.879000-08:00","author":{"name":"Anshuman Pandey"},"id":"tag:pandey.github.io,2013-11-13:\/unicode\/posts\/2013-11-13-siddham-myoten.html","summary":" Notes on analysis of Siddham character strokes<\/p>","content":" A short downward sloping horizontal stroke is shown in some historical\nand modern Siddham handbooks in connection with SIDDHAM<\/span> LETTER<\/span> A. In\nSacred Calligraphy of the East<\/em> (1981), John Stevens calls it a\n‘variation’ of the vowel letter A:<\/p>\n In the excerpt, below, from the Zusetsu Bonji<\/em> [\u56f3\u8aaa\u68b5\u5b57] (1974) of Kijun\nTokuzan [\u5fb3\u5c71\u6689\u7d14], the stroke is shown as a form of the vowel letter A,\non par with the dependent forms of the vowel letters A, I, and II<\/span>.<\/p>\n Giry\u016b Kodama [\u5150\u7389\u7fa9\u9686] also shows it as a form of A in his Bonji Hikkei<\/em>\n[\u68b5\u5b57\u5fc5\u643a] (1991):<\/p>\n Although it is correlated with Siddham vowel letter A, it is not a\ntrue vowel sign, but represents the initial brush stroke used in\nwriting the vowel letter. Below is another excerpt from Tokuzan\n(1974), which shows the nine brush strokes used for constructing the\nvowel letter A, with the initial stroke highlighted:<\/p>\n The same stroke is used in the creation of all\nSiddham letters. The stroke is shown below in the forms for Siddham\nletters A, KHA<\/span>, HA<\/span>, RA<\/span>, VA<\/span>:<\/p>\n This stroke is known in Japanese as \u547d\u70b9 my\u014d-ten<\/em> “life mark”. It\ncorresponds to the Chinese basic stroke \u9ede di\u01cen<\/em> “dot’”, which is\nencoded in Unicode as \u31d4U+31D4 CJK<\/span> STROKE<\/span> D.<\/p>\n I have not been able to conduct much research into the meaning of\nSiddham my\u014d-ten<\/em>, but I have a hunch that it embodies the phonetic\npower of a character. I would theorize that the philosophy behind the\nmy\u014d-ten<\/em> arose as a way of explaining the absence of a mark for the\ninherent vowel. All Indic vowels have both independent and dependent\nforms, except for the letter A, which has only an independent form.\nThis raises several questions from a philosophical angle: How does one\ncapture this inherent sound, which is part of the graphical structure\nof each consonant letter, but which is unmarked? Is it contained\nsomehow in the letter form? If so, where in the glyph does it reside?\nAs it represents the initial brush stroke used for writing the vowel\nletter A, it may be said to contain the graphical and phonetic essence\nof the letter.<\/p>\n I raise the issue of the Siddham my\u014d-ten<\/em> because it is significant\nfrom an ideographic perspective, as are the other elemental strokes\nidentified in pedagogical texts. I am currently investigating the\npotential of encoding these elemental strokes, which I mentioned in my\nSiddham proposal as being out of scope for the basic encoding. I\nwelcome any information on the my\u014d-ten<\/em> from users familiar with its\nphilosophical interpretations and its use in Siddham pedagogy.<\/p>","category":[{"@attributes":{"term":"unicode"}},{"@attributes":{"term":"siddham"}}]},{"title":"Siddham nukta: a curious\u00a0innovation","link":{"@attributes":{"href":"https:\/\/pandey.github.io\/unicode\/posts\/2013-11-05-siddham-nukta.html","rel":"alternate"}},"published":"2013-11-05T09:58:42.109000-08:00","updated":"2013-11-05T09:58:42.109000-08:00","author":{"name":"Anshuman Pandey"},"id":"tag:pandey.github.io,2013-11-05:\/unicode\/posts\/2013-11-05-siddham-nukta.html","summary":" Usage of a modern Indic diacritic in Siddham<\/p>","content":" The combining sign \u093c NUKTA<\/span> is used in Indic scripts for transcribing sounds\nfor which distinct characters do not natively exist in a writing\nsystem. The name of the character is derived from the Arabic word \u0646\u0642\u0637\u0629\nnuq\u1e6dah<\/em> (simplified in Indic romanization as nukta<\/em>)\n“dot”. The NUKTA<\/span> is used in Devanagari and related scripts of northern\nIndia for expressing sounds not commonly used in Indo-Aryan languages,\nmostly those that originate from Arabic and Persian. It is also used\nnatively in scripts such as Bengali and Tirhuta for distinguishing\nbetween characters that have nearly identical graphical structures.\nAlthough now used quite frequently in modern Indic scripts, the NUKTA<\/span>\nis not part of the traditional character repertoire based upon the\nrepresentation of Sanskrit phonology. As one might expect, the NUKTA<\/span>\nis not attested in historical Siddham materials as the usage of\nSiddham is largely restricted to the representation of Sanskrit.<\/p>\n I was, therefore, surprised when, during research for my\nproposal to encode the script in Unicode, I stumbled across the \nfollowing sample<\/a> \nat the Mandalar<\/a> site \nshowing usage of NUKTA<\/span> in Siddham text as:<\/p>\n The above excerpt provides the\ntranslation or transliteration of English “tattoo” in Sanskrit,\nEnglish\/Hindi, and Japanese. The Sanskrit \u0935\u0947\u0927 vedha<\/em> does\nnot truly translate as “tattoo”, but carries the connotation of a\n“piercing”, “puncturing”, or “perforation” (\u221a \u0935\u094d\u092f\u0927\u094d); the\nEnglish\/Hindi \u0924\u0924\u0942 tat\u016b<\/em> is simply a transliteration of English “tattoo”\n(which also might be rendered \u091f\u0948\u091f\u0942 t\u0323ait\u0323\u016b,<\/em> using retroflex\nletters instead of dentals); and \u0907\u0930\u0947\u095b\u0941\u092e\u093f irezumi<\/em>, which\nis the transliteration into Siddham of the Japanese word for “tattoo”,\n\u5165\u308c\u58a8 irezumi<\/em>.<\/p>\n Of interest is the usage of NUKTA<\/span> in\nwriting the word \u0907\u0930\u0947\u095b\u0941\u092e\u093f. In general, the NUKTA<\/span> is written with a\nletter that has the closest phonetic proximity to the target sound.\nHere, the NUKTA<\/span> is combined with SIDDHAM<\/span> LETTER<\/span> JA<\/span> (\/\u02a4\/) for\nrepresenting \/z\/. When NUKTA<\/span> occurs with a consonant to which a vowel\nsign is attached, then it is ordered in encoded text immediately after\nthe consonant and before the combining vowel sign: JA<\/span> + NUKTA<\/span> + VOWEL<\/span> \nSIGN<\/span> U. The positioning\nof the NUKTA<\/span> with regard to the base letter depends upon the shape of\nthe letter and the presence of any below-base vowel signs.<\/p>\n The Mandalar site has a chart<\/a>\nthat shows the usage of NUKTA<\/span> with other consonants for representing\nfricatives and other sounds:<\/p>\n The introduction of the NUKTA<\/span> in Siddham is a\nsurprising innovation. I have yet to investigate the issue fully, but\nat first glimpse the usage of NUKTA<\/span> suggests that modern users of\nSiddham seek to extend the script by adopting features used in Indic\nscripts. Such borrowings show that Siddham is quite alive in Japan and\nthat its usage is continually being extended beyond traditional\ncontexts. Indeed, the Mandalar site displays these innovations under\nthe banner of \u73fe\u4ee3\u6089\u66c7 gendai shittan<\/em> or “modern Siddham”:<\/p>\n In order to support such usage, I\nproposed the character for encoding as U+115C0 SIDDHAM<\/span> SIGN<\/span> NUKTA<\/span>. It\ncorresponds to characters such as U+093C DEVANAGARI<\/span> SIGN<\/span> NUKTA<\/span> and\npossesses the same properties.<\/p>\n I am curious to know the\nhistory of NUKTA<\/span> in Siddham and the rationale of the gendai shittan<\/em> \nuser(s) who first used NUKTA<\/span> in the script. Was the idea motivated\nby the usage of NUKTA<\/span> in modern Indic orthographies? Was it influenced\nby Unicode? Does the ‘dot’ have ideographic interpretations?<\/p>","category":[{"@attributes":{"term":"unicode"}},{"@attributes":{"term":"siddham"}}]},{"title":"Siddham ornaments: beyond\u00a0punctuation","link":{"@attributes":{"href":"https:\/\/pandey.github.io\/unicode\/posts\/2013-11-04-siddham-ornaments.html","rel":"alternate"}},"published":"2013-11-04T17:10:41.817000-08:00","updated":"2013-11-04T17:10:41.817000-08:00","author":{"name":"Anshuman Pandey"},"id":"tag:pandey.github.io,2013-11-04:\/unicode\/posts\/2013-11-04-siddham-ornaments.html","summary":" Notes on ornamental signs used in Siddham<\/p>","content":" Siddham has several characters that are used in manuscripts for marking the \nend of text sections. Some of these are shown in column \u2466 below: <\/p>\n Palaeographically, these section marks are similar to characters in other \nIndic scripts, such as \ud804\udc4d U+1104D BRAHMI<\/span> PUNCTUATION<\/span> LOTUS<\/span>, which are ornamental \nmarks. In general, these marks do not possess phonetic values or semantic \nmeaning beyond their function as terminations. However, as the above excerpt \nshows, in the Japanese analysis of Siddham, these marks additionally represent \nthe syllable “a\u1e43”.<\/p>\n The extant sources contain several other ornaments beyond the three\nshown above. My research identified at least 14, which I proposed for\ninclusion<\/a> in the\nSiddham block:<\/p>\n The section marks may be classified into five groups based upon their\ngraphical structure.<\/p>\n In addition to their representation of “a\u1e43”, according to certain Japanese \nBuddhist traditions, these marks have esoteric connotations that offer \ninsights into the textual passages after which they are written. Moreover, \nthe graphical structure indicates other philosophical meanings, of which I \nam not fully aware or to which I am not privy! These characters would be \nconsidered ornaments or glyphic variants of a basic set of section marks \naccording to the character-glyph model of Unicode, but on account of the \nsemantics they possess beyond their function as punctuation, they have been \nencoded independently. <\/p>","category":[{"@attributes":{"term":"unicode"}},{"@attributes":{"term":"siddham"}}]},{"title":"Siddham digits: any good\u00a0evidence?","link":{"@attributes":{"href":"https:\/\/pandey.github.io\/unicode\/posts\/2013-11-02-siddham-digits.html","rel":"alternate"}},"published":"2013-11-02T01:07:47.574000-07:00","updated":"2013-11-02T01:07:47.574000-07:00","author":{"name":"Anshuman Pandey"},"id":"tag:pandey.github.io,2013-11-02:\/unicode\/posts\/2013-11-02-siddham-digits.html","summary":" Notes on the status of digits in Siddham<\/p>","content":" As I conducted research for my proposal to encode\nSiddham<\/a> in Unicode,\nI began to notice that the primary and secondary sources I examined\nall lacked a set of characters that are typically found in related\nIndic scripts that emerged during the 10th century…<\/p>\n Digits.<\/p>\n Well, this is not entirely true. As I discussed in section 3.13 of the\nproposal, Siddham contains two characters, that based upon their form\nand function, appear to be the remaining representatives of a set of\ndigits that were once likely part of the script. These characters\ncorrespond to a palaeographic form of an Indic digit TWO<\/span>. But, in\nSiddham this sign has lost its numeric value and it lives on only\ngraphically. Well, this is not entirely true, either. The sign may\nhave lost its numeric value, but the vestigial character retains its\nnumerical semantics in its function. This character is the repetition\nmark shown below:<\/p>\n The sign in question appears twice in the excerpt (middle row,\ncharacters 3 and 4 from the left) and is transliterated as “h\u016b\u1e43”. This\ngloss is slightly misleading. The character itself does not represent\nthe syllable “h\u016b\u1e43”; rather, it represents a ‘ditto’ mark. Moreover,\nalthough it is graphically based upon a palaeographic digit TWO<\/span>, it\nsimply indicates that the word or syllable that precedes it is to be\nrepeated; not twice, but just once. The two instances of the mark mean\nthat “h\u016b\u1e43” is to be recited three times, as shown. It appears that the\neditor of the original text provided the intended reading instead of\n‘ditto’ for the sake of clarity.<\/p>\n This Siddham repetition mark corresponds glyphically to Devanagari\ndigit two (\u0968), but more so to the Gurmukhi digit two (\u0a68). It seems\nthat as Siddhamatrika made its way from south to east Asia, the\nBuddhist scribes and scholars who used it slowly discarded from the\nscript features that they didn’t really find necessary or useful. So,\naway went the digits 0-1 and 3-9. The digit two (\u0a68) seems to have\nstruck someone as a handy way of indicating a “doubling” when writing\nor copying texts. So, what we have now in Siddham is essentially an\neast Asian ideographic interpretation of an Indic character that was\noriginally and palaeographically a sign for a digit. The ‘\u0a68’ is the\nonly numerical sign that I have seen in Siddham texts.<\/p>\n Well, that is not entirely true either… In the latter stages of my\nresearch I found the following chart on a Japanese site:<\/p>\n These “Bonji numerals” appear to be modern creations based upon\nDevanagari digits. I submitted a\nproposal<\/a> to encode\na set of digits in the Siddham block based upon these signs, but the\nUnicode Technical Committee (UTC<\/span>) requested additional evidence of the\nuse of digits in the script.<\/p>\n Does anyone know of Siddham manuscripts, pedagogical texts, or other\nrecords that contain examples of digits? Hmmm, at this point, I may\neven accept \u5165\u308c\u58a8 irezumi<\/em> as evidence, even if the UTC<\/span> might not!<\/p>","category":[{"@attributes":{"term":"unicode"}},{"@attributes":{"term":"siddham"}}]},{"title":"A distinctive Khojki letter for\u00a0qa?","link":{"@attributes":{"href":"https:\/\/pandey.github.io\/unicode\/posts\/2013-10-12-khojki-qa.html","rel":"alternate"}},"published":"2013-10-12T19:40:36.542000-08:00","updated":"2013-10-12T19:40:36.542000-08:00","author":{"name":"Anshuman Pandey"},"id":"tag:pandey.github.io,2013-10-12:\/unicode\/posts\/2013-10-12-khojki-qa.html","summary":" Is a character used for \/q\/ a distinctive letter or a glyphic variant?<\/p>","content":" The following excerpt from a printed Khojki book contains two forms of\nka<\/em>. The ka<\/em> highlighted in blue is the representative glyph of\nU+11208 KHOJKI<\/span> LETTER<\/span> KA<\/span> (to be published in Unicode 7), while the red\nka<\/em> is the alternate form.<\/p>\n Here, the red ka<\/em> is used in the word kal\u0101m<\/em>, while the blue ka<\/em> is\nused in the word kal\u0101\u1e43m<\/em>, both are representations\nof the Arabic word \u06a9\u0644\u0627\u0645 kal\u0101m<\/em> “composition, work”; the anusv\u0101ra<\/em> in\nkal\u0101\u1e43m<\/em> is not semantically significant.<\/p>\n The alternate form is used in other sources for representing ka<\/em>,\nsuggesting that the red ka<\/em> is a glyphic variant:<\/p>\n However, it also appears in other source, where it is used for\nrepresenting qa<\/em> (the Arabic \u0642 q\u0101f<\/em>), suggesting that it may indeed\nbe a distinctive letter, a possible *KHOJKI<\/span> LETTER<\/span> QA<\/span>:<\/p>\n I have not yet seen this work, so I do not know the context in which\nthe letter is used for q\u0101f<\/em>.<\/p>\n The shape of KHOJKI<\/span> LETTER<\/span> KA<\/span> is fairly uniform across printed\nmaterials and manuscripts. It is of interest that both forms occur in\nthe same document, as shown in the first image, and in such close\nproximity. The excerpt is from a printed book and is likely a faithful\nreproduction of a manuscript. Analysis of several manuscript sources\nis necessary in order to determine whether the red ka<\/em> is a glyphic\nvariant of KA<\/span> or a distinct Khojki letter QA<\/span>.<\/p>","category":[{"@attributes":{"term":"unicode"}},{"@attributes":{"term":"khojki"}}]},{"title":"A Graphite font for\u00a0Khojki","link":{"@attributes":{"href":"https:\/\/pandey.github.io\/unicode\/posts\/2013-10-10-khojki-graphite.html","rel":"alternate"}},"published":"2013-10-10T00:05:32.506000-07:00","updated":"2013-10-10T00:05:32.506000-07:00","author":{"name":"Anshuman Pandey"},"id":"tag:pandey.github.io,2013-10-10:\/unicode\/posts\/2013-10-10-khojki-graphite.html","summary":" A Graphite font for Khojki<\/p>","content":" As mentioned in \n“The Imminent Paradox of New Scripts in Unicode”<\/a>, \nI have begun to develop Graphite fonts for several of the historical and minor scripts\nthat I have proposed for inclusion in the Unicode Standard. The first\nof these fonts is for Khojki, which I \nproposed for encoding<\/a> in Unicode a few\nyears ago and will likely appear in The Unicode Standard, version 7.0,\nplanned for release in 2014.<\/p>\n Khojki is a medieval Indic script from the Sindh region, situated in\npresent day Pakistan, which is used for liturgical purposes by the\nNizari Ismaili community. It has been preserved by this minority\ncommunity for six centuries, both at home and in their diaspora. The\nscript has been used since the 15th century for manuscripts and since\nthe early 20th century for the printing of books. There are\norganizations, such as the Institute of Ismaili\nStudies<\/a> (IIS<\/span>) in London, which possesses a\nlarge collection of materials in Khojki, and several scholars\nworldwide that conduct research on these materials, that will benefit\nfrom this effort.<\/p>\n I developed this font on a volunteer basis to meet the needs of the\nIIS<\/span>, which has a requirement for the input and display Unicode Khojki\nin order to carry out their cataloguing efforts. The font, named\nKhojkiGraphite, is based upon the KhojkiJiwa font designed by Pyarali\nJiwa of the United Kingdom years ago. Mr. Jiwa’s font is the only\nTrueType font for Khojki; however is it based upon a legacy encoding.\nIts glyph repertoire contains several consonant-vowel ligatures;\nhowever, there are several inconsistencies with these glyph. I’ve\nedited the glyphs to bring them into structural and optical alignment,\nfixed metrics, and added Graphite rendering rules in order to create\nthe first Unicode-encoded Khojki font. At present it works in\nOpenOffice and LibreOffice, in XeLaTeX and XeLaTeX, as well as in\nother applications that support Graphite.<\/p>\n Here is an excerpt of a gin\u0101n<\/em> typed in LibreOffice using KhojkiGraphite:<\/p>\n In order to provide users with an effective means of using the font,\nWafi Momin of IIS<\/span> has developed a basic keyboard using the Microsoft\nKeyboard Layout Creator (MSKLC<\/span>). So far, the combination of the font\nand the keyboard is helping IIS<\/span> to carry out its projects using modern\ntechnologies and to make their materials available in digital media\nusing common standards.<\/p>\n I will release the KhojkiGraphite font and keyboard for public testing\nin the next few months. My goal is to release the package in\nconjunction with the publication of Unicode 7.0, so that users have\nimmediate support for Khojki, even though in limited environments.<\/p>","category":[{"@attributes":{"term":"unicode"}},{"@attributes":{"term":"khojki"}}]},{"title":"The paradox of encoding new scripts in\u00a0Unicode","link":{"@attributes":{"href":"https:\/\/pandey.github.io\/unicode\/posts\/2013-10-09-script-encoding-paradox.html","rel":"alternate"}},"published":"2013-10-09T00:09:18.590000-08:00","updated":"2013-10-09T00:09:18.590000-08:00","author":{"name":"Anshuman Pandey"},"id":"tag:pandey.github.io,2013-10-09:\/unicode\/posts\/2013-10-09-script-encoding-paradox.html","summary":" The need for full support for each Unicode version.<\/p>","content":" Over the past several years I have developed Unicode standards for\nnumerous historical and minor\nscripts<\/a> of South Asia. Some of my\nformally proposed encodings have been approved and are making \ntheir way through various stages of balloting as part of the\nprocess established by the International Organization for\nStandardization (ISO<\/span>) —- Unicode is also known as ISO<\/span>\/IEC<\/span> 10646 —-\nwhile others have been formally published in the standard. <\/p>\n The inclusion of a script in Unicode is a major milestone. Native user and\nscholarly communities await the arrival of these new encodings from\nthe day that I contact them —- if not for years in the making —- \nand discuss my plans for developing an encoding for a particular script. \nIt takes nearly two years for an encoding to be published in Unicode after \nbeing approved by both the Unicode Technical Committee and ISO<\/span>’s WG2<\/span> group. \nBut, once a script is in Unicode the general perception of what “inclusion\nin the standard” means is far removed from the reality that is\nsuggested by such an “inclusion”.<\/p>\n The disjunction between expectation and reality is truly a paradox: The\nencoding of a script in Unicode does not automatically imply that it will be\nsupported out of the box. As is the case with other historical and minor scripts\nencoded in Unicode, it is unlikely that major software houses will\nrush to provide support for these scripts right away, or if they do so\nat all!<\/p>\n If these companies do not implement support for these scripts,\nusers will be unable to produce documents in their writing systems \nusing common applications such as Microsoft Word and Adobe InDesign. Users \nwill be unable to view websites containing text in these scripts using \nInternet Explorer, Firefox, and other browsers. Moreover, typographers \nwishing to design new, modern typefaces for these scripts will be hampered \nbecause their creations will be unusable in ubiquitous platforms such as Windows.\nThe reason for this is that OpenType, the common font standard, is\ndependent upon Microsoft’s Uniscribe rendering engine and a font will\nnot work in Windows until Uniscribe can handle the underlying script.\nCertainly, those who use Linux systems can rely on HarfBuzz, an open\nsource OpenType rendering engine; but, ultimately, from a practical\nperspective, Uniscribe support is important because Windows is the\nmost-commonly used operating system worldwide.<\/p>\n What good is a Unicode standard for a script if there is no way for\nthe general public to actually make use of it? What good is a Unicode\nstandard for a script if implementation of it is dependent upon the\neconomic cost-benefit decisions of major software companies? Although\nhistorical and minority scripts and related linguistic ecologies may\nnot be profit generators, they are certainly valuable from humanist perspectives.<\/p>\n So, what is the reality if Microsoft, Apple, Google, and others don’t support \nhistorical and minor scripts in their operating systems when a new\nversion of the Unicode standard is published… or ever? For now,\nthankfully, there we can provide font solutions using the Graphite\nrendering engine developed by SIL<\/span>. However, Graphite fonts are not\nsupported in Windows and, therefore, will not work in Microsoft\nOffice, Internet Explorer, and other commonly-used applications.\nApplications like LibreOffice and XeTeX support Graphite, but the user\nbase for these is limited. In the end, at least Graphite exists and\nthose of us who work with lesser-used writing systems owe gratitude to\nSIL<\/span> for having the foresight and imagination to provide a means for\nrendering writing systems independent of the whims of software house.<\/p>\n I maintain the hope that Microsoft will continue to expand Uniscribe\nin order to support all scripts in the Unicode standard. But until the\ntime comes when there is mandatory synchronization between releases of\nthe standard and implementation, we must turn to other, albeit\nlimited, solutions. As part of this solution, I will build Graphite\nfonts for all the scripts I have brought into Unicode in order to\nprovide a basic level of support for these scripts in the Windows\nenvironment, even if the range of usage is limited. I am not a\nprofessional typopgrapher nor do I pretend to be, but such efforts are\njust an extension of the work I’ve started.<\/p>\n But, I am an individual with limited resources and numerous\nconstraints. I encourage Microsoft, Apple, Google and others to meet me half way.\nAfter all, what good is a standard if no one cares to support it?<\/p>","category":{"@attributes":{"term":"unicode"}}},{"title":"Fraction signs in\u00a0Oriya","link":{"@attributes":{"href":"https:\/\/pandey.github.io\/unicode\/posts\/2013-05-08-oriya-fraction-signs.html","rel":"alternate"}},"published":"2013-05-08T11:19:00-08:00","updated":"2013-05-08T11:19:00-08:00","author":{"name":"Anshuman Pandey"},"id":"tag:pandey.github.io,2013-05-08:\/unicode\/posts\/2013-05-08-oriya-fraction-signs.html","summary":" Six fraction signs historically used in Oriya have been included in\nUnicode 6.0. These characters appear in written and printed documents,\nand were part of at least four different sets of Oriya metal fonts.\nThe fraction signs were commonly used until 1958, at which time the\nGovernment of India \u2026<\/p>","content":" Six fraction signs historically used in Oriya have been included in\nUnicode 6.0. These characters appear in written and printed documents,\nand were part of at least four different sets of Oriya metal fonts.\nThe fraction signs were commonly used until 1958, at which time the\nGovernment of India adopted the decimal system for currency and the\nmetric system for weights and measures. The characters are now obsolete.<\/p>\n The fraction signs are illustrated by R. J.<\/span> Grundy in the Amos Sutton shows only the quarter fractions in the These fraction signs are now part of the The Oriya fractions are related to the ‘currency numerator’ signs used\nin Bengali for writing fractions:<\/p>\n More information on the Oriya fraction signs is available in the \noriginal proposal to encode these signs<\/a>. \nInformation about the ‘Common Indic’ fraction signs shown\nin the above image may be found in the \nproposal<\/a> \nto encode ‘Common Indic Number Forms’ in Unicode.<\/p>","category":[{"@attributes":{"term":"unicode"}},{"@attributes":{"term":"oriya"}}]},{"title":"Signs for representing Kashmiri vowels in\u00a0Sharada","link":{"@attributes":{"href":"https:\/\/pandey.github.io\/unicode\/posts\/2011-05-12-sharada-kashmiri-signs.html","rel":"alternate"}},"published":"2011-05-12T12:31:00-07:00","updated":"2011-05-12T12:31:00-07:00","author":{"name":"Anshuman Pandey"},"id":"tag:pandey.github.io,2011-05-12:\/unicode\/posts\/2011-05-12-sharada-kashmiri-signs.html","summary":" Innovations for Kashmiri vowels in Sharada<\/p>","content":" The Sharada script was used primarily for writing Sanskrit. In order\nto represent Kashmiri, three additional signs were added to the script.<\/p>\n A below-base slash that resembles the Devanagari vir\u0101ma<\/em>:<\/p>\n An above-base bar that represents the Devanagari anudatta<\/em>:<\/p>\n An underdot that is similar to the Devanagari nukta<\/em>:<\/p>\n I am currently researching these signs. Please contact me if you have\ninformation about the use of these signs for writing Kashmiri.<\/p>","category":[{"@attributes":{"term":"unicode"}},{"@attributes":{"term":"sharada"}}]},{"title":"Change of block name: \u2018Sindhi\u2019 to\u00a0\u2018Khudawadi\u2019","link":{"@attributes":{"href":"https:\/\/pandey.github.io\/unicode\/posts\/2011-01-30-sindhi-name-change.html","rel":"alternate"}},"published":"2011-01-30T14:48:00-08:00","updated":"2011-01-30T14:48:00-08:00","author":{"name":"Anshuman Pandey"},"id":"tag:pandey.github.io,2011-01-30:\/unicode\/posts\/2011-01-30-sindhi-name-change.html","summary":" Details on change of proposed block name to Khudawadi<\/p>","content":" My work on the Landa-based scripts of Sindhi continues. However, there\nhas been a change<\/a>\nto the name of the ‘Sindhi’ script that I proposed, and which I\nbriefly discussed in The Khudawadi script was initially proposed under named ‘Sindhi’\nbecause its character repertoire is based upon the ‘Standard Sindhi’\nscript. Standard Sindhi is itself based upon the Khudawadi script,\nwhich was the most well-known and complete of the Landa-based scripts\nused in Sindh. The intent of the original\nproposal<\/a> was to\ndevelop a standard that might also be used for representing the minor\nLanda scripts of Sindh, some of which are unsuitable for independent\nencoding. As ‘Standard Sindhi’ was developed from Khudawadi in the\n1860s with the same idea, the rationale is valid, but the choice of\nthe name ‘Sindhi’ is not.<\/p>\n The generic name ‘Sindhi’ is problematic for several reasons. It is\ngenerally used for referring to the class of Landa-based scripts of\nSindh, ie. the ‘Sindhi scripts’. It is not the proper name of any\nwriting system that belongs to this script family. In fact, several\nother scripts, such as Khojki and Shikarpuri, are also known as\n‘Sindhi’. Even ‘Standard Sindhi’ was not known by the generic name\n‘Sindhi’, but as ‘Hindi Sindhi’, etc. In modern India and Pakistan,\nthe ‘Sindhi script’ is commonly understood to be the Arabic-based\nscript used for writing the Sindhi language.<\/p>\n The name ‘Khudawadi’ is the most appropriate name for the script. It\nis the proper name of the script and is well attested in primary and\nsecondary literature, such as the Linguistic Survey of India<\/em>. The\nname is also used for ‘Standard Sindhi’, which is a reformed variant\nof Khudawadi and is referred to as such, ie. ‘improved Khudawadi’, in\nvarious sources.<\/p>\n The change of name from ‘Sindhi’ to ‘Khudawadi’ will provide greater\nsemantic and taxonomic clarity in identifying the various scripts used\nfor writing Sindhi and the scripts used in Sindh. For example, it is\nmore appropriate to refer to “the Sindhi scripts ‘Khudawadi’ and\n‘Khojki’”, rather than to “the Sindhi scripts ‘Sindhi’ and ‘Khojki’”.\nMoreover, the use of the name ‘Khudawadi’ will enable users to\ndistinguish between the Landa-based and Arabic-based scripts.<\/p>\n More details are available in the\ndocument<\/a> requesting\nthe formal change of name. The final proposal for Khudawadi is almost\nready for submission to the Unicode Technical Committee.<\/p>","category":[{"@attributes":{"term":"unicode"}},{"@attributes":{"term":"khudawadi"}}]},{"title":"Alternate letter for \u1e0da in\u00a0Devanagari","link":{"@attributes":{"href":"https:\/\/pandey.github.io\/unicode\/posts\/2010-12-10-devanagari-dda.html","rel":"alternate"}},"published":"2010-12-10T16:22:00-08:00","updated":"2010-12-10T16:22:00-08:00","author":{"name":"Anshuman Pandey"},"id":"tag:pandey.github.io,2010-12-10:\/unicode\/posts\/2010-12-10-devanagari-dda.html","summary":" Another letter for writing a retroflex stop in Devanagari<\/p>","content":" In Devanagari, the phoneme [\u0256] is generally represented with \u0921 U+0921\nDEVANAGARI<\/span> LETTER<\/span> DDA<\/span>. In historical Devanagari orthography for the\nMarwari language of Rajasthan, [\u0256] is represented with a different\nletter. In Marwari, \u0921 is instead used for representing [\u027d], an\nallographic variant of [\u0256], which is generally written in Hindi as \u0921\u093c\nU+095C DEVANAGARI<\/span> LETTER<\/span> DDDHA<\/span>.<\/p>\n In the Linguistic Survey of India<\/em>, George Grierson describes the\nusage of these characters in Marwari, as shown in the image below:<\/p>\n The character is also shown by Mathias Metzger (Die Sprache der\nVak\u012bl-Briefe aus R\u0101jasth\u0101n<\/em>, W\u00fcrzburg: Ergon Verlag, 2003):<\/p>\n This Marwari DDA<\/span> cannot be treated as a glyphic variant of \u0921 and\nshould be encoded as an independent letter. I have submitted a\nproposal<\/a>, which\ncontains additional information about the letter and examples of use.<\/p>\n The forms shown by Grierson and Metzger differ slightly. My attempt at\nrepresenting the two forms, in adherence with Monotype Devanagari, is\nshown below:<\/p>\n I recently learned that this letter was also used in Devanagari orthography \nfor languages of Sindh. The following specimen shows use of \nthe letter in Kutchi:<\/p>\n Its usage contrasts with the regular letter DDA<\/span>:<\/p>\n I would be interested to learn if MARWARI<\/span> LETTER<\/span> DDA<\/span> is used in the \northographies for other languages.<\/p>","category":[{"@attributes":{"term":"unicode"}},{"@attributes":{"term":"devanagari"}}]},{"title":"An inscription in the Khudawadi\u00a0script","link":{"@attributes":{"href":"https:\/\/pandey.github.io\/unicode\/posts\/2010-09-01-khudawadi-inscription.html","rel":"alternate"}},"published":"2010-09-01T13:13:00-07:00","updated":"2010-09-01T13:13:00-07:00","author":{"name":"Anshuman Pandey"},"id":"tag:pandey.github.io,2010-09-01:\/unicode\/posts\/2010-09-01-khudawadi-inscription.html","summary":" Details on an inscription bearing text in Khudawadi<\/p>","content":" The Landa-based scripts of\nSindh<\/a> were generally\nnot used for much more than routine writing and general commercial\nactivity. Michel Boivin of L’\u00c9cole des hautes \u00e9tudes en sciences\nsociales (EHESS<\/span>), Paris, recently sent me photographs that show the\nuse of the Khudawadi script in an inscription.<\/p>\n Below is a photograph of a Khudawadi inscription in an ex-voto<\/em> at\nthe shrine of Udero Lal in Hyderabad,\nSindh<\/a>:<\/p>\n The image below shows the detail of the Khudawadi inscription:<\/p>\n In addition to Khudawadi, this ex-voto<\/em> has inscriptions in four\nother scripts: Latin, Devanagari, Arabic, and Gurmukhi.<\/p>\n A proposal to encode Khudawadi in the Unicode standard is being prepared.<\/p>","category":[{"@attributes":{"term":"unicode"}},{"@attributes":{"term":"khudawadi"}}]},{"title":"Forms of candrabindu in\u00a0Sharada","link":{"@attributes":{"href":"https:\/\/pandey.github.io\/unicode\/posts\/2010-08-31-sharada-candrabindu.html","rel":"alternate"}},"published":"2010-08-31T03:03:00-07:00","updated":"2010-08-31T03:03:00-07:00","author":{"name":"Anshuman Pandey"},"id":"tag:pandey.github.io,2010-08-31:\/unicode\/posts\/2010-08-31-sharada-candrabindu.html","summary":" Varying representations of candrabindu in Sharada<\/p>","content":" The regular form ? of the CANDRABINDU<\/span> in Sharada resembles \nan inverted form of Devanagari ?. Several Sharada manuscripts \nshow an inverted form of CANDRABINDU<\/span>, which co-occurs with \nthe regular form, sometimes on the same line.\nIn the following image, the inverted CANDRABINDU<\/span> sign is used for\nwriting OM<\/span>, while the regular CANDRABINDU<\/span> is used in other contexts:<\/p>\n The above specimen might lead one to think that OM<\/span> is written with an\ninverted CANDRABINDU<\/span>. Is it perhaps because it is considered a\n‘special’ symbol?<\/p>\n In the following image both regular and inverted CANDRABINDU<\/span> are used\nfor writing OM<\/span> (sorry, the beginning of the second line is smudged in\nthe original):<\/p>\n Is there a semantic distinction between the regular and inverted forms\nof CANDRABINDU<\/span> in Sharada? It does not seem so, especially when\nconsidering the use of both forms in writing OM<\/span>, which has a fairly\nfixed meaning…<\/p>\n Do we just chalk it up to scribal idiosyncrasy? <\/p>","category":[{"@attributes":{"term":"unicode"}},{"@attributes":{"term":"sharada"}}]},{"title":"Modi accounting signs and number\u00a0forms","link":{"@attributes":{"href":"https:\/\/pandey.github.io\/unicode\/posts\/2010-08-28-modi-accounting-signs.html","rel":"alternate"}},"published":"2010-08-28T15:40:00-07:00","updated":"2010-08-28T15:40:00-07:00","author":{"name":"Anshuman Pandey"},"id":"tag:pandey.github.io,2010-08-28:\/unicode\/posts\/2010-08-28-modi-accounting-signs.html","summary":" Signs used for numerical notation in Modi<\/p>","content":" Before the standardization of currency and monetary units \nthat followed the formation of the Republic of India \nand other nation states in South Asia in the middle of \nthe 20th century, various forms of numerical notation \nwere used in the region.<\/p>\n Modi documents contain unique signs that are used for marking monetary\namounts. Two such signs are shown in the image below:<\/p>\n The character \ua837 is called \u0906\u0933\u0940 \u0101\u1e37\u012b<\/em> in Marathi. It represents\nthe absence of numbers and is written after whole amounts to indicate\nthat there are no fractions. In the image, the first highlighted\nexample is \u096e\u0966\u0966\ua837 ‘800\/-‘ and the third is \u0967\u096a\u0966\ua837 ‘140\/-‘. The \ua837 sign is\nencoded in Unicode as U+A837 NORTH<\/span> INDIC<\/span> PLACEHOLDER<\/span> MARK<\/span>. (More\ninformation on this and other signs is provided in my proposal to\nencode Common Indic number forms<\/a><\/p>\n The other sign shown resembles the \u00f7 ‘division sign’ or obelus<\/em>. It\nis used in the highlighted examples two and four in the above image.\nBased upon the context in which it is used, it could represent a\n‘remainder’ sign, eg. the amount written and then some; or a \n![\"image\"](\"https:\/\/pandey.github.io\/unicode\/images\/aaye_rahem_raheman_khojki.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"image\"](\"https:\/\/pandey.github.io\/unicode\/images\/02_silica_block_with_tools.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"image\"](\"https:\/\/pandey.github.io\/unicode\/images\/08_tools.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"image\"](\"https:\/\/pandey.github.io\/unicode\/images\/03_pencil_sketch.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"image\"](\"https:\/\/pandey.github.io\/unicode\/images\/04_etching_started.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"image\"](\"https:\/\/pandey.github.io\/unicode\/images\/05_etching_finished.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"image\"](\"https:\/\/pandey.github.io\/unicode\/images\/06_more_sketches.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"image\"](\"https:\/\/pandey.github.io\/unicode\/images\/07_all_etched.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"image\"](\"https:\/\/pandey.github.io\/unicode\/images\/09_broad_nib_line.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"image\"](\"https:\/\/pandey.github.io\/unicode\/images\/10_broad_nib_modulation.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"image\"](\"https:\/\/pandey.github.io\/unicode\/images\/11_small_nib_line.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"image\"](\"https:\/\/pandey.github.io\/unicode\/images\/14_needle_hook.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"image\"](\"https:\/\/pandey.github.io\/unicode\/images\/12_needle_line.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"image\"](\"https:\/\/pandey.github.io\/unicode\/images\/13_needle_dots.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"image\"](\"https:\/\/pandey.github.io\/unicode\/images\/01_silica_block.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"image\"](\"https:\/\/pandey.github.io\/unicode\/images\/16_final_etching.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"image\"](\"https:\/\/pandey.github.io\/unicode\/images\/17_final_etching_face.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"image\"](\"https:\/\/pandey.github.io\/unicode\/images\/18_metal_etching.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\n\u0101ye rahem rahem\u0101n, ab to rahem karoge.<\/i><\/p>\n
\nto gin\u0101ne gin\u0101ne gin\u0101n, ab to rahem karoge.<\/i>\n
\nto d\u0101ne d\u0101ne d\u0101n, ab to rahem karoge.<\/i>\n
\nto \u015b\u0101ne \u015b\u0101ne \u015b\u0101n, ab to rahem karoge.<\/i>\n
\n\u012bm\u0101ne \u012bm\u0101ne \u012bm\u0101n, ab to rahem karoge.<\/i>","category":{"@attributes":{"term":"articles"}}},{"title":"Siddham headstroke: abode of the inherent\u00a0vowel?","link":{"@attributes":{"href":"https:\/\/pandey.github.io\/unicode\/posts\/2013-11-15-siddham-headstroke.html","rel":"alternate"}},"published":"2013-11-15T12:54:53.127000-08:00","updated":"2013-11-15T12:54:53.127000-08:00","author":{"name":"Anshuman Pandey"},"id":"tag:pandey.github.io,2013-11-15:\/unicode\/posts\/2013-11-15-siddham-headstroke.html","summary":"![\"image\"](\"https:\/\/pandey.github.io\/unicode\/images\/siddham_myoten_inherent_a.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"image\"](\"https:\/\/pandey.github.io\/unicode\/images\/siddham_myoten_variation_stevens.png\")
<\/p>\n![\"image\"](\"https:\/\/pandey.github.io\/unicode\/images\/siddham_myoten_tokuzan.png\")
<\/p>\n![\"image\"](\"https:\/\/pandey.github.io\/unicode\/images\/siddham_myoten_kodama.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"image\"](\"https:\/\/pandey.github.io\/unicode\/images\/siddham_myoten_stroke_order.png\")
<\/p>\n![\"image\"](\"https:\/\/pandey.github.io\/unicode\/images\/siddham_a-ten_tokuzan_.png\")
<\/p>\n![\"image\"](\"https:\/\/pandey.github.io\/unicode\/images\/siddham_nukta_mandalar_tattoo.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"image\"](\"https:\/\/pandey.github.io\/unicode\/images\/siddham_nukta_mandalar_tattoo_irezumi.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"image\"](\"https:\/\/pandey.github.io\/unicode\/images\/siddham_nukta_consonants_mandalar.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"image\"](\"https:\/\/pandey.github.io\/unicode\/images\/siddham_mandalar_gendai_shittan.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"image\"](\"https:\/\/pandey.github.io\/unicode\/images\/siddham_section_marks_1.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"image\"](\"https:\/\/pandey.github.io\/unicode\/images\/siddham_section_marks_proposed.png\")
<\/p>\n![\"image\"](\"https:\/\/pandey.github.io\/unicode\/images\/siddham_repetition_mark_example.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"image\"](\"https:\/\/pandey.github.io\/unicode\/images\/bonji_numerals_mandalar.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"image\"](\"https:\/\/pandey.github.io\/unicode\/images\/khojki_ka_variant.jpg\")
<\/p>\n\n\n![\"image\"](\"https:\/\/pandey.github.io\/unicode\/images\/asani_1992_p283_variant_ka.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"image\"](\"https:\/\/pandey.github.io\/unicode\/images\/asani_1992_p294_qaf.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"image\"](\"https:\/\/pandey.github.io\/unicode\/images\/khojki_graphite_specimen.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"image\"](\"https:\/\/pandey.github.io\/unicode\/images\/oriya_fractions_grundy.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"image\"](\"https:\/\/pandey.github.io\/unicode\/images\/oriya_fractions_sutton.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"image\"](\"https:\/\/pandey.github.io\/unicode\/images\/oriya_fractions_unicode.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"image\"](\"https:\/\/pandey.github.io\/unicode\/images\/oriya_fractions_comp.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"image\"](\"https:\/\/pandey.github.io\/unicode\/images\/sharada_kashmiri_slash.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"image\"](\"https:\/\/pandey.github.io\/unicode\/images\/sharada_kashmiri_bar.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"image\"](\"https:\/\/pandey.github.io\/unicode\/images\/sharada_kashmiri_underdot.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"image\"](\"https:\/\/pandey.github.io\/unicode\/images\/grierson_khudawadi_excerpt.png\")
<\/p>\n![\"image\"](\"https:\/\/pandey.github.io\/unicode\/images\/grierson_marwari_dda.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"image\"](\"https:\/\/pandey.github.io\/unicode\/images\/metzger_retroflexes.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"image\"](\"https:\/\/pandey.github.io\/unicode\/images\/marwari_dda_glyphs.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"image\"](\"https:\/\/pandey.github.io\/unicode\/images\/kutchi_dda_color.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"image\"](\"https:\/\/pandey.github.io\/unicode\/images\/kutchi_dda_gray.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"image\"](\"https:\/\/pandey.github.io\/unicode\/images\/khudawadi_exvotos_udero_lal.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"image\"](\"https:\/\/pandey.github.io\/unicode\/images\/khudawadi_exvotos_udero_lal_detail.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"image\"](\"https:\/\/pandey.github.io\/unicode\/images\/sharada_candrabindus_1.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"image\"](\"https:\/\/pandey.github.io\/unicode\/images\/sharada_candrabindus_2.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"image\"](\"https:\/\/pandey.github.io\/unicode\/images\/modi_number_forms.jpg\")
<\/p>\n