Gurmukhī ( , Shahmukhi: ) is an abugida developed from the Laṇḍā scripts, popularly believed to have been standardized and used by the second Sikh guru, Guru Angad (1504–1552). Although some scholars trace its development to before Guru Angad. Commonly regarded as a Sikh script, Gurmukhi is used in Punjab, India as the official script of the Punjabi language. Historically, it was also used for Sindhi.
Its use by the Sikhs is attested from the early 16th century onwards.An Introduction to Punjabi: Grammar, Conversation and Literature (Patiala: Punjabi University, 2011) by Gurinder Singh Mann, Gurdit Singh, Ami P. Shah, Gibb Schreffler, and Anne Murphy. p. viii. The primary scripture of Sikhism, the Guru Granth Sahib, is written in Gurmukhī, in various dialects and languages often subsumed under the generic title Sant BhashaHarnik Deol, Religion and Nationalism in India. Routledge, 2000. , 9780415201087. Page 22. "(...) the compositions in the Sikh holy book, Adi Granth, are a melange of various dialects, often coalesced under the generic title of Sant Bhasha." or "saint language", in addition to other languages like Persian and various phases of Indo-Aryan languages. Modern Gurmukhī has thirty-five original letters, hence its common alternative term paintī or "the thirty-five", plus six additional consonants, nine vowel diacritics, two diacritics for nasal sounds, one diacritic that geminates consonants and three subscript characters.
Etymology The prevalent view among Punjabi linguists is that as in the early stages the Gurmukhī letters were primarily used by the Guru's followers, gurmukhs (literally, those who face, or follow, the Guru); the script thus came to be known as , "the script of those guided by the Guru." A further expansion on this theory is that the Gurmukhs revered the script and meditated on the glyphs used to write Waheguru, explicitly ਵ, ਹ, ਗ, and ਰ, with this set of four characters originally being called Gurmukhi, later the term's meaning expanded to include the entire script.
Although the word has been commonly translated as "from the mouth of the Guru", the term used for the Punjabi script has somewhat different connotations. This usage of the term may have gained currency from the use of the script to record the utterances of the Sikh Gurus as scripture, which were often referred to as , or from the (face, or mouth) of the Gurus. Consequently, the script that was used to write the resulting scripture may have also been designated with the same name.
The name for the Perso–Arabic alphabet for the Punjabi language, Shahmukhi, was modeled on the term .
History and development Antecedents The Gurmukhī script is generally believed to have roots in the Proto-Sinaitic alphabet by way of the Brahmi script, which developed further into the Northwestern group (Sharada-based), the Central group (Nagari-based) and the Eastern group (Siddhaṃ-based), as well as several prominent writing systems of Southeast Asia, in addition to scripts used historically in Central Asia for extinct languages like Saka and Tocharian. Gurmukhi is derived from Sharada in the Northwestern group, of which it is the only major surviving member, with full modern currency. Notable features include: It is an abugida in which all consonants have an inherent vowel, . Diacritics, which can appear above, below, before or after the consonant they are applied to, are used to change the inherent vowel. When they appear at the beginning of a syllable, vowels are written as independent letters. To form consonant clusters, Gurmukhi uniquely affixes subscript letters at the bottom of standard characters, rather than using the true conjunct symbols used by other scripts, which merge parts of each letter into a distinct character of its own. Punjabi is a tonal language with three tones. These are indicated in writing using the formerly voiced aspirated consonants (gh, dh, bh, etc.) and the intervocalic h.
Origin
There are various theories regarding the origin of Gurmukhi, with most agreeing that Gurmukhi ultimately originated from Sharada but differing in regards to which intermediary script between Gurmukhi and Sharada that Gurmukhi was immediately derived from. The theories are as follows:
it derived from Devāśeṣa script, argued by Tarlochan Singh Bedi it derived from Ardhanagari, a script used in Bathinda, Sindh, and Western Punjab, argued by G. B. Singh it derived from Landa scripts it derived from Takri scripts Other theories posit connections to Devanagari and Siddham/Siddhamatrika
Phoenician 𐤀 𐤁 𐤂 𐤃 𐤄 𐤅 𐤆 𐤇 𐤈 𐤉 𐤊 𐤋 𐤌 𐤍 𐤎 𐤏 𐤐 𐤑 𐤒 𐤓 𐤔 𐤕 Aramaic 𐡀 𐡁 𐡂 𐡃 𐡄 𐡅 𐡆 𐡇 𐡈 𐡉 𐡊 𐡋 𐡌 𐡍 𐡎 𐡏 𐡐 𐡑 𐡒 𐡓 𐡔 𐡕 Brahmi 𑀅 𑀩 𑀪 𑀕 𑀥 𑀠 𑀏 𑀯 𑀤 𑀟 𑀚 𑀛 𑀳 𑀖 𑀣 𑀞 𑀬 𑀓 𑀘 𑀮 𑀫 𑀦 𑀗 𑀜 𑀡 𑀰 𑀑 𑀧 𑀨 𑀲 𑀔 𑀙 𑀭 𑀱 𑀢 𑀝 Gurmukhi ਅ ਬ ਭ ਗ ਧ ਢ ੲ ਵ ਦ ਡ ਜ ਝ ਹ ਘ ਥ ਠ ਯ ਕ ਚ ਲ ਮ ਨ ਙ ਞ ਣ (ਸ਼) ੳ ਪ ਫ ਸ ਖ ਛ ਰ ਖ ਤ ਟ IAST a ba bha ga dha ḍha ē va da ḍa ja jha ha gha tha ṭha ya ka ca la ma na ṅa ña ṇa śa* ō pa pha sa kha cha ra ṣa* ta ṭa Greek Α Β Γ Δ Ε Ϝ Ζ Η Θ Ι Κ Λ Μ Ν Ξ Ο Π Ϻ Ϙ Ρ Σ Τ Possible derivation of Gurmukhi from earlier writing systems. The Greek alphabet, also descended from Phoenician, is included for comparison. Gurmukhi evolved in cultural and historical circumstances notably different from other regional scripts, for the purpose of recording scriptures of Sikhism, a far less Sanskritized cultural tradition than others of the subcontinent. This independence from the Sanskritic model allowed it the freedom to evolve unique orthographical features. These include: Three basic bearer vowels, integrated into the traditional Gurmukhi character set, using the vowel diacritics to write independent vowels, instead of distinctly separate characters for each of these vowels as in other scripts; a drastic reduction in the number and importance of conjunct characters (similar to Brahmi, the letters of which Gurmukhi letters have remained more similar to than those of Nagari have, and characteristic of Northwestern abugidas); a unique standard ordering of characters that somewhat diverges from the traditional , or Sanskritic, ordering of characters, including vowels and fricatives being placed in front; the recognition of Indo-Aryan phonological history through the omission of characters representing the sibilants and , retaining only the letters representing sounds of the spoken language of the time; these sibilants were naturally lost in most modern Indo-Aryan languages, though such characters were often retained in their respective consonant inventories as placeholders and archaisms while being mispronounced. These sibilants were often variously reintroduced through later circumstances, as was to Gurmukhi, necessitating a new glyph; the development of distinct new letters for sounds better reflecting the vernacular language spoken during the time of its development (e.g. for , and the sound shift that merged Sanskrit and /kʰ/ to Punjabi /kʰ/); a gemination diacritic, a unique feature among native subcontinental scripts, which serve to indicate the preserved Middle Indo-Aryan geminates distinctive of Punjabi; and other features.
From the 10th century onwards, regional differences started to appear between the Sharada script used in Punjab, the Hill States (partly Himachal Pradesh) and Kashmir. Sharada proper was eventually restricted to very limited ceremonial use in Kashmir, as it grew increasingly unsuitable for writing the Kashmiri language. With the last known inscription dating to 1204 C.E., the early 13th century marks a milestone in the development of Sharada. The regional variety in Punjab continued to evolve from this stage through the 14th century; during this period it starts to appear in forms closely resembling Gurmukhī and other Landa scripts. By the 15th century, Sharada had evolved so considerably that epigraphists denote the script at this point by a special name, . Tarlochan Singh Bedi (1999) prefers the name , or Proto-Gurmukhī. Chatterjee (1963) noted that in 17th century Punjab, the scripts being used were Perso-Arabic, Nagari, and Gurmukhi. G. B. Singh (1981) argues that the script existed prior to its adoption by the Sikhs.
Meanwhile, the mercantile scripts of Punjab known as the Laṇḍā scripts were normally not used for literary purposes. means alphabet "without tail", implying that the script did not have vowel symbols. In Punjab, there were at least ten different scripts classified as , Mahajani being the most popular. The scripts were used for household and trade purposes. In contrast to , the use of vowel diacritics was made obligatory in Gurmukhī for increased accuracy and precision, due to the difficulties involved in deciphering words without vowel signs. The glyphs ਅ, ਹ, ਚ, ਦ, ਣ, and ਲ experienced minor orthographical changes before 1610. Major changes involved the ਙ and ਞ characters and the ਬ was a later invention.
Sikhism
Guru Nanak was born into a mercantile family, meaning he would have been familiar with local scripts that were employed by such merchant and scribal communities in northwest India at the time, namely the Mahajan, Kayastha, and Khatris. The Sikh gurus adopted Proto-Gurmukhī to write the Guru Granth Sahib, the religious scriptures of the Sikhs. It was through its recording in Gurmukhi that knowledge of the pronunciation and grammar of the Old Punjabi language (c. 10th–16th century) was preserved for modern philologists. It has been described as being "tailor-made" to writing the Punjabi language as it existed in the 16th century. The adoption of a distinct script was an assertion of a separate religious identity. As part of the adoption by the Sikhs, the characters ਸ and ਹ were shifted to the first line and ੳ was made the first letter.The original Sikh scriptures and most of the historic Sikh literature have been written in the Gurmukhi script, for which the script is revered by Sikhs. Guru Angad is popularly credited in the Sikh tradition with the creation and standardization of Gurmukhi script from earlier Śāradā-descended scripts native to the region. Whilst the creation of the Gurmukhi script is commonly attributed to the second guru of the Sikhs, Guru Angad, according to Mangat Bhardwaj the Gurmukhi script or its antecedents pre-date the development of Sikhism by several centuries. Sikh scholars themselves, such as Kahn Singh of Nabha (1930), G. B. Singh (1950), Piara Singh Padam (1954), and G. S. Sidhu (2004), have documented Gurmukhi prior to the arising of Sikhism. The glyphs and symbols employed in Gurmukhi pre-date Sikhism and it is more likely that Guru Angad standardized the pre-existing scripts around 1530–1535 to create the standard Gurmukhi script under the purview of Guru Nanak.
In the following epochs, Gurmukhī became the primary script for the literary writings of the Sikhs. Playing a significant role in Sikh faith and tradition, it expanded from its original use for Sikh scriptures and developed its own orthographical rules, spreading widely under the Sikh Empire and used by Sikh kings and chiefs of Punjab for administrative purposes. In seventeenth and eighteenth-century Punjab, the script was also employed to write scientific and poetic literature from both Sanskritic and Persian traditions in the Braj language. Helping to foster a distinct Sikh culture and contributing to the consolidation of the Sikh religion, expanding from its original role as the vehicle of Sikh religious literature, Gurmukhi became particularly important in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries when the Sikhs established political hegemony over Punjab and Kashmir. Also playing a major role in consolidating and standardizing the Punjabi language, it served as the main medium of literacy in Punjab and adjoining areas for centuries when the earliest schools were attached to gurdwaras.