Modi script
| Mōḍī मोडी 𑘦𑘻𑘚𑘲 | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Script type | |
Period | c. 1200 or c. 1600–c. R1950[1][2] (Two different origin theories) |
| Direction | Left-to-right  |
| Languages | Primary Marathi Sometimes Konkani, Hindi, Gujarati, Kannada, Telugu and Sanskrit[1][2] |
| Related scripts | |
Parent systems | |
Sister systems | Gujarati, Kaithi, Devanagari, Nandinagari, Gunjala Gondi |
| ISO 15924 | |
| ISO 15924 | Modi (324), Modi, Moḍī |
| Unicode | |
Unicode alias | Modi |
| U+11600–U+1165F Final Accepted Script Proposal | |
| Brahmic scripts |
|---|
| The Brahmi script and its descendants |
Mōḍī (Marathi: मोडी, 𑘦𑘻𑘚𑘲, Mōḍī, Marathi pronunciation: [moːɖiː])[3] is an old handwritten cursive abugida script used to write the Marathi language, which is the primary language spoken in the state of Maharashtra, India. The Mōḍī script was used alongside the Devanāgarī script to write Marathi, particularly during the reign of the Maratha Empire, until the 20th century when the Balbodh style of the Devanāgarī script was promoted as the standard writing system for Marathi.[4] Numerous archival records, official documents and correspondences written in this script exist, and there have been attempts to revive the usage of Mōḍī in Maharashtra.[5][6]
There are multiple theories concerning its origin.[7] It descends from the Nāgarī family of scripts and is based on Devanāgarī, adapted for fluid continuous writing. Due to it's handwritten nature, it has various styles and extensive character ligatures considerably different from Devanāgarī [2]. Mōḍī has a practice of having one long headstroke (called śirorekhā) connecting all the words in a line without breaks. This is distinct from Devanāgarī and other Nāgarī scripts, where the śirorekhā is only limited to isolated letters or words.
Mōḍī is a unicameral Brahmic alpha-syllabary written from left to right. It has 46 base characters divided into 11 vowels, 36 basic consonants, 10 unique numerals and various diacritical and punctuation marks.
Etymology
[edit]The name Mōḍī may be derived from the Marathi verb moḍaṇe (Marathi: मोडणे), which means "to bend or break". Mōḍī is believed to be derived from broken Devanagari characters, which lends support to that particular etymology.[2]
Origin theories
[edit]Hemāḍapanta origin theory
[edit]Hemāḍpant was a minister during the reign of Mahadeva[8] (ruled 1261–1271) and the initial years of the reign of Rāmachandra (ruled 1271 to 1309)[9] of the Yadava Dynasty.[10][11][12]
Creation subtheory
[edit]Hemāḍapanta created the Mōḍī script.[11]
Refinement subtheory
[edit]The Mōḍī script already existed in the 13th century; it was refined and introduced as an official script for Marathi by Hemāḍpant.[1]
Sri Lanka subtheory
[edit]Hemāḍpant brought the Mōḍī script to India from Sri Lanka.[2][12]
Bāḷājī Avajī Chitnis origin theory
[edit]Bāḷājī Avajī Chitnis was the secretary of state to the Maratha king Shivaji Maharaj (ruled 1642–1680).[2]
History
[edit]
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There are various styles of the Mōḍī script associated with a particular era. Many changes occurred in each era [2][8]
Proto-Mōḍī
[edit]The proto-Mōḍī, or ādyakālīna (आद्यकालीन) style appeared in the 12th century.[citation needed]
Yādava Era
[edit]The Yādava Era style, or yādavakālīna (यादवकालीन), emerged as a distinct style in the 13th century during the Yādava Dynasty.[citation needed]
Bahamanī Era
[edit]The Bahamanī Era style, or bahamanīkālīna (बहमनीकालीन), appeared in the 14th–16th centuries during the years of the Bahmani Sultanate.[citation needed]
Chatrapati Shivaji Era
[edit]During the rule of Shivaji, the Shivaji style, or shivakālīna (शिवकालीन), which was during the 17th century, the Chitnisi style of the Mōḍī script developed.[citation needed]
Peshwa Era
[edit]In the Peshwa Era, or peshvekālīna (पेश्वेकालीन), various Mōḍī styles proliferated during the time of the Maratha Empire and lasted until 1818. The distinct styles of Mōḍī used during this period were Chitnisi, Bilavalkari, Mahadevapanti, and Ranadi. Even though all of these were quite popular, Chitnisi was the most prominent and frequently used script for Mōḍī writing.[citation needed]
Post-independence Era
[edit]The use of Mōḍī has diminished since the independence of India. Now the Balbodh style of Devanagari is the primary script used to write Marathi.[13][14]
Revival Efforts
[edit]Linguists in Pune spearheaded the Mōḍī script revival movement in 2014.[5] By 2025, over 400 students had been trained to understand it.[15] Additionally, a primary school has begun teaching the Mōḍī script to the next generation.[6]
Characteristics
[edit]
The Mōḍī script derives from the Nāgari family of scripts and is a modification of the Balbodh style of the Devanagari script intended for continuous writing. Although Mōḍī is based upon Devanagari, it differs considerably from it in terms of letter forms, rendering behaviours, and orthography. The shapes of some consonants, vowels, and vowel signs are similar. The differences are visible in the behaviours of these characters in certain circumstances, such as consonant-vowel combinations and consonant conjuncts, which are standard features of Mōḍī orthography. The Mōḍī script has 46 distinctive letters, of which 36 are consonants and 10 vowels.[2]
| Vowel | a | ā | i | ī | u | ū | r̥ | r̥̄ | l̥ | l̥̄ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Independent | 𑘀
|
𑘁
|
𑘂
|
𑘃
|
𑘄
|
𑘅
|
𑘆
|
𑘇
|
𑘈
|
𑘉
|
| Dependent | 𑘰
|
𑘱
|
𑘲
|
𑘳
|
𑘴
|
𑘵
|
𑘶
|
𑘷
|
𑘸
|
| Vowel | e | ai | o | au |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Independent | 𑘊
|
𑘋
|
𑘌
|
𑘍
|
| Dependent | 𑘹
|
𑘺
|
𑘻
|
𑘼
|
𑘎 ka
|
𑘏 kha
|
𑘐 ga
|
𑘑 gha
|
𑘒 ṅa
|
𑘓 ca
|
𑘔 cha
|
𑘕 ja
|
𑘖 jha
|
𑘗 ña
|
𑘘 ṭa
|
𑘙 ṭha
|
𑘚 ḍa
|
𑘛 ḍha
|
𑘜 ṇa
|
𑘝 ta
|
𑘞 tha
|
𑘟 da
|
𑘠 dha
|
𑘡 na
|
𑘢 pa
|
𑘣 pha
|
𑘤 ba
|
𑘥 bha
|
𑘦 ma
|
𑘧 ya
|
𑘨 ra
|
𑘩 la
|
𑘪 va
| |
𑘫 śa
|
𑘬 ṣa
|
𑘭 sa
|
𑘮 ha
|
𑘯 ḷa
|
𑘽
|
𑘾
|
𑘿
|
𑙀 ardhacandra
|
Head stroke
[edit]
The head stroke in Mōḍī is unlike Devanagari in that it is typically written before the letters are, in order to produce a "ruled page" for writing Mōḍī in lines. Thus, there are no word boundaries that can be visibly seen, since the head stroke does not break between words.
Cursive features
[edit]
The Mōḍī script has several characteristics that facilitate writing, minimising having to lift the pen from the paper for dipping in ink while moving from one character to the next. Some characters are "broken" versions of their Devanagari counterparts, and many characters are more circular in shape. These characteristics make Mōḍī a sort of cursive style of writing Marathi. The cursive nature of the script also allowed scribes to easily make multiple copies of a document if required.[5]
Ligation
[edit]Numerous modifications are made to the Mōḍī script in writing as "shortcuts", reflecting its history as a quasi-shorthand form of Devanagari.
Consonant ligation falls into three broad categories:
- Those that always retain their isolated form and attach their dependent vowel forms in a way common to most Indic scripts
- Those that take on a "contextual" form and change their form only in the presence of a dependent vowel immediately after, in which case those vowel forms are attached to the contextual form of the consonant in a uniform way as done with the consonants in Category 1 and with most other Indic alphabets
- Those that form ligatures in the presence of vowel following the consonants. The ligatures are generally determined by the shape of the consonant and the presence of a loop on the right.
Regarding conjuncts, as in Devanagari, ksha and tra have special conjuncts, while other consonants typically occupy half forms or contextual forms. The letter ra is special, as it can take different visual positions as the first consonant in a conjunct cluster depending on whether it is palatalized or not. As the second consonant in a cluster, however, it functions almost identically as in Devanagari.
Alternative forms of the letter ra are also used to make multisyllabic clusters involving it. This is seen in kara, tara, sara, and a few others as a subjoined ra to the bottom right of a letter, and in joining at the end of other syllables, it is seen with a curved head. Following dependent vowel signs like -aa and punctuation marks like dandas, the ra also joins underneath, and any additional vowel marks are written directly on top of the subjoined ra.
Mōḍī also has an empty circle that indicates abbreviations, which also may have been borrowed by Goykanadi, used for writing Konkani, which is closely related to Marathi.
𑙁
|
𑙂 double danda
|
𑙃 abbr. sign
|
𑙄 huva (invocation)
|
Numerals
[edit]Mōḍī has it's own set of 10 numerals from 0-9.
𑙐 0
|
𑙑 1
|
𑙒 2
|
𑙓 3
|
𑙔 4
|
𑙕 5
|
𑙖 6
|
𑙗 7
|
𑙘 8
|
𑙙 9
|
Usage
[edit]The Mōḍī script was frequently used as a shorthand script for swift writing in business and administration. Mōḍī was used primarily by administrative people as well as businessmen in keeping their accounts and writing Hundis (credit notes). Mōḍī was also used to encrypt the message since not all people were well-versed in reading this script.[5]
Printing
[edit]Before printing in Marathi was possible, the Mōḍī script was used for writing prose and Balbodh was used for writing poetry. When printing in Marathi became possible, choosing between Mōḍī and Balbodh was a problem. William Carey published the first book on Marathi grammar in 1805 using Balbodh since printing in the Mōḍī script was not available to him in Serampore, Bengal. At the time Marathi books were generally written in Balbodh. However, subsequent editions of William Carey's book on Marathi grammar, starting in 1810, were written in the Mōḍī script.[16][17] Using offset printing machines (previously Lithography) printing was in vogue.
Typing
[edit]
The Mōḍī script was included in Unicode for the first time in version 7.0.[2][18] This inclusion has recently led to the development of Unicode fonts for Mōḍī, such as MarathiCursive and Noto Sans Mōḍī. Also, a Unicode keyboard layout for Mōḍī, named Modi (KaGaPa Phonetic)', has been recently added in the XKB keyboard stack,[19] which is mainly used in Linux based operating systems. The character mapping of this keyboard layout is similar to the existing Marathi (KaGaPa Phonetic) layout, but uses Mōḍī's dedicated Unicode block for typing.
Documents in the Mōḍī script
[edit]Most documents in Mōḍī are handwritten. The oldest document in the Mōḍī script is from 1389 and is preserved at the Bhārat Itihās Sanshodhan Mandal (BISM) in Pune.[8] The majority of documents and correspondence from before Shivaji Raje Bhonsle's times are written in the Mōḍī script.[5]
Bajirao's letter to Chimaji Appa
Chh. Shahu I's handwriting in Mōḍī script
Facsimile of the handwriting of Bajirao Ballal
Facsimile of the handwriting of Chimnaji Ballal
Facsimile of the handwriting of Chimnaji Damodar Rajadnya
Unicode
[edit]The Mōḍī alphabet (U+11600–U+1165F) was added to the Unicode Standard in June 2014 with the release of version 7.0.
| Modi[1][2] Official Unicode Consortium code chart (PDF) | ||||||||||||||||
| 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | A | B | C | D | E | F | |
| U+1160x | 𑘀 | 𑘁 | 𑘂 | 𑘃 | 𑘄 | 𑘅 | 𑘆 | 𑘇 | 𑘈 | 𑘉 | 𑘊 | 𑘋 | 𑘌 | 𑘍 | 𑘎 | 𑘏 |
| U+1161x | 𑘐 | 𑘑 | 𑘒 | 𑘓 | 𑘔 | 𑘕 | 𑘖 | 𑘗 | 𑘘 | 𑘙 | 𑘚 | 𑘛 | 𑘜 | 𑘝 | 𑘞 | 𑘟 |
| U+1162x | 𑘠 | 𑘡 | 𑘢 | 𑘣 | 𑘤 | 𑘥 | 𑘦 | 𑘧 | 𑘨 | 𑘩 | 𑘪 | 𑘫 | 𑘬 | 𑘭 | 𑘮 | 𑘯 |
| U+1163x | 𑘰 | 𑘱 | 𑘲 | 𑘳 | 𑘴 | 𑘵 | 𑘶 | 𑘷 | 𑘸 | 𑘹 | 𑘺 | 𑘻 | 𑘼 | 𑘽 | 𑘾 | 𑘿 |
| U+1164x | 𑙀 | 𑙁 | 𑙂 | 𑙃 | 𑙄 | |||||||||||
| U+1165x | 𑙐 | 𑙑 | 𑙒 | 𑙓 | 𑙔 | 𑙕 | 𑙖 | 𑙗 | 𑙘 | 𑙙 | ||||||
| Notes | ||||||||||||||||
Sample Text
[edit]Mōḍī
𑘦𑘰𑘖𑘰 𑘦𑘨𑘰𑘙𑘲𑘓𑘲 𑘤𑘻𑘩𑘳 𑘎𑘼𑘝𑘳𑘎𑘹𑙁 𑘢𑘨𑘲 𑘀𑘦𑘵𑘝𑘰𑘝𑘹𑘮𑘱 𑘢𑘺𑘕𑘰𑘭𑘲 𑘕𑘲𑘽𑘎𑘹𑙁 𑘋𑘭𑘲 𑘀𑘎𑘿𑘬𑘨𑘹 𑘨𑘭𑘲𑘎𑘹𑙁 𑘦𑘹𑘯𑘪𑘲𑘡𑙂
Devanagari (Balbodh)
माझा मराठीची बोलू कौतुके। परि अमृतातेहि पैजासी जिंके। ऐसी अक्षरे रसिके। मेळवीन॥
-संत ज्ञानेश्वर
Roman (IAST)
mājhā marāṭhīcī bolū kautuke| pari amṛtātehi paijāsī jiṃke| aisī akṣare rasike| mel̤avīna||
-saṃta jñāneśvara
Gallery
[edit]
A verse from the Dnyaneshwari in the Mōḍī script
An effort to conserve the Mōḍī Script under India Post's My Stamp scheme. Here, the word 'Marathi' is printed in the Mōḍī script.
See also
[edit]Notes
[edit]- ↑ The letters 𑘂 (i) and 𑘅 (ū) and their diacritics have been attested and therefore are included in this chart, However, Mōḍī generally uses 𑘃 for both i and ī, and 𑘄 for both u and ū.
- ↑ Sanskrit origin vocalics 𑘆 𑘇𑘈 𑘉 have Mōḍī equivalents even though their usage is extremely limited. Only 𑘆 has been included due to Indic script traditions.
- ↑ Mōḍī is a cursive handwritten script with a unique practice of having one long headstroke (śirorekhā) connecting all the words in a line. This is distinct from Devanagari and other Nagari scripts, where the Headstroke is only limited to full letters or words.
References
[edit]- 1 2 3 Bhimraoji, Rajendra (28 February 2014). "Reviving the Mōḍī Script" (PDF). Typoday. Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 December 2014.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Pandey, Anshuman (5 November 2011). Mōḍī.pdf "N4034: Proposal to Encode the Mōḍī Script in ISO/IEC 10646" (PDF). ISO/IEC JTC1/SC2/WG2.
- ↑ Sahitya, Akademi (1992). Encyclopaedia of Indian Literature Volume V. Sahitya Akademi New Delhi. p. 3898. ISBN 81-260-1221-8.
- ↑ Sohoni, Pushkar (May 2017). Mōḍī-script/184EC94C15CF5A58E6CD0CA39A83DB64 "Marathi of a Single Type: The demise of the Mōḍī script". Modern Asian Studies. 51 (3): 662–685. doi:10.1017/S0026749X15000542. ISSN 0026-749X. S2CID 148081127.
- 1 2 3 4 5 Mōḍī-script-alive/articleshow/30761335.cms "Band of researchers, enthusiasts strive to keep Mōḍī script alive". The Times of India. 21 February 2014. Mōḍī-script-alive/articleshow/30761335.cms Archived from the original on 10 December 2014.
- 1 2 Smart, Pallavi (16 March 2024). Mōḍī-script-9208518/ "School in Maharashtra village seeks to revive ancient Mōḍī script, three-four letters at a time". Indian Express. Mōḍī-script-9208518/ Archived from the original on 23 October 2025.
- ↑ Mōḍī/articleshow/61192544.cms "Krishnaji Mhatre – A life dedicated to Mōḍī". Mumbai Mirror. 24 October 2017. Mōḍī/articleshow/61192544.cms Archived from the original on 10 August 2020. Retrieved 10 August 2020.
- 1 2 3 Kulkarni, Sadanand A; Borde, Prashant L; Manza, Ramesh R; Yannawar, Pravin L (2014). "Offline Handwritten Mōḍī Character Recognition Using HU, Zernike Moments and Zoning". arXiv:1406.6140 [cs.CV].
- ↑ Eternal Garden: Mysticism, History, and Politics at a South Asian Sufi Center by Carl W. Ernst p.107
- ↑ Mokashi, Digambar Balkrishna (1 July 1987). Palkhi: An Indian Pilgrimage. SUNY Press. p. 37. ISBN 0-88706-461-2.
- 1 2 Mann, Gurinder Singh (1 March 2001). The Making of Sikh Scripture. Oxford University Press US. p. 1. ISBN 0-19-513024-3.
- 1 2 Mōḍīlipi.in/2008/09/mo-is-name-of-one-of-scripts-used-to.html "Mōḍī Lipi Alphabets". September 2008. Archived from Mōḍīlipi.in/2008/09/mo-is-name-of-one-of-scripts-used-to.html#.VIeGyRrj66w the original on 25 October 2013.
- ↑ Chhatrapati, Shahu; Sangave, Vilas Adinath; Khane, B. D. (1997). Rajarshi Shahu Chhatrapati papers. Vol. 7. Shahu Research Institute. Archived from the original on 7 December 2014.
- ↑ Mōḍīlipi.in/2011/02/Mōḍī-script-of-maharashtra-script-which.html#.VIQQuhrj66w "History Of Mōḍī Lipi". Mōḍī Lipi. Archived from Mōḍīlipi.in/2011/02/Mōḍī-script-of-maharashtra-script-which.html the original on 25 October 2013.
{{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|website=(help) - ↑ Bengrut, Dheeraj (11 September 2025). Mōḍī-lipi-sees-revival-due-to-maratha-reservation-issue/ar-AA1MiEPI "Mōḍī Lipi sees revival due to Maratha reservation issue". MSN.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ↑ Rao, Goparaju Sambasiva (1994). Language Change: Lexical Diffusion and Literacy. Academic Foundation. pp. 48 and 49. ISBN 9788171880577. Archived from the original on 7 December 2014.
- ↑ Carey, William (1805). A Grammar of the Marathi Language. Serampore: Serampore Mission Press. ISBN 9781108056311.
{{cite book}}: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help) - ↑ BabelStone: What's new in Unicode 7.0 [permanent dead link]
- ↑ "Added in(Mōḍī-kagapa) (93ea944c) · Commits · xkbdesc / xkeyboard-config". GitLab. 12 May 2020. Retrieved 6 July 2020.