Odia script

The Odia script (Odia: ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଅକ୍ଷର, romanized: Oṛiā akṣara, also Odia: ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଲିପି, romanized: Oṛiā lipi) is a Brahmic script, mainly used to write the Odia language. To a lesser extent, it is also used to write Sanskrit and other regional languages. It is one of the official scripts of the Indian Republic. The script has developed over more than 1000 years from a variant of Siddhaṃ script which was used in Eastern India, where the characteristic top line transformed into a distinct round umbrella shape due to the influence of palm leaf manuscripts and also being influenced by the neighbouring scripts from the Western and Southern regions.

Odia is a syllabic alphabet or an abugida wherein all consonants have an inherent vowel embedded within. Diacritics (which can appear above, below, before, or after the consonant they belong to) are used to change the form of the inherent vowel. When vowels appear at the beginning of a syllable, they are written as independent letters. Also, when certain consonants occur together, special conjunct symbols combine the essential parts of each consonant symbol.

An important feature of the Odia language seen in the script is the retention of inherent vowel in consonants, also known as schwa, at both medial and final positions. This absence of schwa deletion, which is also seen in Sanskrit, marks it from the rest of modern Indo-Aryan languages and their equivalent usage in related Brahmic scripts. The absence of the inherent vowel in the consonant is marked by a virama or halanta sign below the consonant.

In Eastern India, a derivative of Siddhaṃ script yielded a group of scripts that eventually became Bengali-Assamese scripts, Tirhuta script and the Odia script, with the latter turning the hook into a characteristic umbrella. The earliest known example of Odia language, in the Kalinga script, dates from 1051.

The curved appearance of the Odia script is a result of the practice of writing on palm leaves, which have a tendency to tear with the use of too many straight lines.

As with all the Brahmic scripts in the region, the Odia script developed through four stages which can be seen from the stone inscriptions, copper-plates and the manuscripts. The periods of development are in the following order,

The archaic and medieval forms of Odia are more influenced by the calligraphy of the scripts of neighbouring regions, such as,

With regards to the epigraphical sources, the antiquities which display the various historical forms of writing in Odia script include rock-edicts, temple inscriptions, stone-slabs, pillar inscriptions, sculptures, copper-plates, coins and palm-leaf manuscripts, illustrated manuscripts, ivory plates and allied materials. Numerous instances of the items depicting all the respective stages of the development of the Odia script during the illustrious dynasties of Eastern Ganga, Somavanshi, Bhanja, Bhauma-kara, Sailodbhava dynasties.