Grantha script is a descendant of the Brahmi script that was used to write Sanskrit, Tamil, Malayalam and Manipravalam. It has 34 consonants, 14 vowels and uses diacritical marks called matras. Grantha evolved from Southern Brahmi and the proto-Kadamba-Pallava script. Under the Pallavas it became more elaborate and was the basis for the Tamil and Grantha scripts. Grantha was used in inscriptions and manuscripts in South India from the 6th century onward. Its use gradually declined with the introduction of printing presses and standardization of regional scripts in the 19th century.

1. Grantha script:
Writing system, evolutionary
history and inscriptions

2. Introduction
• Grantha (Also Grantham, Grandham) is currently used to write Sanskrit,
and is now exclusively used by Tamil & Malayali Brahmins, especially for
Vedic studies and astrology.
• It was earlier used for writing Malayalam, Tamil and 'Manipravalam'.
• It is a descendant, through the Southern Branch, of the Brahmi script.
• And like it, is classified as an abugida (i.e. each unit or akshara is made of
a consonant + inherent vowel).
• Grantha takes its name from the Sanskrit word for 'book', and true to its
name, is found a lot more on books and palm leaf manuscripts than on
epigraphs.

3. Writing System

4. Writing System
• Vowels - 14
• Consonants - 34
• Numerals - 10
• Grantha, like all other Brahmic scripts except Mahajani has
special diacritics called mātrā for vowels
• Complex conjuct forms are rampant in Grantha, unlike
northern scripts. Malayalam also had them, till simplification
of orthography in the 1960s & 70s.

5. Vowels - simple
अ आ इ ई उ ऊ
അ ആ ഇ ഈ ഉ ഊ
அ ஆ இ ஈ உ ஊ

6. Vowels - consonantal
ऋ ॠ ऌ ॡ
ഋ ൠ ഌ
ൡ
As far as I know, ऌ is attested in only one Sanskrit word, the verb क्ऌप meaning to
manage or to be well ordered.
The only purpose of ॡ seems to be to preserve the symmetry of the vowel
arrangements.

7. Vowels - derived
ए ऐ ओ औ
ഏ ഐ ഓ ഔ
ஏ ஐ ஓ ஔ

8. Vowels - nasal
अं अः
അം അഃ
- ஃ
अँ is unrepresented in the known Grantha corpus, though Telugu uses the half-moon
(c) character to represent the anunāsika.
(http://sanskritdocuments.org/learning_tutorial_wikner/P003.html)

9. Consonants - guttural (ka hya)ṇṭ
क ख ग घ ङ
ക ഖ ഗ ഘ ങ
க ங

10. Consonants - palatal (tālavya)
च छ ज झ ञ
ച ഛ ജ ഝ ഞ
ச ஜ* ஞ
*This character has been borrowed from Grantha into Tamil for writing loan words.

11. Consonants - retroflex (mūrdhanya)
ट ठ ड ढ ण
ട ഠ ഡ ഢ ണ
ட ண

12. Consonants - dental (dantya)
त थ द ध न
ത ഥ ദ ധ ന
த ந, ன

13. Consonants - labial (o hya)ṣṭ
प फ ब भ म
പ ഫ ബ ഭ
മ
ப ம

14. Consonants - approximant (antastha)
य र ल व ळ
യ ര ല വ ള
ய ர ல வ ள

15. Consonants - fricative (ū ma)ṣ
श ष स
ह
ശ ഷ സ ഹ
ஶ* ஷ* ஸ* ஹ*
As in other Indian languages, the vocalisations of श and ष have merged into one
sound.

16. Numerals
As in other Indian scripts, these numerals are no longer in use.

17. Mātrās
ക് ക കാ കി കീ കു കൂ
க் க கா கி கீ க க

18. Mātrās
കൃ

19. Mātrās
െക ൈക െകാ െകൌ കം കഃ
ெக ைக ெகா ெகௌ

20. Special Mātrā placements

21. Some consonant ligatures
Ligatures are written when possible, else the letters are stacked.

22. Stacking

23. -y and -r

24. Repha

25. Now write your name
in Grantha

26. Write the name
of someone you love

27. Write your classmates' names

28. Write your address

29. Homework:
write your favourite Bollywood song
in Grantha

30. Evolutionary History

31. INTERVAL

32. http://www.ancientscripts.com/sa_ws.html
Tigalari
Pallava*

33. Southern Brahmi
• The south developed a more cursive form of
Brahmi, that by the 3rd c. AD had developed into
the proto Kadamba-Pallava script

34. Chalukya scripts
• The script under the patronage of the
Kadambas, Chalukyas, Rashtrakutas,
Shilaharas and Hoysalas would ultimately evolve
into the Halegannada script in the Deccan
• Under the later Western (Kalyani) & Eastern
(Vengi) Chalukyas, the Cholas and then the
Pandyas, the Kadamba-Pallava script underwent
further evolution, to a tighter, less grandiose
form, now looking more like modern Grantha
http://www.skyknowledge.com/pallava.htm

35. Burnell, Elements of South-Indian Palaeography, plate I

36. Vengi copper plate
http://www.skyknowledge.com/pallava.htm

37. Burnell, Elements of South-Indian Palaeography, plate III

38. Chalukya copper plate, 622 AD
http://www.skyknowledge.com/pallava.htm

39. Burnell, Elements of South-Indian Palaeography, plate IV

40. Pallava script
• Under Pallava
patronage, the script
developed into an
elaborate form with
large strokes
http://www.skyknowledge.com/pallava.htm

41. Cave temple inscription
• Dhalavanur rock-cut
temple of
Mahendravarman I
Pallava (580-630 AD)
http://travel.bhushavali.com/2012_11_01_archive.html

42. Cave temple inscription
• Mahendravadi rock-
cut temple of
Mahendravarman I
Pallava
http://travel.bhushavali.com/2012_11_01_archive.html

43. Mahendravaraman's coinage
Pa ka meaning either
– 1 panam
– short for 'Pakapetuku' (Terror to the Enemy)
http://www.worldofcoins.eu/forum/index.php?topic=31274.0

44. Pallava in
South East Asia
Merchant contact with South
East Asia in the Pallava and
Chola periods took the
Pallava-Grantha script
continuum thither.
Pyu script (4th - 6th c AD)
http://lionslayer.yoeyar.com/?p=823

45. Examples
tp://www.skyknowledge.com/pallava.htm, http://tamilnation.co/heritage/pallava.htm
Purnavarman
of Java
Fang in North
Thailand, est.
late 7th c. AD

46. Post-Pallava period
• The Pallava script seems to be the basis for both the later
Tamil script and the Grantha script.
• This is a possibly unique case of sympatric evolution of two
scripts, each adapted to writing a different language.
• By Vijayanagar times, the Grantha script had stabilised to its
current form.
http://www.skyknowledge.com/pallava.htm

47. Development of Grantha
ttp://www.ciillibrary.org/Sites/Photography/Images/Grantha - Tamil.jpg

48. ttp://www.ciillibrary.org/Sites/Photography/Images/Grantha - Tamil.jpg

49. Chera period inscription
• Prasasthi of King Rama Rajasekhara of
Mahodayapura, 24 May 871
p://www.thehindu.com/features/friday-review/history-and-culture/ancient-inscription-throws-new-light-on-chera-history/article1200089.ece

50. Grantha - Pillar edict
Rajaraja I (985-
1012),
Thanjavur Museum
http://www.tnarch.gov.in/epi/ins3.htm

51. Grantha - copper plate grant
Uttama Chola (Parakesarivarman), Chennai
Museum
http://www.tnarch.gov.in/epi/ins3.htm

52. Grantha - coin
Travancore Velli Fanam - 1036 KE (1861 CE) 1
fanam
tp://www.coinnetwork.com/photo/travancore-rama-varma-iv-1860-1880-velli-fanam-km-22-reverse
Symbol for 1000
Symbol for 10 Symbol for year
(varusha)
Symbol for panam

53. Grantha - manuscript
• Sarvamoola granthas attributed to Madvacharya (1238-
1317)
http://phys.org/news77908116.html

54. Grantha - manuscript
• Sarga 131 of the Yuddha Kanda of the Valmiki
Ramayana
http://www.vidyavrikshah.org/manuscripts/mssa.html

55. Grantha - manuscript
• 19th c. palm leaf manuscript, Kaumara
vyakaranam
http://www.tnarch.gov.in/epi/ins3.htm

56. Cursive scripts
• In addition to the formal Tamil script, the Vatteluttu (rounded writing)
script developed alongside as a cursive for writing Tamil and Malayalam.
• There are two more scripts from this period, Kolezhuthu (straight writing)
and Malayanma.
tp://chintha.com/keralam/malayalam/vattezhuthu-kolezhuthu-malayanma.html
Vattezhuttu Malayanma Kolezhuttu

57. Vattezhuthu inscriptions
Rajaraja Chola I, Brihadisvara
temple wall, Thanjavur.
http://www.tnarch.gov.in/epi/ins3.htm
849 AD copper-plate grant issued by the King of
Venadu to the Syrian Christians
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tharisapalli_plates

58. Derivatives of Grantha
• A Western form of Grantha developed into the Tigalari script,
from which both modern Malayalam and Tulu scripts are
derived.
• Modern Malayalam owes its current form to Benjamin
Bailey's CMS Press (1821). The advent of the press and the
choice of a Tigalari-derived font led to the decline of other
scripts used to write Malayalam, especially Grantha.

59. Tigalari/Tulu
script
ttp://shivallibrahmins.com/tulu-language/tulu-language-and-script/
• Abandoned after 1841,
with the advent of Samuel
Hebich's Basel Mission
Press. Hebich used a
version of the Kannada
script for Kannada, Tulu
and Kodava Takk
documents.
• Now being revived by the
Tulu Sahitya Academy.

60. Another version
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tigalari_alphabet

61. Palm leaf manuscript
• Vidyamadhaviyam-Jyotisha Shastram
tp://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/96/Tigalari-manuscript-Vidyamadhaviyam.jp

62. Decline of Grantha
• The advent of printing to India led to a gradual decline of
Grantha, due to a two-pronged attack.
• The first Tamil press set up in 1712 at Tranquebar
(Tarangambadi) churned out tonnes of printed material in
Tamil, especially Christian evangelical literature. To counter
this, the native Tamil elite set up their own presses to mass
produce Hindu religious literature (starting with Kalvi
Vilakkam in 1834). This led to widespread literacy in Tamil,
including among Tamil Brahmins, custodians of Grantha.
• The Devanagari script became prevalent for the mass printing
of Sanskrit books, with publishers such as Gita Press of
Gorakhpur.

63. Printing Press in South India
• As an aside, Hebich's standardisation also led to the evolution
of the modern Kannada script from the Halegannada script.
• The modern Telugu script was standardised from an eastern
version of Halegannada by Vavilla Sastrulu's Adi Saraswathi
Nilayam (1854).

64. Homework:
transcribe the given page into Devanagari.