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Thirke is a left-to-right abugida (a type of segmental writing system), based on the ancient Brāhmī script.[4][5] It was developed and in use during the 14th century CE in Kodagu, in present-day Karnataka.[6][4]

Etymology

Mookonda Kushalappa called this script “thirke” (“temple” in Kodava).[4][5] Kodava is the language native to Kodagu.[4]

History

Two inscriptions dating to 1370-1371 AD with the thirke script were found in the Bhagandeshwara temple in Bhagamandala and the Palurappa Mahalingeshwara temple in Palur.[4][5][6][7]

Letter combinations found in a 14th century Kodagu temple inscription
Words found in the 14th century Kodagu inscription (c.1370-1371)

Decipherment

The inscriptions have been attributed to a King Bodharupa. The Coorg Inscriptions volume of the Epigraphia Carnatica mentioned these two 14th-century inscriptions. Authored by B. L. Rice in 1914, the two inscriptions were deciphered for him by Narasimhachar and Krishna Shastri. They did not believe the inscriptions to be a unique language.[6][4][5] Narasimhachar said that the “characters are a jumble of Grantha, Malayalam, Tamil and a few Vatteluttu. There is no doubt about portions being in Tamil, but other portions are in a language that is neither Malayalam nor Tulu but is related to them. I think the inscriptions are older than 1400 AD. Some of the characters appear to go back to the 11th century.”[6][4][5]

Linguistic Survey of India (1906) map of the distribution of Dravidian languages

Discovery

Mookonda Kushalappa separated the characters used in the two inscriptions and put together the alphabet used.[4][5]

References

  1. ^ Himelfarb, Elizabeth J. (2000). “First Alphabet Found in Egypt”. Archaeology. Vol. 53, no. 1. p. 21.
  2. ^ Salomon 1996, p. 378.
  3. ^ Salomon, Richard, On The Origin Of The Early Indian Scripts: A Review Article. Journal of the American Oriental Society 115.2 (1995), 271–279, archived from the original on 22 May 2019, retrieved 27 March 2021
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h Kushalappa, Mookonda (4 February 2022). “The discovery of an old alphabet”. Deccan Herald. The Printers (Mysore) Pvt Ltd. Retrieved 3 May 2023.
  5. ^ a b c d e f Kushalappa, Mookonda (24 January 2022). “Discovering alphabets of old Kodava script”. Star of Mysore. Star of Mysore. Retrieved 3 May 2023.
  6. ^ a b c d Rice, B L (1914). Coorg inscriptions: Epigraphia Carnatica (Revised Edition), Volume 1. Madras (now Chennai): Government Press. p. 4.
  7. ^ Rice, B L (1914). Coorg inscriptions: Epigraphia Carnatica (Revised Edition), Volume 1. Madras (now Chennai): Government Press. pp. 28, 54, 55.

Notes

  1. ^ a b c A Semitic origin for the Brāhmī script is not universally accepted.

Sources

  • Salomon, Richard (1996). “Brahmi and Kharoshthi”. In Daniels, Peter T.; Bright, William (eds.). The World’s Writing Systems. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-507993-0.