Kaithi

Kaithī Kayathi, Kayasthi
Type	Abugida
Languages	Angika, Awadhi, Bhojpuri, Braj Bhasha, Caribbean Hindustani, Fiji Hindi, Magahi, Maithili, Hindi, Urdu
Time period	c. 16th–mid 20th century
Parent systems	Brahmi Gupta Nāgarī Kaithī
Sister systems	Devanagari, Nandinagari
Direction	Left-to-right
ISO 15924	Kthi, 317
Unicode alias	Kaithi
Unicode range	U+11080–U+110CF

Kaithi, also called "Kayathi" or "Kayasthi", is a historical script used widely in parts of North India, primarily in the former North-Western Provinces, Awadh and Bhojpur, and Madhesh in Nepal. It was used for writing legal, administrative, and private records.^[1]

Etymology

Kaithi script derives its name from the word Kayastha, a social group of India that traditionally consists of administrators and accountants.^[2] The Kayastha community was closely associated with the princely courts and colonial governments of North India, and were employed by them to write and maintain records of revenue transactions, legal documents, and title deeds; general correspondence; and proceedings of the royal courts and related bodies.^[3] The script used by them acquired the name Kaithi.

History

The printed form of the Kaithi script, as of the mid-19th century

Documents in Kaithi are traceable to at least the 16th century. The script was widely used during the Mughal period. In the 1880s, during the British Raj, the script was recognized as the official script of the law courts of Bihar. Although in general, Kaithi was much more widely used than Devanagari in some areas, it later on lost its popularity to the other officially-recognized scripts.

Unicode

Kaithi script was added to the Unicode Standard in October, 2009 with the release of version 5.2.

The Unicode block for Kaithi is U+11080–U+110CF:

References