Nepalese scripts

Prior to development of Nepal Scripts, people in the Nepal Mandala used the following scripts which are shared within the South Asian region.[5][6]

• Brāhmī script – Ashoka period
• Purva Licchavi Script[lower-alpha 1] – prior Licchavi period
• Uttara Licchavi Script[lower-alpha 2] – later Licchavi period (6th–11th or 12th century)

The 'Nepal Script' or 'Nepalese script'[10] appeared in the 10th century. The earliest instance is a manuscript entitled Lankavatara Sutra dated Nepal Era 28 (908 AD). Another early specimen is a palm-leaf manuscript of a Buddhist text the Prajnaparamita, dated Nepal Era 40 (920 AD).[11] One of the oldest manuscript of Ramayana, preserved till date, was written in Nepal Script in 1041.[12]

The script has been used on stone and copper plate inscriptions, coins (Nepalese mohar), palm-leaf documents and Hindu and Buddhist manuscripts.[13][14]

Among the famed historical texts written in Nepal Lipi are Gopalarajavamsavali, a history of Nepal, which appeared in 1389 AD,[15] the Nepal-Tibet treaty of Nepal Era 895 (1775 AD) and a letter dated Nepal Era 535 (1415 AD) sent by Chinese Emperor Tai Ming to Shakti-simha-rama, a feudatory of Banepa.[16][17]

Besides the Kathmandu Valley and the Himalayan region in Nepal, the Ranjana script is used for sacred purposes in Tibet, China, Japan, Korea, Mongolia, Bhutan, Sikkim and Ladakh.[18]

The Jokhang Temple in Lhasa, Tibet is ornamented with mantras embossed in Ranjana script, and the panels under the eaves are numbered using Nepal Lipi.[19]

In 1906, the Rana regime banned Nepal Bhasa, Nepal Era and Nepal Lipi from official use as part of its policy to subdue them, and the script fell into decline. Authors were also encouraged to switch to Devanagari to write Nepal Bhasa because of the availability of moveable type for printing, and Nepal Lipi was pushed further into the background.[20] However, the script continued to be used for religious and ceremonial purposes till the 1950s.

After the Rana dynasty was overthrown and democracy established in 1951,[21] restrictions on Nepal Bhasa were lifted. Attempts were made to study and revive the old scripts,[22] and alphabet books were published. Hemraj Shakyavamsha published an alphabet book of 15 types of Nepalese alphabets including Ranjana, Bhujimol and Pachumol.[23]

In 1952, a pressman Pushpa Ratna Sagar of Kathmandu had moveable type of Nepal script made in India. The metal type was used to print the dateline and the titles of the articles in Thaunkanhe monthly.[24]

In 1989, the first book to be printed using a computer typeface of Nepal script, Prasiddha Bajracharyapinigu Sanchhipta Bibaran ("Profiles of Renowned Bajracharyas") by Badri Ratna Bajracharya, was published.

Pracalit	Rañjanā	Dev.	Rom.
		क	ka
		ख	kha
		ग	ga
		घ	gha
		ङ	ṅa
		ह्ङ	ṅha
		च	ca
		छ	cha
		ज	ja
		झ	jha
		ञ	ña
		ह्ञ्	ñha

Pracalit	Rañjanā	Dev.	Rom.
		ट	ṭa
		ठ	ṭha
		ड	ḍa
		ढ	ḍha
		ण	ṇa
		ह्ण	ṇha
		त	ta
		थ	tha
		द	da
		ध	dha
		न	na
		ह्न	nha

Pracalit	Rañjanā	Dev.	Rom.
		प	pa
		फ	pha
		ब	ba
		भ	bha
		म	ma
		ह्म	mha
		य	ya
		र	ra
		ह्र	rha
		ल	la
		ह्ल	lha
		व	va

Pracalit	Rañjanā	Dev.	Rom.
		श	śa
		ष	ṣa
		स	sa
		ह	ha
		क्ष	kṣa
		त्र	tra
		ज्ञ	jña

The compound letters kṣa, tra and jña are often regarded as separate letters that are taught together with the other letters. Since the Newari language lacks retroflex consonants, the letters ṭa, ṭha, ḍa, ḍha, ṇa and ṣa are used only in loanwords. The same applies to the letter śa. Newari, on the other hand, has a number of sonorant consonants that are pronounced with creaky voice (ṅha, ñha, ṇha, nha, mha, rha and lha). They are written in compound letters consisting of "ha" combined with the letter for the corresponding modal sonorant.[27]

Letters with alternative forms (bha and ha) and letters that form ligatures together with the vowel u (ja and ra ). Also note that "u" changes shape when combined with "bha".

Some letters have alternative forms that are used when combined with certain vowel diacritics or included in a consonant cluster.[28]

• Letter bha and ha changes appearance when combined with any of the vowel diacritics u, ū, ṛ, ṝ, ḷ and ḹ.
• Letter ja and ra forms ligatures together with the vowels u and ū.
• Vowels u changes appearance when combined with the letters ga, ta, bha and śa.

Example of how the letters ka and ya are written together to form the letter kya. When ka is in the initial position and is followed by a letter with two bars, extend ka to the right so that it overlaps the following letter

Consonant clusters are written by writing several consonant letters together in complex ligatures. How they are written depends on the shape of the letters and some letters have alternative shapes that are used depending on their position in the cluster.[28]

Pracalit	Rañjanā	Dev.	Rom.
		अ	a
		आ	ā
		इ	i
		ई	ī
		उ	u
		ऊ	ū

Pracalit	Rañjanā	Dev.	Rom.
		ऋ	ṛ
		ॠ	ṝ
		ए	e
		ऐ	ai
		ओ	o
		औ	au

Pracalit	Rañjanā	Dev.	Rom.
		अय्	ay
		आय्	āy
		एय्	ey

The vowel ṛ which in Sanskrit stands for syllable forming [ṛ] is used in Newar script to write the syllable ri.

In Newari, the vowels a and ā are pronounced with different vowel qualities. In order to write their long equivalents, some diacritics have been given partially different properties than what is otherwise usual in Brahmic scripts.

Letter		Name		Transcription		Description
Pracalit	Rañjanā	Sanskrit	Newari	Dev.	Rom.
		visarga	lyuphuti	अः	aḥ	Usually used to indicate that a vowel is followed by an h-sound. In Newari it is used instead of marking a long vowel.
		candrabindu	milaphuti	अँ	am̐	Marks a nasal vowel.
		anusvāra	sinhaphuti	अं	aṃ	In other words, it can be seen as a combination of visarga and chandrabindu.

Some of the vowel diacritics have different appearances depending on whether the consonant has a top line or not. There are seven consonants without top lines: ga, ña, ṭha, ṇa, tha, dha and śa.[28]

	a	aḥ	ā	āḥ	i	ī	u	ū	ṛ	ṝ	e	ai	o	au	am̐	aṃ
क ka
ग ga

The vowel dialects can have up to three different appearances depending on which consonant they are combined with.[29] The rules for ka are also used for ja, kṣa and jña. The rules for ga also apply to kha, ña, ṭha, ṇa, tha, dha and sha. The rules for ba are used for other letters.

• 
  Rules for क ka
• 
  Rules for ग ga
• 
  Rules for ब ba