Brahmic scripts

Brahmic scripts are writing systems descended from ancient Brahmi, generally using consonant letters with inherent vowels and marks that modify or suppress them.

Brahmi script: An ancient Indian script from which Brahmic writing systems descend. It is the ancestor whose forms and structural principles the family inherited.
Devanagari: A Brahmic script used to write Hindi, Sanskrit, Marathi, and several other languages. It is one of the most widely used descendants of Brahmi in northern South Asia.
Ashoka's edicts: Royal proclamations issued by the Mauryan emperor Ashoka in the third century BCE, many carved on stone pillars and rocks. Their inscriptions provide some of the earliest extensive evidence for Brahmi’s use.
Alphabet: A writing system whose basic letters represent consonants and vowels as separate units. Unlike a typical Brahmic abugida, an alphabet does not assign each consonant a default vowel.
Abugida: A writing system in which consonant symbols carry an inherent vowel that other marks can change or suppress. This typological category captures the characteristic consonant-vowel structure of most Brahmic scripts.
Bengali-Assamese script: A Brahmic script used for Bengali, Assamese, and several other languages. Its regional forms show how one branch serves multiple languages across eastern South Asia.
Kharosthi: An ancient script used in parts of northwestern South Asia, written from right to left and not descended from Brahmi. It was a major contemporary writing system that followed a different lineage and writing direction.
Abjad: A writing system that primarily represents consonants, with vowels often omitted or marked secondarily. It contrasts with Brahmic scripts’ routine representation of vowels through inherent vowels and marks.
Inherent vowel: A vowel supplied by default when a consonant letter is written without a vowel mark. It explains why consonant letters in many family members represent syllables rather than bare consonants.
Tamil script: A Brahmic script used primarily to write the Tamil language. Its distinctive inventory and conventions illustrate adaptation to a particular language.

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