Khudabadi script

Khudabadi, also known as Khudawadi, is a special way of writing the Sindhi language. It comes from a place called Khudabad, a city in a region named Sindh. Some Sindhi Hindus still use this script today.

There are four main scripts for writing Sindhi. Besides Khudabadi, people also use the Perso-Arabic script, the Khojki script, and the Devanagari script. Long ago, traders and merchants called Sindhi Workies used the Khudabadi script to write down important information. This helped them keep their records safe and secret from people who were not part of their group.

History

The Khudabadi script comes from the Brahmi script, like many scripts used in India, Tibet, and Southeast Asia. Though it looks different from scripts such as Bengali, Odia, Gurmukhi, or Devanagari, it shares similarities with them.

The Khudabadi script was made by the Sindhi diaspora living in Khudabad to send letters to family members back home. Because it was easy to use, the script became popular quickly and was used by many Sindhi groups for writing messages and letters. It was also used for keeping business records. Knowing this script was important for traders working in other countries, as it helped keep their information private.

When the British rule began in Sindh, they found different scripts being used. Some people used Devanagari, others used Gurmukhi, and government workers used the Perso-Arabic script. The British called the Khudabadi script 'Hindu Sindhi'. There was a debate about which script should be used for the Sindhi language. In 1868, the Bombay Presidency decided to use the Khudabadi script in schools for Hindu Sindhi, while the Arabic script would be used for Muslim Sindhi in government offices.

Even though the Khudabadi script was once widely used, it did not develop much after that. Traders kept using it for their records until Pakistan became independent in 1947. Today, most people in Sindh and among Hindu Sindhi communities in India use the Arabic script for writing Sindhi, but some still use the Khudabadi and Devanagari scripts. The Government of India recognizes both scripts.

Alphabet

Khudabadi is a special way of writing called an abugida. In this script, every letter for a consonant has a vowel sound built in. To change that vowel sound, small marks called matras are added. Vowels that start a word are written as separate letters. When two consonant letters need to go together, they use special conjunct symbols that mix parts of each letter.

Today, Khudabadi has 37 consonant letters, 10 vowel letters, and 9 small marks that go with the consonants to show different vowel sounds. There are also 3 extra signs, one mark for nasal sounds (anusvara), one mark for joining letters together (virama), and 10 digits, just like in many other Indic scripts. The nukta sign, borrowed from Devanagari, helps show sounds from Arabic and Persian that are not usually in Sindhi. Khudabadi is written from left to right, similar to Devanagari, and follows the style of other Landa scripts.

Numerals

Sample text

Below is Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human rights in the various scripts used to write Sindhi:

Khudabadi

𑋏𑋓𑋩𑊰 𑋱: 𑋝𑋗𑋤𑋙𑋠 𑊲𑋟𑋝𑋠𑋑 𑊱𑋂𑋩𑋠𑋏 𑊷𑋟 𑊲𑋂𑋩𑋪𑋂𑋩𑋍 𑊷𑋟 𑋞𑊺𑋩𑋑 𑋂𑋢 𑋞𑋛𑋠𑋚𑋥 𑊻𑋠𑋟 𑋔𑋙𑋠𑋔𑋙 𑋒𑋦𑋏𑋠 𑋎𑋡𑋘𑋠 𑊱𑋞𑋡𑋑. 𑊲𑋑𑋪𑋞𑋑 𑊻𑋥 𑊰𑊺𑋩𑋪𑋚 𑊷𑋟 𑋂𑋩𑋗𑋢𑋙 𑋞𑋠𑋝𑋡𑋚 𑋎𑋡𑋘𑋧 𑊱𑋞𑋥, 𑊲𑋑 𑊺𑋙𑋥 𑊲𑋑𑋪𑋞𑋑 𑊻𑋥 𑋞𑋡𑊺 𑋕𑋡𑊶 𑋝𑋠𑋟 𑋖𑋠𑊳𑋀𑋠𑋙𑋥 𑋛𑋠𑋙𑋧 𑋝𑋣𑋚𑋤𑊺 𑊲𑊻𑋩𑋪𑋍𑋡𑋘𑋠𑋙 𑊺𑋙𑋌 𑊾𑋣𑋙𑋂𑋥。

Devanagari

दफ़अ १: समूरा इंसान आज़ाद ऐं इज़्ज़त ऐं हक़न जी हवाले खां बराबर पैदा थिया आहिन। इन्हन खे अक़्ल ऐं ज़मीर हासिल थियो आहे, इन करे इन्हन खे हिक ॿिए सां भाईचारे वारो सुलूक इख़्तियार करण घुरजे॥

Romanisation

Dafa 1. Samūrā insān āzād aĩ 'izzat aĩ haqan jī havālē khā̃ barābar paidā thiyā āhin. Inhan khē aqul aĩ zamīr hāsil thiyō āhē, in karē inhan khē hik ɓiē sā̃ bhāīchārē vārō sulūk ikhtiyār karaṇ ghurjē.

IPA Transliteration

d̪əfə eːk. səmuːɾaː ɪnsaːn aːzaːd̪ ɛ̃ ɪzːət̪ ɛ̃ həqən d͡ʒiː həʋaːleː kʰãː bəɾaːbəɾ pɛːd̪aː tʰɪjaː aːhɪn. ɪnʱən kʰeː əqʊl ɛ̃ zəmiːɾ haːsɪl tʰɪjoː aːheː, ɪn kəɾeː ɪnʱən kʰeː hɪk ɓɪ.eː sãː bʱaːiːt͡ʃaːɾeː ʋaːɾoː sʊluːk ɪxt̪ɪjaːɾ kəɾəɳ gʱʊɾd͡ʒeː

Translation

Article 1: All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

Unicode

See also: Khudawadi (Unicode block)

The Khudabadi script was added to the Unicode Standard in June 2014 with the release of version 7.0. It is used as the main way to write all Sindhi scripts except for Khojki. This helps make it easier for computers to show these special letters. The area where these letters are found in Unicode is called Khudawadi, and it is between U+112B0 and U+112FF.