Siddhaṃ script

Siddham script Siddhaṃ 𑖭𑖰𑖟𑖿𑖠𑖽
The wordSiddhaṃin Siddhaṃ script
Script type	Abugida
Time period	c. late 6th century–c. 1200 CE
Direction	Left-to-right
Languages	Sanskrit
Related scripts
Parent systems	Egyptian Proto-Sinaitic Phoenician Aramaic Brahmi Gupta Siddham script
Child systems	Nagari Gaudi script Bengali-Assamese Assamese Bengali Tirhuta Odia Nepalese
Sister systems	Sharada,Tibetan,Kalinga,Bhaiksuki
ISO 15924
ISO 15924	Sidd(302),​Siddham, Siddhaṃ, Siddhamātṛkā
Unicode
Unicode alias	Siddham
Unicode range	U+11580–U+115FF Final Accepted Script Proposal Variant Forms

Siddhaṃ(alsoSiddhāṃ), also known in its later evolved form asSiddhamātṛkā,is a medievalBrahmic abugida,derived from theGupta scriptand ancestral to theNāgarī,Eastern Nagari,Tirhuta,OdiaandNepalesescripts.

The wordSiddhaṃmeans "accomplished" or "perfected" inSanskrit.The script received its name from the practice of writingSiddhaṃ,orSiddhaṃ astu(may there be perfection), at the head of documents. Other names for the script includebonji(Japanese:Phạn tự) lit. "Brahma's characters "and" Sanskrit script "andChinese:Tất đàm văn tự;pinyin:Xītán wénzilit. "Siddhaṃ script".

History

A Siddhaṃ manuscript of theHeart Sutra.Bibliothèque nationale de France

TheSiddhamscript evolved from the Gupta Brahmi script in the late 6th century CE.

ManyBuddhist textstaken to China along theSilk Roadwere written using a version of theSiddhaṃscript. This continued to evolve, and minor variations are seen across time, and in different regions. Importantly, it was used for transmitting the Buddhisttantratexts. At the time it was considered important to preserve the pronunciation of mantras, and Chinese was not suitable for writing the sounds of Sanskrit. This led to the retention of theSiddhaṃscript in East Asia. The practice of writing usingSiddhaṃsurvived in East Asia where Tantric Buddhism persisted.

Kūkaiintroduced theSiddhaṃscript to Japan when he returned from China in 806, where he studied Sanskrit withNalanda-trained monks including one known as Prajñā (Chinese:Bàn Nhược Tam Tạng;pinyin:Bōrě Sāncáng;734–c. 810). By the time Kūkai learned this script, the trading and pilgrimage routes over land to India had been closed by the expandingAbbasid Caliphate.

In the middle of the 9th century, China experienced aseries of purgesof "foreign religions", thus cutting Japan off from the sources ofSiddhaṃtexts. In time, other scripts, particularlyDevanagari,replacedSiddhaṃin India, whileSiddhaṃ's northeastern derivative calledGaudievolved to become theEastern Nagari,Tirhuta,Odiaand also theNepalesescripts in the eastern andnortheasternregions ofSouth Asia,leaving East Asia as the only region whereSiddhaṃis still used.

There were special forms of Siddhaṃ used in Korea that varied significantly from those used in China and Japan, and there is evidence that Siddhaṃ was written inCentral Asia,as well, by the early 7th century.

As was done with Chinese characters, Japanese Buddhist scholars sometimes created multiple characters with the same phonological value to add meaning to Siddhaṃ characters. This practice, in effect, represents a 'blend' of the Chinese style of writing and the Indian style of writing and allows Sanskrit texts in Siddhaṃ to be differentially interpreted as they are read, as was done with Chinese characters that the Japanese had adopted. This led to multiple variants of the same characters.

Characteristics

Siddhaṃis anabugidarather than anAlpha bet,as each character indicates a syllable, including a consonant and (possibly) a vowel. If the vowel sound is not explicitly indicated, the short 'a' is assumed. Diacritic marks are used to indicate other vowels, as well as theanusvaraandvisarga.Aviramacan be used to indicate that the consonant letter stands alone with no vowel, which sometimes happens at the end of Sanskrit words.

Siddhaṃ texts were usually written from left to right then top to bottom, as with other Brahmic scripts, but occasionally they were written in the traditional Chinese style, from top to bottom then right to left. Bilingual Siddhaṃ-Japanese texts show the manuscript turned 90 degrees clockwise and the Japanese is written from top to bottom, as is typical of Japanese, and then the manuscript is turned back again, and the Siddhaṃ writing is continued from left to right (the resulting Japanese characters appear sideways).

Over time, additional markings were developed, including punctuation marks, head marks, repetition marks, end marks, special ligatures to combine conjuncts and rarely to combine syllables, and several ornaments of the scribe's choice, which are not currently encoded. Thenuqtais also used in some modern Siddhaṃ texts.

Vowels

Independent form	Romanized	As diacritic with	Independent form	Romanized	As diacritic with
𑖀	a	𑖎𑖿𑖧	𑖁	ā	𑖎𑖿𑖧𑖯
𑖂	i	𑖎𑖿𑖧𑖰	𑖃	ī	𑖎𑖿𑖧𑖱
𑖄	u	𑖎𑖿𑖧𑖲	𑖅	ū	𑖎𑖿𑖧𑖳
𑖊	e	𑖎𑖿𑖧𑖸	𑖋	ai	𑖎𑖿𑖧𑖹
𑖌	o	𑖎𑖿𑖧𑖺	𑖍	au	𑖎𑖿𑖧𑖻
𑖀𑖽	aṃ	𑖎𑖿𑖧𑖽	𑖀𑖾	aḥ	𑖎𑖿𑖧𑖾

Alternative forms

ā

i

i

ī

ī

u

ū

o

au

aṃ

Independent form	Romanized	As diacritic with	Independent form	Romanized	As diacritic with
𑖆	ṛ	𑖎𑖴	𑖇	ṝ	𑖎𑖵
𑖈	ḷ		𑖉	ḹ

Consonants

	Stop					Approximant	Fricative
	Tenuis	Aspirated	Voiced	Breathy voiced	Nasal
Glottal							𑖮h
Velar	𑖎k	𑖏kh	𑖐g	𑖑gh	𑖒ṅ
Palatal	𑖓c	𑖔ch	𑖕j	𑖖jh	𑖗ñ	𑖧y	𑖫ś
Retroflex	𑖘ṭ	𑖙ṭh	𑖚ḍ	𑖛ḍh	𑖜ṇ	𑖨r	𑖬ṣ
Dental	𑖝t	𑖞th	𑖟d	𑖠dh	𑖡n	𑖩l	𑖭s
Bilabial	𑖢p	𑖣ph	𑖤b	𑖥bh	𑖦m
Labiodental						𑖪v

Conjuncts in Alpha bet

𑖎𑖿𑖬kṣ

𑖩𑖿𑖩𑖽llaṃ

Alternative forms

ch

j

ñ

ṭ

ṭh

ḍh

ḍh

ṇ

ṇ

th

th

dh

n

m

ś

ś

v

Conjuncts

k$\cdots$kṣ	-ya	-ra	-la	-va	-ma	-na
𑖎k	𑖎𑖿𑖧kya	𑖎𑖿𑖨kra	𑖎𑖿𑖩kla	𑖎𑖿𑖪kva	𑖎𑖿𑖦kma	𑖎𑖿𑖡kna
𑖨𑖿𑖎rk	𑖨𑖿𑖎𑖿𑖧rkya	𑖨𑖿𑖎𑖿𑖨rkra	𑖨𑖿𑖎𑖿𑖩rkla	𑖨𑖿𑖎𑖿𑖪rkva	𑖨𑖿𑖎𑖿𑖦rkma	𑖨𑖿𑖎𑖿𑖡rkna
𑖏kh	$\cdots$
$\vdots$total 68 rows.

• ↑ The combinations that contain adjoining duplicate letters should be deleted in this table.

𑖒𑖿𑖎ṅka	𑖒𑖿𑖏ṅkha	𑖒𑖿𑖐ṅga	𑖒𑖿𑖑ṅgha
𑖗𑖿𑖓ñca	𑖗𑖿𑖔ñcha	𑖗𑖿𑖕ñja	𑖗𑖿𑖖ñjha
𑖜𑖿𑖘ṇṭa	𑖜𑖿𑖙ṇṭha	𑖜𑖿𑖚ṇḍa	𑖜𑖿𑖛ṇḍha
𑖡𑖿𑖝nta	𑖡𑖿𑖞ntha	𑖡𑖿𑖟nda	𑖡𑖿𑖠ndha
𑖦𑖿𑖢mpa	𑖦𑖿𑖣mpha	𑖦𑖿𑖤mba	𑖦𑖿𑖥mbha

𑖒𑖿𑖧ṅya	𑖒𑖿𑖨ṅra	𑖒𑖿𑖩ṅla	𑖒𑖿𑖪ṅva
𑖒𑖿𑖫ṅśa	𑖒𑖿𑖬ṅṣa	𑖒𑖿𑖭ṅsa	𑖒𑖿𑖮ṅha	𑖒𑖿𑖎𑖿𑖬ṅkṣa

𑖭𑖿𑖎ska	𑖭𑖿𑖏skha	𑖟𑖿𑖐dga	𑖟𑖿𑖑dgha	𑖒𑖿𑖎𑖿𑖝𑖿𑖨ṅktra
𑖪𑖿𑖓vca/bca	𑖪𑖿𑖔vcha/bcha	𑖪𑖿𑖕vja/bja	𑖪𑖿𑖖vjha/bjha	𑖕𑖿𑖗jña
𑖬𑖿𑖘ṣṭa	𑖬𑖿𑖙ṣṭha	𑖟𑖿𑖚dḍa	𑖟𑖿𑖛dḍha	𑖬𑖿𑖜ṣṇa
𑖭𑖿𑖝sta	𑖭𑖿𑖞stha	𑖪𑖿𑖟vda/bda	𑖪𑖿𑖠vdha/bdha	𑖨𑖿𑖝𑖿𑖭𑖿𑖡rtsna
𑖭𑖿𑖢spa	𑖭𑖿𑖣spha	𑖟𑖿𑖤dba	𑖟𑖿𑖥dbha	𑖨𑖿𑖎𑖿𑖬𑖿𑖦rkṣma

𑖨𑖿𑖎𑖿𑖬𑖿𑖪𑖿𑖧rkṣvya	𑖨𑖿𑖎𑖿𑖬𑖿𑖪𑖿𑖨𑖿𑖧rkṣvrya	𑖩𑖿𑖝lta	𑖝𑖿𑖎𑖿𑖪tkva
𑖘𑖿𑖫ṭśa	𑖘𑖿𑖬ṭṣa	𑖭𑖿𑖮sha	𑖤𑖿𑖎𑖿𑖬bkṣa

𑖢𑖿𑖝pta

𑖘𑖿𑖎ṭka

𑖟𑖿𑖭𑖿𑖪dsva

𑖘𑖿𑖬𑖿𑖔𑖿𑖨ṭṣchra

𑖕𑖿𑖕jja

𑖘𑖿𑖘ṭṭa

𑖜𑖿𑖜ṇṇa

𑖝𑖿𑖝tta

𑖡𑖿𑖡nna

𑖦𑖿𑖦mma

𑖩𑖿𑖩lla

𑖪𑖿𑖪vva

$\cdots$

Alternative forms of conjuncts that containṇ.

𑖜𑖿𑖘ṇṭa

𑖜𑖿𑖙ṇṭha

𑖜𑖿𑖚ṇḍa

𑖜𑖿𑖛ṇḍha

ṛ syllables

𑖎𑖴kṛ

𑖏𑖴khṛ

𑖐𑖴gṛ

𑖑𑖴ghṛ

𑖒𑖴ṅṛ

𑖓𑖴cṛ

𑖔𑖴chṛ

𑖕𑖴jṛ

𑖖𑖴jhṛ

𑖗𑖴ñṛ

$\cdots$

Some sample syllables

𑖨𑖿𑖎rka	𑖨𑖿𑖎𑖯rkā	𑖨𑖿𑖎𑖰rki	𑖨𑖿𑖎𑖱rkī	𑖨𑖿𑖎𑖲rku	𑖨𑖿𑖎𑖳rkū	𑖨𑖿𑖎𑖸rke	𑖨𑖿𑖎𑖹rkai	𑖨𑖿𑖎𑖺rko	𑖨𑖿𑖎𑖻rkau	𑖨𑖿𑖎𑖽rkaṃ	𑖨𑖿𑖎𑖾rkaḥ
𑖒𑖿𑖎ṅka	𑖒𑖿𑖎𑖯ṅkā	𑖒𑖿𑖎𑖰ṅki	𑖒𑖿𑖎𑖱ṅkī	𑖒𑖿𑖎𑖲ṅku	𑖒𑖿𑖎𑖳ṅkū	𑖒𑖿𑖎𑖸ṅke	𑖒𑖿𑖎𑖹ṅkai	𑖒𑖿𑖎𑖺ṅko	𑖒𑖿𑖎𑖻ṅkau	𑖒𑖿𑖎𑖽ṅkaṃ	𑖒𑖿𑖎𑖾ṅkaḥ

Usage

InJapan,the writing ofmantrasand copying/reading ofsutrasusing theSiddhaṃscript is still practiced in the esoteric schools ofShingon BuddhismandTendaias well as in the syncretic sect ofShugendō.The characters are known asBonji(Phạn tự,Chinese:Fànzì)orshittan(Tất đàm).TheTaishō Tripiṭakaversion of theChinese Buddhist canonpreserves theSiddhaṃcharacters for most mantras, and Korean Buddhists still writebījasin a modified form ofSiddhaṃ.A recent innovation is the writing of Japanese language slogans on T-shirts using Bonji. JapaneseSiddhaṃhas evolved from the original script used to write sūtras and is now somewhat different from the ancient script.

It is typical to seeSiddhaṃwritten with a brush, as with Chinese writing; it is also written with a bamboo pen. In Japan, a special brush called abokuhitsu(Phác bút,Cantonese:pokbat)is used for formalSiddhaṃcalligraphy. The informal style is known as "fude"(Bút,Cantonese: "moubat" ).

Siddhaṃ fonts

Siddhaṃis still largely a hand written script. Some efforts have been made to create computer fonts, though to date none of these are capable of reproducing all of theSiddhaṃconjunct consonants. Notably, theChinese Buddhist Electronic Texts Associationhas created aSiddhaṃfont for their electronic version of the TaishoTripiṭaka,though this does not contain all possible conjuncts. The softwareMojikyoalso contains fonts for Siddhaṃ, but split Siddhaṃ in different blocks and requires multiple fonts to render a single document.

ASiddhaṃinput system which relies on the CBETA font Siddhamkey 3.0 has been produced.

Unicode

Main article:Siddham (Unicode block)

Siddhaṃ script was added to theUnicodeStandard in June 2014 with the release of version 7.0.

The Unicode block for Siddhaṃ is U+11580–U+115FF:

Siddham[1][2] Official Unicode Consortium code chart(PDF)

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

A

B

C

D

E

F

U+1158x

𑖀

𑖁

𑖂

𑖃

𑖄

𑖅

𑖆

𑖇

𑖈

𑖉

𑖊

𑖋

𑖌

𑖍

𑖎

𑖏

U+1159x

𑖐

𑖑

𑖒

𑖓

𑖔

𑖕

𑖖

𑖗

𑖘

𑖙

𑖚

𑖛

𑖜

𑖝

𑖞

𑖟

U+115Ax

𑖠

𑖡

𑖢

𑖣

𑖤

𑖥

𑖦

𑖧

𑖨

𑖩

𑖪

𑖫

𑖬

𑖭

𑖮

𑖯

U+115Bx

𑖰

𑖱

𑖲

𑖳

𑖴

𑖵

𑖸

𑖹

𑖺

𑖻

𑖼

𑖽

𑖾

𑖿

U+115Cx

𑗀

𑗁

𑗂

𑗃

𑗄

𑗅

𑗆

𑗇

𑗈

𑗉

𑗊

𑗋

𑗌

𑗍

𑗎

𑗏

U+115Dx

𑗐

𑗑

𑗒

𑗓

𑗔

𑗕

𑗖

𑗗

𑗘

𑗙

𑗚

𑗛

𑗜

𑗝

U+115Ex

U+115Fx

Notes 1.^As of Unicode version 15.1 2.^Grey areas indicate non-assigned code points

Gallery

This is a gallery of example usages of the Siddham script.

• 
  A reproduction of thepalm-leaf manuscript inSiddham script,originally held atHōryū-jiTemple, Japan; now located in the Tokyo National Museum at the Gallery of Hōryū—ji Treasure. The original copy may be the earliest extant Sanskrit manuscript of theHeart Sutradated to the 7th–8th century CE. It also contains the Sanskrit text of theUṣṇīṣa Vijaya Dhāraṇī Sūtraand the final line shows the Siddhaṃ abugida.
• 
  Chinese use of the Siddhaṃ script for the Pratisara mantra, from theLater Tang.927 CE
• 
  Chinese use of the Siddhaṃ script for the Mahāpratyaṅgirā mantra. 971 CE
• 
  Siddhaṃ Bijakshara A,Daishō-in,Miyajima
• 
  Mirror with bijaksharas,Miyajima
• 
  A stone inscription of the BuddhistUṣṇīṣa Vijaya Dhāraṇī SūtraatAsakusa Templein Tokyo using Siddham script.
• 
  Siddhaṃ Alpha bet byKūkai(774–835)
• 
  A Buddhist altar in Kawasaki, Japan showing a devotional mantra inscribed in Siddham toShakyamuniBuddha with Japanese pronunciation guide
• 
  Shorter Sukhāvatīvyūha Sūtrawritten inkatakana,Siddhaṃ scripts andkanji.This book was published in 1773 in Japan.

References

Sources

• Bonji Taikan( Phạn tự đại giam ). (Tōkyō: Meicho Fukyūkai, 1983)
• Chaudhuri, Saroj Kumar (1998).Siddham in China and Japan,Sino-Platonic papers No. 88
• e-Museum, National Treasures & Important Cultural Properties of National Museums, Japan (2018),"Sanskrit Version of Heart Sutra and Viyaya Dharani",e-Museum{{citation}}:CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
• Stevens, John.Sacred Calligraphy of the East.(Boston, MA: Shambala, 1995.)
• Van Gulik, R.H.Siddham: An Essay on the History of Sanskrit Studies in China and Japan(New Delhi, Jayyed Press, 1981).
• Yamasaki, Taikō.Shingon: Japanese Esoteric Buddhism.(Fresno: Shingon Buddhist International Institute, 1988.)
• Chandra, Lokesh (1965)Sanskrit bījas and mantras in Japan,New Delhi, International Academy of Indian Culture, BQ5125.B5 A75 1965

External links

• Fonts:
  • Noto Sans Siddhamfrom theNoto fontsproject
  • Muktamsiddham—Free Unicode Siddham font
  • ApDevaSiddham—(Japanese) Free Unicode 8.0 Siddham Font (mirror)
• Siddham Alpha bet on Omniglot
• Examples of Siddham mantrasChinese language website.
• Visible Mantraan extensive collection of mantras and some sūtras in Siddhaṃ script
• Bonji SiddhamCharacter and Pronunciation
• SiddhamKeySoftware for inputting Siddham characters