Pracalit script

Prachalit Nepal
𑐥𑑂𑐬𑐔𑐮𑐶𑐟 𑐣𑐾𑐥𑐵𑐮‎^[1]
Prachalit Nepal; 𑐥𑑂𑐬𑐔𑐮𑐶𑐟 𑐣𑐾𑐥𑐵𑐮‎
	The word 'Prachalit Nepal' in Prachalit Nepal script
Script type	Abugida
Period	10th–20th century
Direction	Left-to-right
Languages	Nepal Bhasa, Sanskrit, Maithili
Related scripts
Parent systems	Proto-Sinaitic script Phoenician alphabet Aramaic script Brāhmī Gupta Siddham Gaudi Nepalese Prachalit Nepal; ; ; ; ; ; ; ;
Sister systems	Ranjana ; Bhujimol
ISO 15924
ISO 15924	Newa(333),Newa, Newar, Newari, Nepāla lipi
Unicode
Unicode alias	Newa
Unicode range	U+11400–U+1147F

Last updated February 19, 2026

Prachalit, also known as Newa, Newar, Newari, Nepal lipi or Nepalakshar is a type of abugida script developed from the Nepalese scripts, which are a part of the family of Brahmic scripts descended from Brahmi script. It is used to write Nepal Bhasa, Maithili, and Sanskrit languages. Various publications are still published in this script including the Sikkim Herald the bulletin of the Sikkim government (Newari edition).^[1]

Etymology

The word "Prachalit" comes from Sanskrit language, which means popular. The Prachalit script was one of the most widely used script among all of the scripts used in Nepal, with majority of manuscripts and inscription written in it, hence it is called Prachalit lipi, meaning popular script.

The Prachalit script is also known as "Nepalakshar" or "Nepal lipi", which means script of Nepal. This script is also known as "Newa" in Newar language, "Newar" in Classical Newar language and "Newari" in Nepali language. The multilingual stone inscription of Pratap Malla dated to 1654 CE, uses "nevāra ākhala" (Newar script) to refer this script in Classical Newar language.^[3] Similarly, in a 1747 CE work, Capuchin friar Costantino da Ascoli refers to this script as Nepalese.^[4]

History

The Prachalit script appeared in the inscription of King Shankaradeva at Jaishideval, dated to 920 CE. Similarly, the first coin in Prachalit script appeared on a coin of King Shivadeva (1098–1126 CE). The oldest surviving manuscript of the Abhijnana Shakuntala, dated to the 12th century, was written in this script and is now situated at the Asiatic Society of Bengal.^[5]

Almost all of Malla dynasty official records and inscription were written in Newar script. It was also used in official documents by early-Shah rulers, as shown by the Nepal-Tibet treaty of 1775, which was written in Prachalit script. Later since 1906, with rise of Rana dynasty, official documents written in Newar script was declared illegal. Since than, the Prachalit script started to replaced by Devanagari script.^[6]

Alphabet

Vowels

Vowels	Diacritic	IAST & IPA	With 𑐎 (ka)	With 𑐐 (ga)	Vowels	Diacritic	IAST & IPA	With 𑐎 (ka)	With 𑐐 (ga)
𑐀	—	a /ə/	𑐎	𑐐	𑐁	𑐵	ā /aː/	𑐎𑐵	𑐐𑐵
𑐂	𑐶	i /i/	𑐎𑐶	𑐐𑐶	𑐃	𑐷	ī /iː/	𑐎𑐷	𑐐𑐷
𑐄	𑐸	u /u/	𑐎𑐸	𑐐𑐸	𑐅	𑐹	ū /uː/	𑐎𑐹	𑐐𑐹
𑐆	𑐺	ṛ /r̩/	𑐎𑐺	𑐐𑐺	𑐇	𑐻	ṝ /r̩ː/	𑐎𑐻	𑐐𑐻
𑐈	𑐼	ḷ /l̩/	𑐎𑐼	𑐐𑐼	𑐉	𑐽	ḹ /l̩ː/	𑐎𑐽	𑐐𑐽
𑐊	𑐾	e /eː/	𑐎𑐾	𑐐𑐾	𑐋	𑐿	ai /ai̯/	𑐎𑐿	𑐐𑐿
𑐌	𑑀	o /oː/	𑐎𑑀	𑐐𑑀	𑐍	𑑁	au /au̯/	𑐎𑑁	𑐐𑑁
𑐀𑑄	𑑄	ã /ə̃/	𑐎𑑄	𑐐𑑄	𑐀𑑅	𑑅	aḥ /əḥ/	𑐎𑑅	𑐐𑑅

Consonant

Phonetics →	Stop								Nasal		Approximant		Fricative
Voicing →	Voiceless				Voiced								Voiceless		Voiced
Aspiration →	No		Yes		No		Yes		No				Yes
Velar	𑐎	ka /k/	𑐏	kha /kʰ/	𑐐	ga /ɡ/	𑐑	gha /ɡʱ/	𑐒	ṅa /ŋ/					𑐴	ha /ɦ/
Palatal	𑐔	ca /c/	𑐕	cha /cʰ/	𑐖	ja /ɟ/	𑐗	jha /ɟʱ/	𑐘	ña /ɲ/	𑐫	ya /j/	𑐱	śa /ɕ/
Retroflex	𑐚	ṭa /ʈ/	𑐛	ṭha /ʈʰ/	𑐜	ḍa /ɖ/	𑐝	ḍha /ɖʱ/	𑐞	ṇa /ɳ/	𑐬	ra /r/	𑐲	ṣa /ʂ/
Dental	𑐟	ta /t/	𑐠	tha /tʰ/	𑐡	da /d/	𑐢	dha /dʱ/	𑐣	na /n/	𑐮	la /l/	𑐳	sa /s/
Labial	𑐥	pa /p/	𑐦	pha /pʰ/	𑐧	ba /b/	𑐨	bha /bʱ/	𑐩	ma /m/	𑐰	va /w,ʋ/

Symbols

Numerals

𑑐	𑑑	𑑒	𑑓	𑑔	𑑕	𑑖	𑑗	𑑘	𑑙
0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9

Unicode

Prachalit Nepal script was added to the Unicode Standard in June, 2016 with the release of version 9.0.

The Unicode block for Prachalit Nepal, called Newa, is U+11400–U+1147F:

Newa ^[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+1140x	𑐀‎	𑐁‎	𑐂‎	𑐃‎	𑐄‎	𑐅‎	𑐆‎	𑐇‎	𑐈‎	𑐉‎	𑐊‎	𑐋‎	𑐌‎	𑐍‎	𑐎‎	𑐏‎
U+1141x	𑐐‎	𑐑‎	𑐒‎	𑐓‎	𑐔‎	𑐕‎	𑐖‎	𑐗‎	𑐘‎	𑐙‎	𑐚‎	𑐛‎	𑐜‎	𑐝‎	𑐞‎	𑐟‎
U+1142x	𑐠‎	𑐡‎	𑐢‎	𑐣‎	𑐤‎	𑐥‎	𑐦‎	𑐧‎	𑐨‎	𑐩‎	𑐪‎	𑐫‎	𑐬‎	𑐭‎	𑐮‎	𑐯‎
U+1143x	𑐰‎	𑐱‎	𑐲‎	𑐳‎	𑐴‎	𑐵‎	𑐶‎	𑐷‎	𑐸‎	𑐹‎	𑐺‎	𑐻‎	𑐼‎	𑐽‎	𑐾‎	𑐿‎
U+1144x	𑑀‎	𑑁‎	𑑂‎	𑑃‎	𑑄‎	𑑅‎	𑑆‎	𑑇‎	𑑈‎	𑑉‎	𑑊‎	𑑋‎	𑑌‎	𑑍‎	𑑎‎	𑑏‎
U+1145x	𑑐‎	𑑑‎	𑑒‎	𑑓‎	𑑔‎	𑑕‎	𑑖‎	𑑗‎	𑑘‎	𑑙‎	𑑚‎	𑑛‎		𑑝‎	𑑞‎	𑑟‎
U+1146x	𑑠‎	𑑡‎
U+1147x
Notes 1. ^ As of Unicode version 17.0 2. ^ Grey areas indicate non-assigned code points

Gallery

An 11th century manuscript of Devikavacha stotra.
A 12th century Sanskrit manuscript of the Gandavyuha.
A 14th century manuscript of Varāhamihira's Brihat Jataka.
A folio from an astrology book from the 15th century.
A 17th-century manuscript copy of Raghuvamsa, currently at Cambridge University.
King Bhupatindra Malla's Newar language inscription from 1713 CE.
King Ranajit Malla's Newar language inscription from 1754 CE.
The Nepal-Tibet Treaty of 1775 written in Classical Newar and Prachalit script.
A manuscript of Swasthani Bakhan written in Newar language, from 1819 CE.
A Newar manuscript of glory of Ekadashi, from 1837 CE.

References

1 2 Pandey, Anshuman (3 May 2011). "N4038: Preliminary Proposal to Encode the Prachalit Nepal Script in ISO/IEC 10646" (PDF). Retrieved 24 June 2016.
↑ Masica, Colin (1993). The Indo-Aryan languages. p. 143.
↑ Poudel, Nayanath (17 June 2023). "nevāra śabdako prācīnatā" [Historicity of the term "Newar"]. Gorkhapatra (in Nepali). Archived from the original on 21 May 2024.
↑ Tomba, Marco Della (1878). Gli scritti del Padre Marco Della Tomba, missionario nelle Indie orientali, raccolti, ordinati ed illustrati sopra gli autografi del Museo Borgiano (in Italian). Le Monnier. p. 303.
↑ Tamot, Kashinath (2017). "नेपालमा प्रचलित लिपिको परिचय (Nepalma Prachalit Lipiko Parichaya)". Internet Archive. Retrieved 6 February 2026.
↑ Tuladhar, Prem Shanti (2000). Nepal Bhasa Sahityaya Itihas: History of Nepalbhasa Literature. Nepal Bhasa Academy. p. 14. ISBN 99933-56-00-X.

External links

ScriptSource page on Prachalit Nepal script
Fonts for Prachalit, Ranjana and Brahmi scripts
Noto Sans Newa (GitHub) – a Noto font for Newa

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[Pandey2011-1] 1 2 Pandey, Anshuman (3 May 2011). "N4038: Preliminary Proposal to Encode the Prachalit Nepal Script in ISO/IEC 10646" (PDF). Retrieved 24 June 2016.

[masica-2] Masica, Colin (1993). The Indo-Aryan languages. p. 143.

[3] Poudel, Nayanath (17 June 2023). "nevāra śabdako prācīnatā" [Historicity of the term "Newar"]. Gorkhapatra (in Nepali). Archived from the original on 21 May 2024.

[4] Tomba, Marco Della (1878). Gli scritti del Padre Marco Della Tomba, missionario nelle Indie orientali, raccolti, ordinati ed illustrati sopra gli autografi del Museo Borgiano (in Italian). Le Monnier. p. 303.

[5] Tamot, Kashinath (2017). "नेपालमा प्रचलित लिपिको परिचय (Nepalma Prachalit Lipiko Parichaya)". Internet Archive. Retrieved 6 February 2026.

[Tuladhar2000-6] Tuladhar, Prem Shanti (2000). Nepal Bhasa Sahityaya Itihas: History of Nepalbhasa Literature. Nepal Bhasa Academy. p. 14. ISBN 99933-56-00-X.

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