Dhamma written in ten different scripts

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Dhamma written in ten different scripts

Post by DNS »

Dhamma is a Pali word but Pali does not have a script of its own. It uses the script of various languages where the Dhamma is being taught. The Tipitaka was an oral tradition and written down in the first century BCE in Pali. But several hundred years before that, King Ashoka had many edicts written in Pali using the Brahmi script. Listed below is the word Dhamma written in ten major scripts. Notice that the Brahmi script has the first character which makes the "Dha" sound and is almost identical to our letter "D."

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Re: Dhamma written in ten different scripts

Post by Ben »

Thanks David!
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Re: Dhamma written in ten different scripts

Post by Mawkish1983 »

I tried to learn Devanagari (particularly the sanskrit language) for a couple of weeks but it was just SO hard for my feeble western-conditioned mind. I love the Brahmi script!
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Re: Dhamma written in ten different scripts

Post by appicchato »

TheDhamma wrote:1. ...Pali does not have a script of its own.
2....written down in the first century BCE in Pali.

So, which is it?... :smile:
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Re: Dhamma written in ten different scripts

Post by Kare »

The Sinhalese seems to be wrong. The first character is an "E", not a "dh". And the "m" should be doubled.

Maybe someone also could add the Thai, Burmese and Khmer versions?
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Re: Dhamma written in ten different scripts

Post by DNS »

appicchato wrote:
TheDhamma wrote:1. ...Pali does not have a script of its own.
2....written down in the first century BCE in Pali.

So, which is it?... :smile:
Hi Bhante,

What I meant was that there is an oral language of Pali, but with no script of its own. The Tipitaka was written down in the first century BCE in the oral Pali language and using the Sinhalese script.

It would be sort of like writing the Arabic word for peace using Roman letters, such as, "salaam." The language is Arabic, but the script writing it is Roman in this example. Of course there is a script for Arabic, but if there were not the language could have been written using another script, such as the Roman letters.
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Re: Dhamma written in ten different scripts

Post by DNS »

Kare wrote:The Sinhalese seems to be wrong. The first character is an "E", not a "dh". And the "m" should be doubled.
Hi Kare,

You're probably right. I should check with a Sri Lankan monk. I retrieved those letters from:

http://www.ancientscripts.com/sinhala.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

If you look at the characters on that site, the first one shows it as a dha with an accent mark under the d and the second character shows the ma sound. Perhaps the character below that making the dha sound without the accent mark is the correct one?
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Re: Dhamma written in ten different scripts

Post by Kare »

TheDhamma wrote:
Kare wrote:The Sinhalese seems to be wrong. The first character is an "E", not a "dh". And the "m" should be doubled.
Hi Kare,

You're probably right. I should check with a Sri Lankan monk. I retrieved those letters from:

http://www.ancientscripts.com/sinhala.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

If you look at the characters on that site, the first one shows it as a dha with an accent mark under the d and the second character shows the ma sound. Perhaps the character below that making the dha sound without the accent mark is the correct one?
Yes, I was mistaken. The first character is not an "E", but a ".dha", with the point below the "d". Sorry (I have not read texts in Sinhalese characters for quite a while - I usually read Pali in either Roman or Thai characters). But for the word "dhamma" we need the "dha" without the point below. And for doubling the "m" to get "mma" it is usual to put two "m" characters close together and split the upward "tail" of the first of the two "m" characters.
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Re: Dhamma written in ten different scripts

Post by DNS »

Kare wrote: Yes, I was mistaken. The first character is not an "E", but a ".dha", with the point below the "d". Sorry (I have not read texts in Sinhalese characters for quite a while - I usually read Pali in either Roman or Thai characters). But for the word "dhamma" we need the "dha" without the point below. And for doubling the "m" to get "mma" it is usual to put two "m" characters close together and split the upward "tail" of the first of the two "m" characters.
Okay, thanks for that information!
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Re: Dhamma written in ten different scripts

Post by DNS »

Mawkish1983 wrote: I love the Brahmi script!
Me too! I love how the D is the same as our D. Brahmi script from one of Ashoka's edicts:

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Re: Dhamma written in ten different scripts

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Kare wrote:And for doubling the "m" to get "mma" it is usual to put two "m" characters close together and split the upward "tail" of the first of the two "m" characters.
I have tentatively updated the image so that it has the double-m, but have an e-mail out to a Sri Lankan friend so that I can accurately find out how to display the tail you are referring to.
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Re: Dhamma written in ten different scripts

Post by vitellius »

Hi,

Cyrillic variant is missing one "m". Here's correct one: "Дхамма".
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Re: Dhamma written in ten different scripts

Post by Kare »

TheDhamma wrote:
Kare wrote:And for doubling the "m" to get "mma" it is usual to put two "m" characters close together and split the upward "tail" of the first of the two "m" characters.
I have tentatively updated the image so that it has the double-m, but have an e-mail out to a Sri Lankan friend so that I can accurately find out how to display the tail you are referring to.
Yes, you need that extra marking on the first "m". As it stands now, it can rather be read "dhamama".
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Re: Dhamma written in ten different scripts

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Oleksandr wrote:Hi,
Cyrillic variant is missing one "m". Here's correct one: "Дхамма".
Okay, thanks. I'll update that when I also update the Sinhalese version.
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Re: Dhamma written in ten different scripts

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Kare wrote: Yes, you need that extra marking on the first "m". As it stands now, it can rather be read "dhamama".
:D

That sounds sort of like dhamma-mama. :tongue:
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