Thirke
Writing script for a South Indian language
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Thirke is a left-to-right abugida (a type of segmental writing system), based on the ancient Brāhmī script.[4][5] It was developed and in use during the 14th century CE in Kodagu, in present-day Karnataka.[6][4]
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| Thirke | |
|---|---|
Letters found in a 14th century Kodagu temple inscription | |
| Script type | |
Period | 14th century |
| Direction | Left-to-right  |
| Region |  India |
| Language | Kodava |
| Related scripts | |
Parent systems | |
Sister systems | Malayalam script Tigalari script |
Etymology
Mookonda Kushalappa called this script "thirke" ("temple" in Kodava).[4][5] Kodava is the language native to Kodagu.[4]
History
Two inscriptions dating to 1370-1371 AD with the thirke script were found in the Bhagandeshwara temple in Bhagamandala and the Palurappa Mahalingeshwara temple in Palur.[4][5][6][7]
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Decipherment
The inscriptions have been attributed to a King Bodharupa. The Coorg Inscriptions volume of the Epigraphia Carnatica mentioned these two 14th-century inscriptions. Authored by B. L. Rice in 1914, the two inscriptions were deciphered for him by Narasimhachar and Krishna Shastri. They did not believe the inscriptions to be a unique language.[6][4][5] Narasimhachar said that the "characters are a jumble of Grantha, Malayalam, Tamil and a few Vatteluttu. There is no doubt about portions being in Tamil, but other portions are in a language that is neither Malayalam nor Tulu but is related to them. I think the inscriptions are older than 1400 AD. Some of the characters appear to go back to the 11th century."[6][4][5]
Discovery
Mookonda Nitin Kushalappa separated the characters used in the two inscriptions and put together the alphabet used.[4][5]