The Laṇḍā scripts, from the term laṇḍā meaning "without a tail", is a Punjabi word used to refer to writing systems used in Punjab and adjoining areas. In Sindhi, it was known as 'Wāṇiko' or 'Baniyañ'.

Development

Laṇḍā is a script that evolved from the Sharada script during the 10th century. It was widely used in the northern and northwestern Indian subcontinent, in the Indus River plain, and adjoining areas, comprising Punjab, Sindh, Kashmir, and some parts of Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. It was used to write Punjabi and various Punjabi dialects like Pahari-Pothwari, languages of Haryana, Sindhi, Saraiki, Balochi, Kashmiri, and Pashto. The Laṇḍā scripts form a "typologically distinct group," and are closer in norms to its predecessor Brahmi than they are to the Nāgarī scripts to the east, in their general avoidance of conjunct glyphs or marking of the Middle Indo-Aryan geminations distinctive of Panjābī. While possessing full sets of consonants, even separate letters for the common Lāhndā consonant clusters tr and dr, their indication of vowels is less regular; they possess three vowel letters to indicate initial /ə ɪ ʊ/, but no letters or signs in other positions, thus being "alphabetical on the restricted Semitic model of Ugaritic cuneiform."

Functions

Landa scripts were originally used as mercantile shorthand for commercial purposes in the Punjab region and Sindh; they often lacked the full set of vowel sounds, as well as often imperfect correspondence of consonants. This made them liable to misreadings, frequently recognized by the local population through local proverbs referring to its usefulness only to the original writer. Various technical improvements would make certain descendant scripts fully suitable for literary use, primarily motivated by interest in recording religious scripture, particularly in the cases of Gurmukhī in Punjab, and Khojkī in Sindh.

Variants

Pandey (2010) further classifies Laṇḍā scripts into "Panjābī" and "Sindhī" regional subclasses. Grammarians of the 19th century variously identified as many as six Laṇḍā forms used in Punjab and as many as twelve in Sindh. Further typological differences used in this subclassification include: Even within these subclasses, the scripts exhibit further differences.

Fully attested

Currently, five Laṇḍā-descended scripts have enough information to be supported in Unicode.