Khojki script

Khojkī
𑈉𑈲𑈐𑈈𑈮
Script type
Period
15th century — 20th century
DirectionLeft-to-right Edit this on Wikidata
RegionIndia, Pakistan, Sindh
LanguagesKutchi, Sindhi
Related scripts
Parent systems
Sister systems
Gurmukhi, Khudabadi, Mahajani, Multani
ISO 15924
ISO 15924Khoj (322), ​Khojki
Unicode
Unicode alias
Khojki
U+11200–U+1124F
Final Accepted Script Proposal

Khojkī (Sindhi: خوجڪي, Khōjkī)[a] or Khojā Sindhī is an extinct script historically used for Sindhi and other related Sindhic languages. It was almost exclusively used by the Khoja community in parts of the Indian subcontinent, including Sindh, Gujarat, and Punjab. However, this script also had a further reach and was used by members of Ismaili communities from Burma to East and South Africa.[1] The Khojki script is one of the earliest forms of written Sindhi.[2] The name "Khojki" is likely derived from the Persian word khoja, which means "master", or "lord".[3]

As a scholarly article from 2022 has demonstrated, referring to the script as "Khojki" is a relatively new phenomenon, coined by the Russian scholar Wladimir Ivanow. This neologism began to replace the original terms used by Ismailis such as Sindhi and (when necessary to distinguish it from other forms of Sindhi script) Khwajah Sindhi. By this, they did not necessarily mean the Sindhi language, but rather the script utilized by their community, known as the Khwajahs or Khojas.[4] To avoid confusion, the British administrative bureaucracy added the term Khwajah, referring to the script as "Khwajah Sindhi" The Ismailis sometimes did the same to distinguish the script from the language, as well as from other scripts used in Sindh.

The Khwajah Ismaili community continued using the traditional term ‘Sindhi’ alongside the neologism ‘Khojki.’ However, many scholars writing in English and other Western languages dropped the traditional term ‘Sindhi’ was adopting the invented term ‘Khojki.’

The script was employed primarily to record Ismaili religious and devotional literature; most notably in the form of poetry called gināns (a term derived from the Sanskrit jnāna meaning contemplative knowledge).[5] Khojkī belongs to a family of scripts classified as landā or ‘clipped’ alphabets primarily employed as commercial and mercantile scripts by various Hindu communities of Sind and Punjab.[6] It is one of the two Landā scripts used for liturgy, the other being the Gurmukhī alphabet, which is associated with Sikhism.[7]


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  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference :1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ "Khojki Script". Oxford Reference.
  3. ^ Surani, Iqbal (2017). "Satpanthī Khoja-s to Shīʿa Imāmī Ismāʿīlī Ṭarīqa The Construction of Religious Identity of the Khoja-s Imāmī Ismāʿīlī of South Asia". Studia Islamica. 112: 1–28. doi:10.1163/19585705-12341346.
  4. ^ Virani, Shafique N. (2022-01-01). "Khwājah Sindhi (Khojki): Its Name, Manuscripts and Origin". Texts, Scribesand Transmission: 280.
  5. ^ Asani, Ali (2002). Ecstasy and Enlightenment: The Ismaili Devotional Literature of South Asia. I.B. Tauris. p. 25.
  6. ^ Bruce, Juan, “The Origins, Evolution, and Decline of the Khojki Script,” Dissertation, University of Reading, 2015), p. 33.
  7. ^ Asani, Ali (2002). Ecstasy and Enlightenment: The Ismaili Devotional Literature of South Asia. I.B. Tauris. p. 106.

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