Tigalari script

Tigalari
Script type	Abugida
Time period	9th century CE – present[1]
Direction	Left-to-right
Languages	Tulu, Kannada, and Sanskrit
Related scripts
Parent systems	Egyptian Proto-Sinaitic Phoenician Aramaic Brahmi script Tamil Brahmi Pallava script[2] Grantha Tigalari
Sister systems	Malayalam script Saurashtra script Dhives Akuru
ISO 15924
ISO 15924	Tutg (341), ​Tulu-Tigalari

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Tigalari (Tigaḷāri lipi, tulu lipi),^{[Note 1]} also known as Tulu script, is a Southern Brahmic script which was used to write Tulu, Kannada, and Sanskrit languages. It was primarily used for writing Vedic texts in Sanskrit.^[3] It evolved from the Grantha script. It is called as Tigalari lipi in Kannada-speaking regions (Malnad region) and Tulu speakers call it as Tulu lipi. It bears high similarity and relationship to its sister script Malayalam, which also evolved from the Grantha script.

The oldest record of the usage of this script found in a stone inscription at the Sri Veeranarayana temple in Kulashekara here is in complete Tigalari/Tulu script and Tulu language and belongs to the 1159 A.D.^[4] The various inscriptions of Tulu from the 15th century are in the Tigalari script. Two Tulu epics named Sri Bhagavato and Kaveri from the 17th century were also written in the same script.^[5] It was also used by Tulu-speaking Brahmins like Shivalli Brahmins and Kannada speaking Havyaka Brahmins and Kota Brahmins to write Vedic mantras and other Sanskrit religious texts. However, there has been a renewed interest among Tulu speakers to revive the script as it was formerly used in the Tulu-speaking region. The Karnataka Tulu Sahitya Academy, a cultural wing of the Government of Karnataka, has introduced Tuḷu language (written in Kannada script) and Tigalari script in schools across the Mangalore and Udupi districts.^[6] The academy provides instructional manuals to learn this script and conducts workshops to teach it.^[7]

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