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{{Short description|South Indian script related to Devanāgarī}}
{{Use Indian English|date=January 2023}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2023}}
{{Infobox Writing system
| name = '''Nandināgarī'''
| native_name = {{script|Nand|𑧁𑧞𑦿𑧒𑧁𑧑𑦰𑧈𑧓}}
| languages = [[Sanskrit]] and [[Kannada]]
| type = [[Abugida]]
| time = {{c.|11th to 19th century}}
| sample = Nandināgarī Aksharamala.png
| imagesize = 200px
| caption = Nandināgarī Varnamala chart
| iso15924 = Nand
| fam1 = [[Proto-Sinaitic alphabet|Proto-Sinaitic]]
| fam2 = [[Phoenician alphabet|Phoenician]]
| fam3 = [[Aramaic alphabet|Aramaic]]
| fam4 = [[Brāhmī script|Brāhmī]]
| fam5 = [[Gupta script|Gupta]]
| fam6 = [[Siddhaṃ script|Siddhaṃ]]
| fam7 = [[Nāgarī]]
| sisters = [[Devanāgarī]], [[Kaithi]], [[Gujarāti script|Gujarāti]], [[Moḍī script|Moḍī]]
| unicode = [https://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U119A0.pdf U+119A0–U+119FF]
| footnotes = {{notelist}}
}}
{{Contains special characters|Indic}}
{{brahmic}}
[[File:Copper plates NMND.JPG|thumb|upright=1.2|A 16th century CE Sanskrit record of [[Sadasiva Raya]] in Nandināgarī script engraved on copper plates.<ref name=Prathima2011>Prathima, G. & Rao, G. K. (2011). [http://www.ijst.co.in/papers/vol1issue1/ijst_111105.pdf A Survey of Nandinagari Manuscript Recognition System.] ''International Journal of Science & Technology, 1''(1), 30-36.</ref> Manuscripts and records in Nandināgarī were created and preserved historically by creating inscriptions on metal plates, specially treated palm leaves, slabs of stone and paper.]]

'''Nandināgarī''' is a Brahmic script derived from the [[Nāgarī script]] which appeared in the 7th century AD.<ref name=georgedanesh>George Cardona and Danesh Jain (2003), The Indo-Aryan Languages, Routledge, {{ISBN|978-0415772945}}, page 75</ref> This script and its variants were used in the central [[Deccan Plateau|Deccan]] region and [[south India]],<ref name=georgedanesh/> and an abundance of Sanskrit manuscripts in Nandināgarī have been discovered but remain untransliterated.<ref name=nag>Reinhold Grünendahl (2001), South Indian Scripts in Sanskrit Manuscripts and Prints, Otto Harrassowitz Verlag, {{ISBN|978-3447045049}}, pages xxii, 201-210</ref><ref name=visalakshy>P. Visalakshy (2003), The Fundamentals of Manuscriptology, Dravidian Linguistics Association, {{ISBN|978-8185691107}}, pages 55–62</ref> Some of the discovered manuscripts of Madhvacharya of the [[Dvaita]] Vedanta school of [[Hinduism]] are in Nandināgarī script.<ref>Friedrich Otto Schrader (1988), A descriptive catalogue of the Sanskrit manuscripts in the Adyar Library, Otto Harrassowitz Verlag</ref>

It is a sister script to [[Devanagari|Devanāgarī]], which is common in other parts of India.<ref name=Pandey2013>Pandey, Anshuman. (2013). [https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2013/13002-nandinagari.pdf ''Preliminary Proposal to Encode Nandinagari in ISO/IEC 10646''.]</ref>

==Etymology==
Nāgarī comes from {{lang|sa|नगर}} ({{IAST|nagara}}), which means city.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Sanskrit and Tamil Dictionaries|url=https://www.sanskrit-lexicon.uni-koeln.de/scans/MWScan/tamil/index.html|access-date=2021-05-22|website=www.sanskrit-lexicon.uni-koeln.de}}</ref>

There have been Nandināgarī inscriptions from the Kakatiya period found in Mahabubabad, located 212 km from Nandi Nagar, Hyderabad.<ref>{{Cite web|author=U. Sudhakar Reddy|date=Jun 12, 2018|title=Kakatiya dynasty: Nandinagar script inscription from Kakatiya rule found in Mahabubabad {{!}} Hyderabad News - Times of India|url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/hyderabad/nandinagar-script-inscription-from-kakatiya-rule-found-in-mahabubabad/articleshow/64552371.cms|access-date=2021-05-22|website=The Times of India|language=en}}</ref>

The first part of the term "Nandi" is ambiguous in its context. It may mean "sacred" or "auspicious" (cf. Nandi verses in Sanskrit drama).{{citation needed|date=July 2015}} Nandi is the name of Lord Siva's Vrishabhavahana (bull vehicle), a revered icon, and it may be the source of the name.{{citation needed|date=July 2015}}

== History ==
Nandināgarī is a Brāhmī-based script that was used in southern India between the 11th and 19th centuries AD for producing manuscripts and inscriptions in Sanskrit in south [[Maharashtra]], [[Karnataka]] and [[Andhra Pradesh]]. It derives from the central group of Nāgarī scripts and is related to Devanāgarī. There are also several styles of Nandināgarī, considered by scholars as variant forms of the script.<ref name=Pandey2013/><ref>Pandey, Anshuman. (2017). [https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2017/17162-nandinagari.pdf ''Final proposal to encode Nandinagari in Unicode''.]</ref>

Some of the earliest inscriptions in Nandināgarī have been found in [[Tamil Nadu]]. The 8th century Narasimha Pallava's stone inscriptions in [[Mahabalipuram|Mamallapuram]] on Tamil Nadu's coast, the 10th-century coins from Chola king Rajaraja's period, the Paliyam copper plate inscriptions of the 9th century Ay king Varagunam are all in Nandināgarī script.<ref>[http://www.tnarch.gov.in/epi/ins5.htm Nagari script] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304050512/http://www.tnarch.gov.in/epi/ins5.htm |date=2016-03-04 }} Department of Archaeology, Government of Tamil Nadu (2011)</ref><ref>I Nakacami (2008), Mahabalipuram (Mamallapuram), Oxford University Press, {{ISBN|978-0195693737}}, pages 29-30</ref> A [[Rigveda]] manuscript has been found written in Nandināgarī script,<ref>AC Burnell, Elements of South-Indian Palaeography from the Fourth to the Seventeenth Century AD, Cambridge University Press, {{ISBN|978-1108046107}}, page 61 with footnote 1</ref> as well as manuscripts of other Vedas.<ref>{{Google books|Hno-AAAAcAAJ|MacKenzie Collection of Oriental Manuscripts|page=PA3}}, Asiatic Society of Bengal, pages 3, 6-7</ref> Manuscripts of the first century BCE ''Vikramacarita'', also known as the "Adventures of [[Vikramāditya|Vikrama]]" or the "Hindu Book of Tales",<ref>[https://archive.org/stream/jstor-288995/288995#page/n1/mode/2up A Hindu Book of Tales: The Vikramacarita], [[Franklin Edgerton]], The American Journal of Philology, Volume 33, No. 131, page 249–252</ref> have been found in Nandinagari script.<ref>[https://archive.org/stream/jstor-288995/288995#page/n13/mode/2up A Hindu Book of Tales: The Vikramacarita], Franklin Edgerton, The American Journal of Philology, Volume 33, No. 131, page 262</ref>

In a [[Travancore]] temple of [[Kerala]], an ''Anantasayana Mahatmya'' palm-leaf manuscript was found, and it is in Nandināgarī script.<ref>[[H. H. Wilson]] and Colin Mackenzie, {{Google books|2nUIAAAAQAAJ|Mackenzie Collection: A Descriptive Catalogue of the Oriental Manuscripts|page=62}}, Asiatic Society, page 62</ref>

Nandināgarī script was used to spell the [[Sanskrit language]], and many Sanskrit copper plate inscriptions of the [[Vijayanagara Empire]] were written in that script.<ref name=Prathima2011/>

{{Gallery
|align = center
|mode = packed
|height = 120
|File:Nandinagari Manuscript.jpg|A Nandināgarī manuscript
}}

Numerous Sanskrit manuscripts written in Nandināgarī have been discovered in South India, but it is one of the least documented and studied ancient scripts of India.<ref>Reinhold Grünendahl (2001), South Indian Scripts in Sanskrit Manuscripts and Prints: Grantha Tamil - Malayalam - Telugu - Kannada - '''Nandinagari''', Otto Harrassowitz Verlag, {{ISBN|978-3447045049}}, page xxii</ref> These cover [[Vedas]], philosophy, commentaries on ancient works,<ref>[[David Pingree]] (1981), Census of the Exact Sciences in Sanskrit, Volume 4, American Philosophical Society, {{ISBN|978-0871691460}}, pages 29, 201, 217, 260, 269, 409</ref> mythology, science and arts.<ref name=visalakshy/><ref>{{Google books|2nUIAAAAQAAJ|A Descriptive Catalogue of the Oriental Manuscripts|page=PA2}}, [[H. H. Wilson]], Mackenzie Collection of Nandinagari, Devanagari, Grandham and Telugu Manuscripts (South India), pages 2-8, 12-14</ref><ref>David Pingree (1970), Census of the Exact Sciences in Sanskrit, Volume 5, American Philosophical Society, {{ISBN|978-0871692139}}, pages 26-27, 79-81, 237-241</ref> These are preserved in the manuscript libraries, particularly those in the southern regions of the country.<ref name=nag/> Some Nandināgarī texts are in biscript that include other major south India language scripts, such as Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam and Kannada scripts.<ref>David Pingree (1970), Census of the Exact Sciences in Sanskrit, Volume 1 and 2, American Philosophical Society, {{ISBN|978-0871690814}}, see Preface and Introduction</ref>

== Comparison to Devanāgarī ==
Nandināgarī and Devanāgarī scripts are very close and share many similarities, but they also show systematic differences. Nandināgarī differs from Devanāgarī more in the shape of its vowels, and less in many consonant shapes.<ref name=Prathima2011/> It has an overline at the top of each character but does not conjoin them across whole words as one long, connected, horizontal line ({{IAST|shirorekhā}}). Nandināgarī is thus a sister script of Devanāgarī, but not a trivial variation.<ref name=Pandey2013/>

The Nandināgarī manuscripts also show cosmetic and style differences, such as the use of distinct [[Anusvara]]s and method of labeling each hymn or verse.<ref>Srinidhi (2015), [https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2015/15101-vedic.pdf Encoding of Vedic characters used in non-Devanagari scripts], UNICODE International, pages 7-9</ref>

{{Gallery
|align = center
|mode = packed
|height = 500
|File:Nandinagari script.png|A chart showing Nandinagari script
}}

== Unicode ==
{{Main|Nandinagari (Unicode block)}}
Nandināgarī script was added to the [[Unicode]] Standard in March 2019 with the release of version 12.0.

The Unicode block for Nandināgarī is U+119A0–U+119FF:

{{Unicode chart Nandinagari}}

== See also ==
* [[Shiksha]] – the [[Vedas|Vedic]] study of sound, focusing on the letters of the Sanskrit alphabet

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== External links ==
{{Commons category|Nandinagari}}
* [http://www.harekrsna.com/sun/features/06-07/features681.htm Palaeographical Importance of Nandinagari], ''HareKrsna.com''

{{list of writing systems}}

[[Category:Brahmic scripts]]
[[Category:Obsolete writing systems]]

Nandinagari - Revision history

Cornelius R: Created A Details Nd Citations