Kawi script

Aksara Kawi (from Sanskrit kavi "poet") is the name given to the writing system originating in Java and used across much of Maritime Southeast Asia from the 8th century to around 1500 AD. It is a direct derivation of the Pallava script brought by traders from the ancient Tamil Kingdom of the south Indian Pallava dynasty in India, primarily used for writing Sanskrit and Old Javanese language. Kawi is the ancestor of traditional Indonesian scripts, such as Javanese and Balinese, as well as traditional Philippine scripts such as Baybayin.

Overview

Kawi is derived from the Pallava script mentioned by scholars of Southeast Asian studies such as George Coedès and D. G. E. Hall as the basis of several writing systems of Southeast Asia. The Pallava script was primarily used to write middle Tamil.

The earliest known texts in Kavi date from the Singhasari kingdom in eastern Java. The more recent scripts were extant in the Majapahit kingdom, also in eastern Java, Bali, Borneo and Sumatra.

The scripts are abugidas, meaning that characters are read with an inherent vowel. Diacritics are used, either to suppress the vowel and represent a pure consonant, or to represent other vowels.