128. Dhives Akuru

 

Origin

Dhives Akuru is a script that was once used in the Maldive Islands. It developed from the Grantha script and the earliest known inscription, found on Landhū Island in Southern Miladhunmadulhu Atoll, dates back to the 8th century AD. The script is thought to have been in use before then, however evidence of this has yet to be found.
The early Madivian scripts were divided into two variants, Dhives Akuru, "island letters", and Evēla Akuru, "ancient letters", by H. C. P. Bell, who studied the Maldivian linguistics after retiring from the British colonial service in Ceylon (Sri Lanka) in the early 20th century.
Dhives Akuru developed from Evēla Akuru and was used mainly on tombstones, grants and on some monuments until about the 18th century, when it was replaced by the Thaana script. However in some of the southern Maldive islands, Dhives Akuru continued to be used until the early 20th century. Today only scholars and hobbyists stil use the script.
Dhives Akuru is also known as Dives Akuru, Divehi Akuru or Dhivehi Akuru.

Notable features

• Type of writing system: syllabic alphabet
• Direction of writing: left to right, horizontal

Evēla Akuru

Dhives Akuru

Adapted from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dhives_Akuru from images drawn by Xavier Romero-Frias

All consonant-vowel combinations

See a larger version of this image

Sample text in Dhives Akuru

Links

Information about Evēla Akuru and Dhives Akuru
http://www.maldivesculture.com
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dhives_Akuru
http://www.obib.de/Schriften/AlteSchriften/alte_schriften.php
http://www.maldives-ethnography.com/scripts.html