130. Modi alphabet

 

Origin

The Modi alphabet was invented during the 17th century to write the Marathi language of Maharashtra. It is a variant of the Devanāgarī alphabet. The Modi alphabet was used until 1950 when it was replaced by the Devanāgarī alphabet.

Notable features

• Modi is a syllabic alphabet - each letter has an inherent vowel (a). Other vowels are indicated using a variety of diacritics which appear above, below, in front of or after the main letter. Some vowels are indicated by modifying the consonant letter itself.

Used to write

Marathi, an Indo-Aryan language spoken by about 71 million people mainly in the Indian state of Maharashtra.

Modi consonants

Modi vowels and vowel diacritics

Modi numerals

Links

Information about the Modi script
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modi_script
Modi font by Somesh Bartakke (hemadree.zip)
http://guruvision.in/downloads/