The word Siddhaṃ means "accomplished" or "perfected" in Sanskrit. The script received its name from the practice of writing Siddhaṃ, or Siddhaṃ astu (may there be perfection), at the head of documents. Other names for the script include bonji (Japanese: 梵字) lit. "Brahma's characters" and "Sanskrit script" and Chinese: 悉曇文字; pinyin: Xītán wénzi lit. "Siddhaṃ script".
History
The Siddham script evolved from the Gupta Brahmi script in the late 6th century CE.[1]
Many Buddhist texts taken to China along the Silk Road were written using a version of the Siddhaṃ script. This continued to evolve, and minor variations are seen across time, and in different regions. Importantly, it was used for transmitting the Buddhist tantra texts. At the time it was considered important to preserve the pronunciation of mantras, and Chinese was not suitable for writing the sounds of Sanskrit. This led to the retention of the Siddhaṃ script in East Asia. The practice of writing using Siddhaṃ survived in East Asia where Tantric Buddhism persisted.
Kūkai introduced the Siddhaṃ script to Japan when he returned from China in 806, where he studied Sanskrit with Nalanda-trained monks including one known as Prajñā (Chinese: 般若三藏; pinyin: Bōrě Sāncáng; 734–c. 810). By the time Kūkai learned this script, the trading and pilgrimage routes over land to India had been closed by the expanding Abbasid Caliphate.[10]
In the middle of the 9th century, China experienced a series of purges of "foreign religions", thus cutting Japan off from the sources of Siddhaṃ texts. In time, other scripts, particularly Devanagari, replaced Siddhaṃ in India, while Siddhaṃ's northeastern derivative called Gaudi evolved to become the Eastern Nagari, Tirhuta, Odia and also the Nepalese scripts in the eastern and northeastern regions of South Asia,[11][12] leaving East Asia as the only region where Siddhaṃ is still used.
There were special forms of Siddhaṃ used in Korea that varied significantly from those used in China and Japan, and there is evidence that Siddhaṃ was written in Central Asia, as well, by the early 7th century.
As was done with Chinese characters, Japanese Buddhist scholars sometimes created multiple characters with the same phonological value to add meaning to Siddhaṃ characters. This practice, in effect, represents a 'blend' of the Chinese style of writing and the Indian style of writing and allows Sanskrit texts in Siddhaṃ to be differentially interpreted as they are read, as was done with Chinese characters that the Japanese had adopted. This led to multiple variants of the same characters.[13]
Characteristics
Siddhaṃ is an abugida rather than an alphabet, as each character indicates a syllable, including a consonant and (possibly) a vowel. If the vowel sound is not explicitly indicated, the short 'a' is assumed. Diacritic marks are used to indicate other vowels, as well as the anusvara and visarga. A virama can be used to indicate that the consonant letter stands alone with no vowel, which sometimes happens at the end of Sanskrit words.
Siddhaṃ texts were usually written from left to right then top to bottom, as with other Brahmic scripts, but occasionally they were written in the traditional Chinese style, from top to bottom then right to left. Bilingual Siddhaṃ-Japanese texts show the manuscript turned 90 degrees clockwise and the Japanese is written from top to bottom, as is typical of Japanese, and then the manuscript is turned back again, and the Siddhaṃ writing is continued from left to right (the resulting Japanese characters appear sideways).
Over time, additional markings were developed, including punctuation marks, head marks, repetition marks, end marks, special ligatures to combine conjuncts and rarely to combine syllables, and several ornaments of the scribe's choice, which are not currently encoded. The nuqta is also used in some modern Siddhaṃ texts.
↑ The combinations that contain adjoining duplicate letters should be deleted in this table.
𑖒𑖿𑖎ṅka
𑖒𑖿𑖏ṅkha
𑖒𑖿𑖐ṅga
𑖒𑖿𑖑ṅgha
𑖗𑖿𑖓ñca
𑖗𑖿𑖔ñcha
𑖗𑖿𑖕ñja
𑖗𑖿𑖖ñjha
𑖜𑖿𑖘ṇṭa
𑖜𑖿𑖙ṇṭha
𑖜𑖿𑖚ṇḍa
𑖜𑖿𑖛ṇḍha
𑖡𑖿𑖝nta
𑖡𑖿𑖞ntha
𑖡𑖿𑖟nda
𑖡𑖿𑖠ndha
𑖦𑖿𑖢mpa
𑖦𑖿𑖣mpha
𑖦𑖿𑖤mba
𑖦𑖿𑖥mbha
𑖒𑖿𑖧ṅya
𑖒𑖿𑖨ṅra
𑖒𑖿𑖩ṅla
𑖒𑖿𑖪ṅva
𑖒𑖿𑖫ṅśa
𑖒𑖿𑖬ṅṣa
𑖒𑖿𑖭ṅsa
𑖒𑖿𑖮ṅha
𑖒𑖿𑖎𑖿𑖬ṅkṣa
𑖭𑖿𑖎ska
𑖭𑖿𑖏skha
𑖟𑖿𑖐dga
𑖟𑖿𑖑dgha
𑖒𑖿𑖎𑖿𑖝𑖿𑖨ṅktra
𑖪𑖿𑖓vca/bca
𑖪𑖿𑖔vcha/bcha
𑖪𑖿𑖕vja/bja
𑖪𑖿𑖖vjha/bjha
𑖕𑖿𑖗jña
𑖬𑖿𑖘ṣṭa
𑖬𑖿𑖙ṣṭha
𑖟𑖿𑖚dḍa
𑖟𑖿𑖛dḍha
𑖬𑖿𑖜ṣṇa
𑖭𑖿𑖝sta
𑖭𑖿𑖞stha
𑖪𑖿𑖟vda/bda
𑖪𑖿𑖠vdha/bdha
𑖨𑖿𑖝𑖿𑖭𑖿𑖡rtsna
𑖭𑖿𑖢spa
𑖭𑖿𑖣spha
𑖟𑖿𑖤dba
𑖟𑖿𑖥dbha
𑖨𑖿𑖎𑖿𑖬𑖿𑖦rkṣma
𑖨𑖿𑖎𑖿𑖬𑖿𑖪𑖿𑖧rkṣvya
𑖨𑖿𑖎𑖿𑖬𑖿𑖪𑖿𑖨𑖿𑖧rkṣvrya
𑖩𑖿𑖝lta
𑖝𑖿𑖎𑖿𑖪tkva
𑖘𑖿𑖫ṭśa
𑖘𑖿𑖬ṭṣa
𑖭𑖿𑖮sha
𑖤𑖿𑖎𑖿𑖬bkṣa
𑖢𑖿𑖝pta
𑖘𑖿𑖎ṭka
𑖟𑖿𑖭𑖿𑖪dsva
𑖘𑖿𑖬𑖿𑖔𑖿𑖨ṭṣchra
𑖕𑖿𑖕jja
𑖘𑖿𑖘ṭṭa
𑖜𑖿𑖜ṇṇa
𑖝𑖿𑖝tta
𑖡𑖿𑖡nna
𑖦𑖿𑖦mma
𑖩𑖿𑖩lla
𑖪𑖿𑖪vva
Alternative forms of conjuncts that contain ṇ.
𑖜𑖿𑖘ṇṭa
𑖜𑖿𑖙ṇṭha
𑖜𑖿𑖚ṇḍa
𑖜𑖿𑖛ṇḍha
ṛ syllables
𑖎𑖴kṛ
𑖏𑖴khṛ
𑖐𑖴gṛ
𑖑𑖴ghṛ
𑖒𑖴ṅṛ
𑖓𑖴cṛ
𑖔𑖴chṛ
𑖕𑖴jṛ
𑖖𑖴jhṛ
𑖗𑖴ñṛ
Some sample syllables
𑖨𑖿𑖎rka
𑖨𑖿𑖎𑖯rkā
𑖨𑖿𑖎𑖰rki
𑖨𑖿𑖎𑖱rkī
𑖨𑖿𑖎𑖲rku
𑖨𑖿𑖎𑖳rkū
𑖨𑖿𑖎𑖸rke
𑖨𑖿𑖎𑖹rkai
𑖨𑖿𑖎𑖺rko
𑖨𑖿𑖎𑖻rkau
𑖨𑖿𑖎𑖽rkaṃ
𑖨𑖿𑖎𑖾rkaḥ
𑖒𑖿𑖎ṅka
𑖒𑖿𑖎𑖯ṅkā
𑖒𑖿𑖎𑖰ṅki
𑖒𑖿𑖎𑖱ṅkī
𑖒𑖿𑖎𑖲ṅku
𑖒𑖿𑖎𑖳ṅkū
𑖒𑖿𑖎𑖸ṅke
𑖒𑖿𑖎𑖹ṅkai
𑖒𑖿𑖎𑖺ṅko
𑖒𑖿𑖎𑖻ṅkau
𑖒𑖿𑖎𑖽ṅkaṃ
𑖒𑖿𑖎𑖾ṅkaḥ
Usage
In Japan, the writing of mantras and copying/reading of sutras using the Siddhaṃ script is still practiced in the esoteric schools of Shingon Buddhism and Tendai as well as in the syncretic sect of Shugendō. The characters are known as Bonji (梵字, Chinese: Fànzì) or shittan (悉曇). The Taishō Tripiṭaka version of the Chinese Buddhist canon preserves the Siddhaṃ characters for most mantras, and Korean Buddhists still write bījas in a modified form of Siddhaṃ. A recent innovation is the writing of Japanese language slogans on T-shirts using Bonji. Japanese Siddhaṃ has evolved from the original script used to write sūtras and is now somewhat different from the ancient script.[14][15][16]
It is typical to see Siddhaṃ written with a brush, as with Chinese writing; it is also written with a bamboo pen. In Japan, a special brush called a bokuhitsu (朴筆, Cantonese: pokbat) is used for formal Siddhaṃ calligraphy. The informal style is known as "fude" (筆, Cantonese: "moubat").
Siddhaṃ fonts
Siddhaṃ is still largely a hand written script. Some efforts have been made to create computer fonts, though to date none of these are capable of reproducing all of the Siddhaṃ conjunct consonants. Notably, the Chinese Buddhist Electronic Texts Association has created a Siddhaṃ font for their electronic version of the Taisho Tripiṭaka, though this does not contain all possible conjuncts. The software Mojikyo also contains fonts for Siddhaṃ, but split Siddhaṃ in different blocks and requires multiple fonts to render a single document.
A Siddhaṃ input system which relies on the CBETA font Siddhamkey 3.0 has been produced.
This is a gallery of example usages of the Siddham script.
A reproduction of the palm-leaf manuscript in Siddham script, originally held at Hōryū-ji Temple, Japan; now located in the Tokyo National Museum at the Gallery of Hōryū—ji Treasure. The original copy may be the earliest extant Sanskrit manuscript of the Heart Sutra dated to the 7th–8th century CE. It also contains the Sanskrit text of the Uṣṇīṣa Vijaya Dhāraṇī Sūtra and the final line shows the Siddhaṃ abugida.[17]
Chinese use of the Siddhaṃ script for the Pratisara mantra, from the Later Tang. 927 CE
Chinese use of the Siddhaṃ script for the Mahāpratyaṅgirā mantra. 971 CE
^Its usage survives into the modern period for liturgical purposes in Japan and Korea.
References
Citations
^ abSingh, Upinder (2008). A History of Ancient and Early Medieval India: From the Stone Age to the 12th Century. Delhi: Pearson. p. 43. ISBN9788131716779.
^e-museum 2018 Ink on pattra (palmyra leaves used for writing upon) ink on paper Heart Sutra: 4.9x28.0 Dharani: 4.9x27.9/10.0x28.3 Late Gupta period/7–8th century Tokyo National Museum N-8. sfn error: no target: CITEREFe-museum2018 (help)