Siddham script

E132167

Siddham script is an ancient Indian writing system derived from Brahmi, historically used for recording Sanskrit Buddhist texts and mantras, especially in East Asia.

All labels observed (2)

Label Occurrences
Siddham script canonical 9
Siddhamātṛkā script 1

How this entity was disambiguated

Statements (50)

Predicate Object
instanceOf abugida
historical script
writing system
alsoKnownAs Siddhamatrka
Siddhamātṛkā script
linked to: Siddham script
associatedWith Esoteric Buddhism
linked to: Vajrayana

Shingon Buddhism
Tendai Buddhism
Vajrayana Buddhism
linked to: Vajrayana
derivedFrom Brahmi script
developedFrom Gupta script
directionOfWriting left-to-right
encodedInUnicodeVersion Unicode 7.0
hasFeature anusvara sign
conjunct consonants
independent vowel letters
inherent vowel /a/
visarga sign
vowel diacritics
hasScriptType alphasyllabary
hasUnicodeBlock Siddham (U+11580–U+115FF)
historicallyUsedFor copying sutras
transmission of Buddhist dharani
influenced Japanese Siddham calligraphy tradition
preservedIn Chinese Buddhist manuscripts
Dunhuang manuscripts
linked to: Dunhuang

Japanese Buddhist temples
primaryReligion Buddhism
regionOfOrigin Indian subcontinent
linked to: South Asia
scriptFamily Brahmic scripts
status no longer used for everyday writing
used liturgically in East Asian Buddhism
timePeriod Gupta period
linked to: Gupta Empire

circa 6th century CE
usedFor Buddhist mantras
Buddhist texts
mandala inscriptions
ritual inscriptions
seed syllables (bija)
writing Sanskrit
usedIn China
East Asia
India
Japan
Korea
writingMedium palm-leaf manuscripts
paper manuscripts
stone inscriptions
writingSystemFor Sanskrit language
linked to: Sanskrit
writingSystemType consonant-based abugida

How these facts were elicited

Referenced by (10)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Brahmi script hasDescendant Siddham script
Sharada script relatedScript Siddham script
Bengali script derivedFrom Siddham script
Eastern Nagari script derivedFrom Siddham script
Pala Empire scriptUsed Siddham script
Shingon Buddhism languageOfMantras Siddham script
Siddham script alsoKnownAs Siddhamātṛkā script
linked to: Siddham script
Gupta script developedInto Siddham script
Gupta script influenced Siddham script
True Word School usesLanguage Siddham script