Balinese

Script Details

Balinese

A page from the Bible printed with Balinese Script

By Luke; Semarang, Soerabaja, 1910 - http://www.d.umn.edu/lib/bible/displays/writing/south.htm, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=29574132

Unicode Chart

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Maps

Https://omniglot.com/writing/balinese.htm

DISCLAIMER: This script is still being researched

Data

Alternate Names Askara Bali, Hanacaraka
ISO 15924 Bali 360
Type Abugida
Family Insular Southeast Asian
Direction LtR
Diacritics Yes
Contextual Forms Yes
Capitals Used No
Glyphs 47
Earliest Location Bali, Indonesia
Earliest Date 1000 CE
Latest Date present, but declining
Ancestry
    • Balinese

Overview

The older texts of this language were written on a kind of palm leaf called the lontar palm leaf. there are specific methods and timelines needed for the cutting of the leaves to ensure prime condition prior to processing. Different types of lontar palm leaves are called different names according to their characteristics.

Brahamin high priests called pandala often perform ceremonial procedures on important occasions i.e. weddings, consecration of priests and during preparatory rites for those wishing to embark on a new field of study. In the latter cases , the inscription is sometimes said to effect a physical transfer of knowledge through writing on the tongue -- quite literally a gift from Déwi Saraswati, the goddess of knowledge and learning. (Fox, p. 36)

Bibliography

Author Year Publication Publisher
Coulmas, Florian 1999 The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Writing Systems, 34-58 Blackwell Publishing
Fox, Richard 2018 More than Words: Transforming Script, Agency, and Collective Life in Bali Cornell University Press
Hinzler, H.I.R. 1993 BALINESE PALM-LEAF MANUSCRIPTS Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde
Setiawan, M H, Aditya, M W, Loekito, L H, and Indrawan, G 2021 Vol. 1810, Iss. 1. Journal of Physics: Conference Series; Bristol