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274
THE ALPHABET
Nadim gave three main characteristics of the Mecca-Medina or Naskhi type: its alif bends to the right; the upright strokes of its letters are long; and it is a somewhat slanting script. On the whole, Naskhi is a round and extremely cursive hand. In early times (Fig. 132, col. 3) it was mainly employed on papyrus. In the course of time it became the parent of a number of different styles of writing used at the courts of various sultans, and elsewhere, and developed into the modern Arabic script (Fig. 132, 9). Of its innumerable varieties, the most important are: the elegant
اردو فوت الغنيف العز مثل حياته وعيشة في الذل غير ماته مامایی فوس الفتی الت تحت چین
فر الي الممثل جامعية العم نوال والا اللعينات
الى اخراجيانه ويتناول الوجات الزلا
فوت الغنى في اله مثل ماند و حيث في الذل می ماند تعلم یا حتی کالجمال عار
70
ذا او را افرا ا ما قدم أورع او باشه نه اون دو ممات.
sa
درت المني أن ارسال داند و به من الدال عمي .. انه
86
الرو السماد الامام
10
فوت الفترة المتمثل حنانه دشيت في اللعين مانتا با طل الحمل غارو
76
Fig. 135-Specimens in some Naskhi varieties
1. Naskhi, current hand. 2, Diwani. 3. Naskhi-Djerisi. 4, Thuluth. 5. ThuluthDjerisi. 6, Ryq'a. 7, Ta'liq (a, print; b, current hand). Sa, Kalemi-Rasd; b, the same text in Naskhi letters. 9, Djeri. 10, Syakat. The text is the same as Fig. 134, 3, but numbers 3, 5 and 9 contain two
more verses
ta'liq (and its approximately seventy secondary forms), Fig. 135, 7, used in Persia; the ryg'a (Fig. 135, 6), which was the script most commonly used in the Ottoman Empire; the diwani (Fig. 135, 2), or "ministerial" script, which was used for the Turkish official documents; the thuluth or thülth or sülüs (Fig. 135, 4), employed more for ornamental than practical purposes; the syakat (Fig. 135, 10), used mainly by the Janissaries.
