________________
INDIAN BRANCH
369
or Sarafi (from saraf, "banker"), or else Bodia (bodi, "clipped" or "shorn"), a variety of the Gujarati character, used by merchants and bankers; its main distinction is the omission of all vowels except when initial, and it is therefore very difficult to read, but the shapes of the letters are often identical.
પઢા ૨ે પોપટ રાજા રામની સતી સીતા પઢાવે !! પાસે બંધાવી પાંજરું, મુખે રામ જપાવે
ખરૢ મો%મ વડ઼ા પેટા ખેળો. ઘન વેશ કર્યું, વજ્ર નદી નાય શ્રો ગ}ળ સુ૧૦ ધ
કોર, અબ ગમી રેકીવીની શૌર્શી બીપીનું નૌત્ર બીબત્ત, પ્રીય છે. તીક્ ત્ર બે ઉરી બનર્સીં% અંકવું મંત્રી 224 સીમ 11મીન વીતીય
શ્રી
3
2
૧૫ના નોન એ
Fig. 167-Specimens of Gujarati writing
The Gujarati character (Fig. 153, col. 16, and 167) is essentially the literary, refined form of the script, now represented in its cursive form by the Kaithi type; the order and the phonetic values of the Gujarati letters are, on the whole, similar to those of the Deva-nagari character, although their shapes are different.
Bihari Character (Fig. 168)
Although the Deva-nagari is used occasionally for writing books, Kaithi is, as mentioned, the official character of Bihar. Three local varieties of the Bihari Kaithi can be distinguished: (1) the Tirhuti, for the Tirhutians, which is considered the most elegant.
(2) The Bhojpuri which is a Bihari dialect spoken by over twenty and a half million people in the eastern districts of the United Provinces and the adjoining country; its script is said to be the most legible Kaithi variety.
(3) The Magahi script, which is employed for Magahi, another Bihari dialect, spoken by over six and a half million people of ancient Magadha, the country around Patna and Gaya. The Magahi type has been adopted by the Bengal Government for official Bihari publications; books are printed in it in Patna, and the character has become more or less standardized. On the other hand, the Bengali and Oriya characters are also employed to write eastern Magahi.
2
