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INDIAN BRANCH
Maldivian Scripts
391
GENERAL SKETCH
The coral archipelago known as the Maldive Islands-the indigenous term being Divehi Rajje, "the (Maldive) Island Kingdom"-lies in the Indian Ocean to the south-west of India. The most northerly atoll is some 350 miles from the Indian continent, whereas Male, the capital, lies 400 miles south-west of the nearest port of Ceylon. Of the nearly 2,000 islands, only 217 are inhabited, by over 80,000 people. There was a close kinship between the original Maldive and the Sinhalese languages, but gradually, in the course of many centuries, the continuous contact and intercourse with South Indian peoples and the influx of Arabs and other aliens, brought many modifications, particularly in the speech of the population of the northern atolls, whereas the southern islands have been less affected by foreign influences. Arabic linguistic influence is notable particularly in the Maldivian vocabulary, in the vowel changes, and in the adoption of the dento-labial f for the labial p. Buddhism was for many centuries the ruling religion of the Maldivians. Their conversion to Islam-prepared by the centuriesold trade and commerce with the Arabs-took place in the mid-twelfth century.
Evela Akuru
The earliest form of Maldivian writing yet discovered is the Evela Akuru, or "ancient letters." Only a few early copper-plate grants (lomafanu), issued by Maldive rulers in this script are still extant. The most interesting is that granted by Sultana Rehendi (Khadijah), daughter of Sultan 'Umar Vira Jalal-ud-din, in the sixteenth year of her reign, A.H. 758 (A.D. 1356). The character, running from left to right, has close affinities with that of Sinhalese stone inscriptions of the tenth to the twelth centuries A.D., and is probably dependent on it, or else on the Grantha character, the ancestor of the Sinhalese medieval script.
Dives Akuru (Fig. 180, 1)
The Evela Akuru gradually developed into the Dives Akuru (or Devehi Hakura), "the (Maldive) Island letters," also read from left to right. There are few manuscripts (mainly fatkolu or royal grants on parchment or paper, and Government orders) extant in this writing, but there are many inscriptions on walls and gravestones; more than thirty gravestones and other slab records are preserved at Male. Until recently, very little was known about this script, namely the Memoir of the Naval lieutenants Young and Christopher, published in the Transactions of the Geographical Society of Bombay, 1836-8, and the partial alphabet (18 signs) communicated by Christopher to Dr. Wilson, and published in the "JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY," 1841,
