Type Abugida | Time period c. 8th–16th century | |
Languages Indonesian Languages, Philippine Languages, Malaysian Languages Parent systems Proto-Sinaitic alphabet
Phoenician alphabet
Aramaic alphabet
Brāhmī
Pallava
Kawi Sister systems Balinese
Batak
Baybayin
Kulitan
Buhid
Hanunó'o
Lontara
Old Sundanese
Rencong
Rejang
Tagbanwa | ||
Aksara Kawi (from Sanskrit kavi "poet") is the name given to the writing system originating in Java and used across much of Maritime Southeast Asia from the 8th century to around 1500 AD. It is a direct derivation of the Pallava script brought by traders from the ancient Tamil Kingdom of the south Indian Pallava dynasty in India, primarily used for writing Tamil, Sanskrit and Old Javanese language. Kawi is the ancestor of traditional Indonesian scripts, such as Javanese and Balinese, as well as traditional Philippine scripts such as Baybayin.
Overview
Kawi is derived from the Pallava script mentioned by scholars of Southeast Asian studies such as George Coedès and D. G. E. Hall as the basis of several writing systems of Southeast Asia. The Pallava script was primarily used to write middle Tamil.
The earliest known texts in Kavi date from the Singhasari kingdom in eastern Java. The more recent scripts were extant in the Majapahit kingdom, also in eastern Java, Bali, Borneo and Sumatra.
The scripts are abugidas, meaning that characters are read with an inherent vowel. Diacritics are used, either to suppress the vowel and represent a pure consonant, or to represent other vowels.
The literary genre written in this alphabet is called Kakawin.
A well-known document written in Kawi is the Laguna Copperplate Inscription, found in 1989 in Laguna de Bay, in the metroplex of Manila, Philippines. It has inscribed on it a date of Saka era 822, corresponding to May 10, 900 AD, and is written in Old Malay containing numerous loanwords from Sanskrit and a few non-Malay vocabulary elements whose origin is ambiguous between Old Javanese and Old Tagalog. This document, among other discoveries made in recent years in the country such as the Golden Tara of Butuan and 14th century pottery and gold jewellery artifacts found in Cebu, is highly important in revising the ancient history of the Philippines.