Kaithi Vowel Sign E

Kaithi’s e sign replaces a consonant’s built-in a with e. It is a dependent vowel sign, or matra, attached to the consonant. At the start of a syllable, use the independent letter 𑂉 instead.

Kaithi’s beginnings are uncertain. The proposed earliest Kaithi inscription is on a copper-plate land grant associated with Baj Bahadur Chandradeva, a ruler active around 1090; that identification is conditional. Clearer documentary and administrative use is attested from at least the 16th century.

Where was Kaithi used?

Kaithi served working records, books, and correspondence. It was used for administration, trade, personal records, and religious or literary writing, in languages including Bhojpuri, Magahi, Awadhi, Maithili, and Urdu. The first Kaithi Gospels, a Hindi translation by the British missionary Chamberlain, were printed in 1820.

In the 17th century, Kaithi spread beyond Kayastha scribes, a community associated with record-keeping. Bihar made it the official script of its government in 1880; Devanagari later eclipsed it in administrative use by the early 20th century.

Kaithi developed from the Brahmi writing tradition, an old South Asian script family, and is related to Devanagari and Gujarati. Unicode 16.0 describes three Kaithi presentation styles associated with Bhojpuri, Magahi, and Maithili; its chart glyphs show the Magahi style, not every historical hand. Syloti Nagri is an independent script with particularly close ties to the Magahi style of Kaithi.