History of Kaithi: The Disappearing Millennium-Old Script Once Used for Religious Texts and Mosque Carvings

On August 20, 2024, the government of Bihar initiated land surveys and settlements. Following the announcement, people started retrieving old ancestral land documents. The biggest challenge they are facing is reading these documents, as most of the information related to the land is written in the Kaithi script.

The Kaithi script was once the people’s script in Bihar and other parts of North India but was officially retired from government and court procedures decades ago.

For centuries, Kaithi was the script of the masses in Bihar. People used the script for writing diaries, letters, folk songs, and land documents. For nearly a decade and a half after India’s independence, Kaithi was the first choice for writing land-related documents. Apart from Bihar, Kaithi was used in many parts of northern India, including Uttar Pradesh. Gradually, the Devanagari script gained prominence, and after India’s independence, Kaithi was phased out from government institutions.

Kaithi and Ancient Scripts

It is believed that the Kaithi script was developed by the Kayasthas, a caste, hence the name “Kaithi.” According to Bhairav Lal Das, the author of The History of the Kaithi Script, in the 6th century BCE, the Brahmi script gave birth to several scripts in India and Southeast Asia, including Kaithi.

In the 1920s, the Indus Valley Civilization, dating back to around 2500 BCE, was discovered. This civilization, also known as the Harappan Civilization, was uncovered in Punjab (now Pakistan) along the banks of the Ravi River. In 1922, the remains of Mohenjo-daro, the largest city of the Indus Valley Civilization, were discovered along the Sindhu River in Pakistan.

Researcher Swami Shankaranand of the Ramakrishna Mission concluded that the Indus script influenced the scripts of Western Asia. In his book The Indus People Speakers, he interprets words from an Indus seal using tantric methods and reads them as “Kath.” According to him, the Kaith caste belonged to the agricultural and pastoral communities of the Upanishadic period.

In the book The Historical Background of the Angika Script, Harishankar Srivastava writes that linguists believe that the Indus script was highly developed, implying that there must have been an earlier, more primitive script from which the Indus script evolved. Linguist Rajeshwar Jha also links Kaithi with the “Kath” caste, suggesting it became a popular script across North India.

In his book The History of the Kaithi Script, Bhairav Lal Das states that one of India’s oldest scripts, the Brahmi script, evolved from a combination of the Indus Valley script, Northern Semitic, and Aramaic scripts. Jain texts suggest that the Brahmi script was brought into existence by Lord Rishabhanatha, the first Jain Tirthankara.

In the latter half of the 4th century, a new script developed from the northern style of Brahmi script, known as the Gupta script. From the Gupta script, the Kutila script evolved, followed by the Nagari and Sharada scripts. From ancient Nagari, modern scripts like Kaithi, Bengali, Gujarati, Mahajani, Odia, Nepali, and Devanagari developed.

The Birth of the Kaithi Script

In The Social Background of the Kayasthas, author Ashok Kumar Verma writes that Lord Chitragupta, the progenitor of the Kayasthas, is believed to have gifted the letters of the Vedas. He is considered responsible for writing down the Vedas, freeing them from oral tradition. His descendants, the Kayasthas, adopted the profession of writing and invented the Kaithi script, one of the oldest scripts.

George Abraham Grierson, the author of A Survey of Indian Languages, notes that the Kaithi script was common among the Kayasthas, or scribes, of North India. He further states that the relationship between Kaithi and Devanagari is similar to that between handwritten and printed English.

The Use of Kaithi in Religious Texts

Kaithi was used in religious and literary works. Manuscripts were also written in Kaithi. A manuscript titled Sudamacharita, taken from the Bhagavata Purana, was written in the Marwari language using the Kaithi script. This 19th-century manuscript was found in Bikaner, Rajasthan. It is important to note that the Mahajani script, used in Rajasthan and Gujarat, is a form of Kaithi.

The famous Hindu religious text Mahaganapatistotra has its Sanskrit verses in Devanagari script, while the meanings are written in the Mithila style of Kaithi script. In the later pages of the text, some meanings are written in the Bhojpuri style of Kaithi. Additionally, several manuscripts of Tulsidas’s Ramcharitmanas were written in Kaithi. Experts in Kaithi state that about 10% of the manuscripts created in the 17th century were in Kaithi script.

In The History of the Kaithi Script, Bhairav Lal Das writes that by the 19th and 20th centuries, Kaithi was widely used in personal and business documents. While Kaithi was prevalent in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, the Mahajani script, a variant of Kaithi, was widely used in some parts of Gujarat and Rajasthan.

During the 19th century, thousands of Bhojpuri-speaking Indians emigrated to countries like Trinidad in the Caribbean and Mauritius in the Indian Ocean. They carried religious books in Kaithi script with them, including the Hanuman Chalisa and Ramcharitmanas.

Christian missionaries who came to India in the 19th century also used Kaithi script to spread their religious messages. They distributed religious documents in Kaithi to the local people of North India, including Bibles written in Kaithi. Around the same time, the University of Chicago in the United States started offering courses in Kaithi script. Missionary workers were taught Hindi language and grammar using Kaithi, indicating how prevalent the script was among the common people of North India.

Kaithi was also used in the legal system. The Royal Seal of the Supreme Court in Calcutta used Kaithi script alongside Bengali and Persian. The use of Kaithi in the royal seal is evidence of its official recognition in India.

Kaithi’s Connection with Sufi Poets and Mosques in Bihar

Several Sufi poets also wrote in Kaithi script, including renowned names like Malik Muhammad Jayasi, Mulla Daud, and Kifayatullah. These poets used Kaithi alongside Urdu and Persian, indicating the script’s popularity among Muslims.

Kaithi script was also used in the documents of many mosques, Waqf estates, and jagirs (land grants) in Bihar. Some of these estates were mentioned in Main Media’s “Virasat” series. On the main doors of old mosques in Purnia’s Mohammadia Estate and Kishanganj’s Panasi Estate, the date of establishment was inscribed in Kaithi.

The founder of the Padampur Estate in Kishanganj, Mohammad Fazlur Rahman’s son, told ‘Main Media’ that his father could read and write Hindi in Kaithi. This skill helped him when Raja P.C. Lal, a zamindar in Purnia City, needed someone proficient in Kaithi for his office in Paoakhali. Local people recommended Fazlur Rahman, leading him to work for Raja P.C. Lal, and he eventually became a major zamindar, founding the Mohammadia Estate.

Languages Written in Kaithi Script

Bhairav Lal Das, author of The History of the Kaithi Script, told Main Media that in Bihar, Kaithi was used for languages like Magahi, Bhojpuri, Bajjika, Angika, and Maithili. In Uttar Pradesh, Kaithi was widely used for languages like Awadhi, Braj Bhasha, and Khari Boli. The script was also used for Urdu.

There is evidence of Kaithi’s use in districts of Madhya Pradesh as well. In 1904, George Abraham Grierson’s language survey found that Awadhi, originally considered a language of Uttar Pradesh, was also spoken in parts of Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, and Nepal.

Initially, Awadhi was written in both Kaithi and Devanagari, but by the 20th century, it was mostly written in Devanagari. “To say that Kaithi was only the script of Bihar is to underestimate its reach,” writes Bhairav Lal Das in his book.

Kaithi’s Reach from Bihar to Nepal

Languages like Magahi, Bhojpuri, and Maithili were long written in Kaithi. While these languages were also written in Devanagari and Mithilakshar, Kaithi was more popular among the common people. Many old folk songs written in Kaithi can still be found in the old trunks of grandmothers in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. In the 20th century, Kaithi was removed from official documents, and the script gradually faded into history.

“Whether it’s Magahi, Bhojpuri, Maithili, Surjapuri, Angika, Bajjika, Nepali, or Khari Boli in UP, Braj Bhasha—all these languages were written in Kaithi. Kaithi runs in your veins. From Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, and Chhattisgarh to parts of Nepal, West Bengal’s Malda region, the whole of Jharkhand, and from Agra to Gorakhpur and Ghazipur in Uttar Pradesh. Kaithi has existed in this region for the last thousand years,” Bhairav Lal Das said to ‘Main Media.’