The Laṇḍā scripts, from the term laṇḍā meaning "without a tail", is a Punjabi word used to refer to writing systems used in Punjab and adjoining areas. In Sindhi, it was known as 'Wāṇiko' or 'Baniyañ'. Sindhi, Balochi, Kashmiri, and Pashto.

The Laṇḍā scripts form a "typologically distinct group," and are closer in norms to its predecessor Brāhmī than they are to the Nāgarī scripts to the east, in their general avoidance of conjunct glyphs or marking of the Middle Indo-Aryan geminations distinctive of Panjābī. While possessing full sets of consonants, even separate letters for the common Lahndā consonant clusters tr and dr, their indication of vowels is less regular; they possess three vowel letters to indicate initial /ə ɪ ʊ/, but no letters or signs in other positions, thus being "alphabetical on the restricted Semitic model of Ugaritic cuneiform."

Variants

The Laṇḍā scripts was first classified by George Abraham Grierson. Pandey (2010) further classifies Laṇḍā scripts into "Panjābī" and "Sindhī" regional subclasses: Lundas (in Sialkot and Wazirabad) It has preserved the distinctive names of letters (kakkā, khakkhā, etc.) and collation order of Laṇḍā (vowels→ fricatives→ occlusives→ sonorants). In keeping with Laṇḍā's proximity to Brāhmī, it has retained a particularly close resemblance to Brāhmī among living scripts. Helping to foster a distinct Sikh culture and contributing to the consolidation of the Sikh religion, as well as first being a vehicle of Sikh religious literature, Gurmukhi became particularly important in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries when the Sikhs established political hegemony over Punjab and Kashmir. an ecclesiastical script of the Isma'ili Khoja community, is considered to be a refined version of Lohāṇākī. Originally developed for Sindhi, it had also been used for Punjabi, Saraiki, and Gujarati as it spread, as well as for Arabic and Persian. Shifts in correspondences of letters most commonly included implosive letters for the tenuis consonants, and tenuis letters for aspirated stops. Such shifts was partly because as Khojkī spread to languages without Sindhī's implosives, the corresponding letters lost their original values, leading to shifts and ambiguity in usage. It remained in general use by the community until the early 20th century, as the printing press facilitated its increasing replacement by the Gujarati script for Ismāʿīlī literature. until it was superseded by Perso-Arabic.

  1. Standard Khudābādī, formerly used for Sindhī, was derived in the 1860s from Khudāwādī, the script associated with merchant communities of Hyderabad, Sindh, the Lohāṇā type of which Khojkī was "very close" to, Through official government initiative and encouragement, it developed into a vehicle for literary expression.
  2. Multānī, former writing system of Sarāikī, is now obsolete. While classed by Pandey (2012) in the Punjabi subclass, it contains implosive characters and clusters similar to those of the Sindhi subclass, that other Punjabi Landa scripts lack. It had 4 vowel letters, a, i, u, e; a was used for ā as well; i was also used for ī as well as commonly as a semivowel in place of the letter y; u was used for ū and o, and e for ai as well as o in some sources. Shifts in sound representation meant that some letters often represented more than one sound, most often with tenuis letters used for aspirated stops, and implosive letters for tenuis sounds, as well as variants of certain letters. Pandey (2012) proposes an "idealized" form for encoding, with more regular correspondences, as well as the usage of Gurmukhī numerals for Multānī, as their numerals are "nearly identical."

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center"

|+Comparison of attested characters of Laṇḍā-descended scripts

|-

! rowspan="2" style="text-align: center" || Script↓ || colspan="33" | Common letters || colspan="4" | Implosives || Nuqtā || Gemination

|-

! IAST

|| sa || ha || ka || kha || ga || gha || ṅa || ca || cha || ja || jha || ña || ṭa || ṭha || ḍa || ḍha || ṇa || ta || tha || da || dha || na || pa || pha || ba || bha || ma || ya || ra || la || va || ṛa || śa || g̠a || j̄a || ḍ̠a || ḇa || ||

|-

! rowspan="3" style="text-align: center" || Gurmukhi

|| ਸ || ਹ || ਕ || ਖ || ਗ || ਘ || ਙ || ਚ || ਛ || ਜ || ਝ || ਞ || ਟ || ਠ || ਡ || ਢ || ਣ || ਤ || ਥ || ਦ || ਧ || ਨ || ਪ || ਫ || ਬ || ਭ || ਮ || ਯ || ਰ || ਲ || ਵ || ੜ || ਸ਼ || || || || || ਼ || ੱ

|-

! Mahajani

|| 𑅰 || 𑅱 || 𑅕 || 𑅖 || 𑅗 || 𑅘 || || 𑅙 || 𑅚 || 𑅛 || 𑅜 || 𑅝 || 𑅞 || 𑅟 || 𑅠 || 𑅡 || 𑅢 || 𑅣 || 𑅤 || 𑅥 || 𑅦 || 𑅧 || 𑅨 || 𑅩 || 𑅪 || 𑅫 || 𑅬 || || 𑅭 || 𑅮 || 𑅯 || 𑅲 || || || || || || 𑅳 ||

|-

! Multani

|| 𑊥 || 𑊦 || 𑊄 || 𑊅 || 𑊆 || 𑊈 || || 𑊊 || 𑊋 || colspan="2" | 𑊌 || 𑊏 || 𑊐 || 𑊑 || 𑊒 || 𑊔 || 𑊕 || 𑊖 || 𑊗 || 𑊘 || 𑊙 || 𑊚 || 𑊛 || 𑊜 || 𑊝 || 𑊟 || 𑊠 || 𑊡 || 𑊢 || 𑊣 || 𑊤 || 𑊧 || (𑊥) || (𑊆) || 𑊍 || 𑊓 || (𑊝) || ||

|-

! rowspan="2" style="text-align: center" || Khojki

|| 𑈩 || 𑈪 || 𑈈 || 𑈉 || 𑈊 || 𑈌 || 𑈍 || 𑈎 || 𑈏 || colspan="2" | 𑈐 || 𑈓 || 𑈔 || 𑈕 || 𑈖 || 𑈗 || 𑈘 || 𑈙 || 𑈚 || 𑈛 || 𑈝 || 𑈞 || 𑈟 || 𑈠 || 𑈡 || 𑈣 || 𑈤 || 𑈥 || 𑈦 || 𑈧 || 𑈨 || || 𑈩𑈶 || 𑈋 || 𑈑 || 𑈜 || 𑈢 || 𑈶 || 𑈷

|-

! Khudabadi

|| 𑋝 || 𑋞 || 𑊺 || 𑊻 || 𑊼 || 𑊾 || 𑊿 || 𑋀 || 𑋁 || 𑋂 || 𑋄 || 𑋅 || 𑋆 || 𑋇 || 𑋈 || 𑋋 || 𑋌 || 𑋍 || 𑋎 || 𑋏 || 𑋐 || 𑋑 || 𑋒 || 𑋓 || 𑋔 || 𑋖 || 𑋗 || 𑋘 || 𑋙 || 𑋚 || 𑋛 || || 𑋜 || 𑊽 || 𑋃 || 𑋉 || 𑋕 || 𑋩 ||

|-

|}

Multānī used the character 𑊥 for both sa and śa, and commonly used the characters 𑊆 ga and 𑊝 ba for their implosive counterparts as well. It was a "family code such as Laṇḍā and Mahājanī," and like Laṇḍā lacked vowel signs.

  • Laṅgaṛī, historically used by bookkeepers in the Haryana region, possibly a subtype of Mahājanī.
  • Mundī, merchant script used by Marwari and Gujarati businessmen and bookkeepers for recording accounts and correspondences. Its name derives from the Hindi term mundā denoting bare-headedness, referring to its lack of śirorekhā, or top line characteristic of many abugidas of the area.
  • Landi-Mundi, historically used to record information bahi genealogical registers, such as at Haridwar
  • Scripts classified as Laṇḍā in the nineteenth century have been attested further east, including Mudia in Awadh, Garhwal, and towns in the North-Western Provinces, and Bisati Laṇḍā by Muslim traders in the North-Western Provinces.