Tirhutā (Mithilākṣara) marks

The Maithili manuscript hand.

Also known as: Mithilakshara, Maithili script marks

In Sanskrit:: तिरहुता
In Sanskrit (Latin):: Tirhutā

CulturalHistorical & archaeologicalStandard profile

Meanings

The punctuation and editorial marks of the Tirhutā script used for Maithili and Sanskrit in Mithila.

Historically documentedVerified fact
Divide and annotate text in Tirhutā manuscripts.
Contexts: Language and transcription, History
Historically documentedVerified fact
Close enough to early Bengali writing that the two are regularly confused in catalogues, which is the practical reason a reader needs the distinction stated.
Contexts: Language and transcription, History

Visual description

Dividers and headmarks in a hand closely related to early Bengali, distinguished from it by the treatment of the headstroke.

Symmetry: none
Orientation: upright

Confidence

IdentityHigh confidence: High confidence because the identity is documented in encyclopedic references.
Historical originModerate confidence: Moderate confidence because the historical origin is documented in encyclopedic references, but the regional or cultural match to this specific claim is not precise.
Current useHigh confidence: High confidence because the current use is documented in encyclopedic references.
Visual matchHigh confidence: High confidence because the visual match is documented in encyclopedic references.

Sources

The Unicode Standard: South Asian scripts and their combining marks
The Unicode Consortium · retrieved 2026-08-27
Cited for the identity, name and encoded behaviour of a character or combining mark. Unicode names a character and describes its rendering; it is not a source for how a mark is used in any living orthography, which is cited separately.
Devanagari manuscript and editorial conventions
Oxford University Press and the Clay Sanskrit Library editions · retrieved 2026-08-27
Scholarly editions, cited for the identity and function of the marks used in Sanskrit manuscript and printing. Editorial practice varies between traditions and editions; where it does, the record says so rather than presenting one convention as the convention.

Last reviewed 2026-08-27

Help improve this page

Meanings

The punctuation and editorial marks of the Tirhutā script used for Maithili and Sanskrit in Mithila.

Historically documentedVerified fact

Divide and annotate text in Tirhutā manuscripts.

Contexts: Language and transcription, History

Historically documentedVerified fact

Close enough to early Bengali writing that the two are regularly confused in catalogues, which is the practical reason a reader needs the distinction stated.

Contexts: Language and transcription, History

Confidence

IdentityHigh confidence: High confidence because the identity is documented in encyclopedic references.
Historical originModerate confidence: Moderate confidence because the historical origin is documented in encyclopedic references, but the regional or cultural match to this specific claim is not precise.
Current useHigh confidence: High confidence because the current use is documented in encyclopedic references.
Visual matchHigh confidence: High confidence because the visual match is documented in encyclopedic references.

Sources

The Unicode Standard: South Asian scripts and their combining marks
The Unicode Consortium · retrieved 2026-08-27
Cited for the identity, name and encoded behaviour of a character or combining mark. Unicode names a character and describes its rendering; it is not a source for how a mark is used in any living orthography, which is cited separately.
Devanagari manuscript and editorial conventions
Oxford University Press and the Clay Sanskrit Library editions · retrieved 2026-08-27
Scholarly editions, cited for the identity and function of the marks used in Sanskrit manuscript and printing. Editorial practice varies between traditions and editions; where it does, the record says so rather than presenting one convention as the convention.

Last reviewed 2026-08-27