Wednesday, December 5, 2007
POSTER
The poster is meant to communicate. It is meant to tell people to come visit to the museum. It communicates with the viewer as well as the objects displayed within the museum. It must be in line with what the museum is wanting to say, since this is the first of what one is exposed to regarding the museum.
My poster is a very simple one. It shows a dialogue between two people in Malayalam. My initial ideas had only the letters of the alphabet or the script, but those did not seem to be telling any sort of story and seemed rather static.
Here this sets up the beginning of the diaogue one is going to have with the museum.
DISPLAY
The object is the script. A script is the visual element in a language. Therefore:
A: The idea behind this is to project the scripts on a large scale,rather than view it 'book' size so the viewer gets a real feel of its visual language. Malayalam is a particularly visual script - being curvy and rounded in nature.
A glass prism is used to project the evolution of the Malayalam script from the Brahmi Script to the Grantha Script. Each face of the prism has one of the scripts. The prism rotates, projecting one face in succession - so one sees only one script at any given time and is not overwhelmed by three over sized projections. The prism is rotated mechanically after certain lapses in time.
Along with this, I thought I would include an audio track. Each person would be handed a set of headphones. The audio element is a conversation in Malayalam. The voice of a script is if not more, then equally important as its visual identity.
a: The next thing is interactive. Usually when one is introduced to a new language, one wants to see what your name looks like in that language. Hence, here the guides will write out your name in Malayalam.
B: This is a display panel showing images of Malayalam today. It is a sort of collage of newspapers, signage, popular movie posters, art by artists who incorporate the Malayalam script in their work. This is to show the contemporary usage of the script, and how it is different from the austere form it was given when it was born.
C: The next part of the display is a glass cased table with ancient manuscripts, written on palm leaves along with the tool kit used for writing on the leaf. These manuscripts are extremely old and brittle and cant be place in a manner where they can be touched by the public or will be exposed to the elements of nature.
b: This is a demonstration of 'writing' on a palm leaf. It is an effort to promote a disappearing skill. Things were not written in the true sense on the leaf but scratched out with the help of a stylus. It was done while standing, walking etc, since one did not need a support like a table while writing. The palm leaf was held in the left hand, while the stylus was in the right. The people who wrote like this were able to write as fast as you and me would with a pen and paper.
Monday, December 3, 2007
Manuscript
The oldest extant palm-leaf document dates from the second century A.D., but the use of palm leaves as writing material was already recorded in the fifth century B.C. In Cochin (now the State of Kerala) written doc
uments and books have been inscribed on the leaves of two species of palm tree, specially prepared for that purpose, for more than 600 years. As the veins of a palm leaf are parallel to the edge, the horizontal straight lines of the northern Indian scripts would split the leaf but the rounded Malayalam script was ideally suited to this medium; in fact it has been suggested that the roundness of the letters is an adaptation of the script to the properties of the palm leaf. The text was written with a stylus, which scratched the letters into the leaf. The leaves were cut to a uniform length and strung together by a cord passing through one or two circular holes cut in each leaf, either centrally or close to each end. This cord is long enough to allow the leaves to be sufficiently separated to be read. The "book" was completed by similarly pierced covers at the beginning and end, enabling the manuscript to be bound shut by twisting the cord around them when not in use. These covers were usually wooden, often carved, but for more valuable works covers of metal or ivory might be used. Most palm leaf manuscripts were of a religious or instructional nature, but during the period from 1837 almost to the end of the nineteenth century palm leaves were also used for fiscal documents for conveyancing of land. As these were single leaves, written on both sides, they required neither holes nor covers.
The word "writing" in connection with the South India palm-leaf documents is a misnomer, conveying the wrong idea of the use of pen and ink. These were indeed used in birch bark books and on palm leaves in North India, but the rounded scripts of the south, such as Malayalam, Telugu and Tamil, were scratched into the surface of the leaf with a special steel-tipped stylus. Although there was an almost infinite variety in the detail of the styli, reflecting the status, wealth and taste of the owner, there were in India only two basic designs. The original design was a piece of metal about six inches long, bulbous in the middle where it rested against the hand and tapered to each end, resulting in a perfectly balanced writing instrument. The cheapest were handmade from iron while silver or brass were used for the more elaborate and expensive examples. In Sri Lanka the designs of the styli were so varied that they may have been made to individual order. The later design, which probably appeared in the early twentieth century, incorporated a knife blade which folded into the handle of the stylus; the knife attachment was used for cutting the palm leaves to the required length. Again the cost of this combination "pen-knife" was determined by the materials of which the handle was constructed: bone and wood for the common man, ivory and brass for the wealthy citizen. The cult of individuality went so far as to have the owner's name inlaid in silver on one side of the blade and a handle embellished with gold and rubies. At the other end of the scale, children learning to write could make use of the long thorns from a thorn bush.
uments and books have been inscribed on the leaves of two species of palm tree, specially prepared for that purpose, for more than 600 years. As the veins of a palm leaf are parallel to the edge, the horizontal straight lines of the northern Indian scripts would split the leaf but the rounded Malayalam script was ideally suited to this medium; in fact it has been suggested that the roundness of the letters is an adaptation of the script to the properties of the palm leaf. The text was written with a stylus, which scratched the letters into the leaf. The leaves were cut to a uniform length and strung together by a cord passing through one or two circular holes cut in each leaf, either centrally or close to each end. This cord is long enough to allow the leaves to be sufficiently separated to be read. The "book" was completed by similarly pierced covers at the beginning and end, enabling the manuscript to be bound shut by twisting the cord around them when not in use. These covers were usually wooden, often carved, but for more valuable works covers of metal or ivory might be used. Most palm leaf manuscripts were of a religious or instructional nature, but during the period from 1837 almost to the end of the nineteenth century palm leaves were also used for fiscal documents for conveyancing of land. As these were single leaves, written on both sides, they required neither holes nor covers.The word "writing" in connection with the South India palm-leaf documents is a misnomer, conveying the wrong idea of the use of pen and ink. These were indeed used in birch bark books and on palm leaves in North India, but the rounded scripts of the south, such as Malayalam, Telugu and Tamil, were scratched into the surface of the leaf with a special steel-tipped stylus. Although there was an almost infinite variety in the detail of the styli, reflecting the status, wealth and taste of the owner, there were in India only two basic designs. The original design was a piece of metal about six inches long, bulbous in the middle where it rested against the hand and tapered to each end, resulting in a perfectly balanced writing instrument. The cheapest were handmade from iron while silver or brass were used for the more elaborate and expensive examples. In Sri Lanka the designs of the styli were so varied that they may have been made to individual order. The later design, which probably appeared in the early twentieth century, incorporated a knife blade which folded into the handle of the stylus; the knife attachment was used for cutting the palm leaves to the required length. Again the cost of this combination "pen-knife" was determined by the materials of which the handle was constructed: bone and wood for the common man, ivory and brass for the wealthy citizen. The cult of individuality went so far as to have the owner's name inlaid in silver on one side of the blade and a handle embellished with gold and rubies. At the other end of the scale, children learning to write could make use of the long thorns from a thorn bush.
Although the stylus may sound like a cumbersome instrument, an experienced writer could write as fast with this tool as a European with a fountain-pen. The stylus was held in the right hand and the palm leaf in the left. As the writing material was not supported by a desk or table the writer did not need to sit but was equally capable of writing while standing or even walking. When the written document was a letter the completed leaf was neatly folded up with the ends turned inwards or wound into a coil, and fastened outside with a strap of the same material. The inscribed text was usually read as it was written, but the legibility could be improved by taking a swab of lemon grass oil and wiping it over the page. The scratched letters absorb the oil and stand out as if written in ink. The writing could also be enhanced by rubbing in charcoal powder. The lemon grass oil cleaned the surface of undesirable accumulations and also helped with the general preservation of the manuscript. In addition to a supply of prepared palm leaves, a complete writing kit consisted of a stylus, a knife and the scribing compass for cutting the holes; the tools were usually kept together in a metal sheath-like holder.
Stylus
Object: Malayalam Script
With Tamil, Kota, Kodagu and Kannada, Malayalam belongs to the southern group of Dravidian languages. Its affinity to Tamil is the most striking. Proto-Tamil Malayalam, the common stock of Tamil and Malayalam apparently disintegrated over a period of four of five centuries from the ninth century on, resulting in the emergence of Malayalam as a language distinct from Tamil. As the language of scholarship and administration Tamil greatly influenced the early development of Malayalam. Later the irresistable inroads the Brahmins made into the cultural life of Kerala accelerated the assimilation of many Indo-Aryan features into Malayalam at different levels.
The Malayalam script is an abugida of the Brahmic family, used to write the Malayalam language. From the Brahmi script, the Grantha script emerged as one of the earliest Southern scripts. It further evolved into the Malayalam script. The Malayalam script covers all the symbols of Sanskrit as well as special Dravidian letters. The alphabet is classified into two categories: swarams (or vowels) and vyanjanams (or consonants).
In the early thirteenth century /vattezhuthu/ (round writing) traceable to the pan-Indian brahmi script, gave rise to the Malayalam writing system, which is syllabic in the sense that the sequence of graphic elements means that syllables have to be read as units, though in this system the elements representing individual vowels and consonants are for the most part readily identifiable. In the 1960s Malayalam dispensed with many special letters representing less frequent conjunct consonants and combinations of the vowel /u/ with different consonants.
The Brahmi Script:
The Dravidian languages of southern India have Brahmic scripts that have evolved making them suitable to southern needs. The earliest evidence for Brahmi script in South India comes from Bhattiprolu in Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh [4]. Bhattiprolu was a great centre of Buddhism during 3rd century CE and from where Buddhism spread to east Asia. The present Telugu script is derived from 'Telugu-Kannada script', also known as 'old Kannada script', owing to its similarity to the same[5]. Initially minor changes were made which is now called Tamil brahmi which has far fewer letters than some of the other Indic scripts as it has no separate aspirated or voiced consonants. Later under the influence of Granta vetteluthu evolved which looks similar to present day malayalam script. Still further changes were made in 19th and 20th centuries to make use of printing and typewriting needs before we have the present script.
The Grantha Script:
Grantha Tamil, Malayalam, Sanskrit grantha meaning "book" or "manuscript") is an ancient script that was prevalent in South India. It evolved from Brahmi, another ancient Indic script. It has influenced the Malayalam, Tulu and Sinhala scripts.
Ancient malayalam alphabets
At present Malayalam has a script of its own, but in the early centuries it used a form called the vattezhuthu which had currency all over the regions of the Cheras and the Pandyas. It disappeared from the rest of the peninsula by about the fifteenth century, but in Kerala it continued to be in use for three more centuries. Documents, letters, books and inscriptions were mostly written in this script, and even after giving it up, children first initiated into the study of the language were required to learn the vattezhuthu characters also, besides those of Malayalam and Tamil.From the vattezhuthu was derived another script called the kolezhuthu. It is said that the ezhuthu or writing was done with a kol, a stick, and hence the name kolezhuthu for the script. There is no fundamental difference between the two scripts except that in kolezhuthu there are no specific symbols for endings in u and for a and o. This script was more commonly used in the Cochin and Malabar areas than in Travancore. Yet another script derived from the vattezhuthu was the Malayanma, which was in common use to the south of Thiruvananthapuram. Malayanma also does not differ fundamentally from the vattezhuthu.With three scripts in current use the writing and reading of Malayalam must indeed have been a difficult affair. Vattezhuthu was perhaps the better form, for it had currency all over Kerala and did not have any regional variations. But the absence of character combinations, the vowels a and o and conventions for symbols were real difficulties. The trouble with kolezhuthu was still more considerable, for it knew regional variations also. And in the case Malayanma, the complexity of the script, Tamil usage and conventional abbreviations for words were handicaps which made it unintelligible to the rest of the region. It is likely that in course of time these difficulties contributed to their disappearance and brought in the grandhalipi which is the basis of the present script.
It is held that grandhalipi-the term literally means ‘book-script’-was in use all over South India since the seventh century AD The advent of Manipravala literature must have been the major factor that paved the way for its introduction in Kerala.
There are 37 consonants and 16 vowels in the script. Malayalam has a written traditional dating back from the late 9th century and the earliest work dates from 13th century. Malayalam differs from other Dravidian language as the absence of personal endings on verbs. It has a one to one correspondence with the Indo Aryan Devanagari syllabarry.
The Malayalam script is an abugida of the Brahmic family, used to write the Malayalam language. From the Brahmi script, the Grantha script emerged as one of the earliest Southern scripts. It further evolved into the Malayalam script. The Malayalam script covers all the symbols of Sanskrit as well as special Dravidian letters. The alphabet is classified into two categories: swarams (or vowels) and vyanjanams (or consonants).
In the early thirteenth century /vattezhuthu/ (round writing) traceable to the pan-Indian brahmi script, gave rise to the Malayalam writing system, which is syllabic in the sense that the sequence of graphic elements means that syllables have to be read as units, though in this system the elements representing individual vowels and consonants are for the most part readily identifiable. In the 1960s Malayalam dispensed with many special letters representing less frequent conjunct consonants and combinations of the vowel /u/ with different consonants.
The Brahmi Script:
The Dravidian languages of southern India have Brahmic scripts that have evolved making them suitable to southern needs. The earliest evidence for Brahmi script in South India comes from Bhattiprolu in Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh [4]. Bhattiprolu was a great centre of Buddhism during 3rd century CE and from where Buddhism spread to east Asia. The present Telugu script is derived from 'Telugu-Kannada script', also known as 'old Kannada script', owing to its similarity to the same[5]. Initially minor changes were made which is now called Tamil brahmi which has far fewer letters than some of the other Indic scripts as it has no separate aspirated or voiced consonants. Later under the influence of Granta vetteluthu evolved which looks similar to present day malayalam script. Still further changes were made in 19th and 20th centuries to make use of printing and typewriting needs before we have the present script.
The Grantha Script:
Grantha Tamil, Malayalam, Sanskrit grantha meaning "book" or "manuscript") is an ancient script that was prevalent in South India. It evolved from Brahmi, another ancient Indic script. It has influenced the Malayalam, Tulu and Sinhala scripts.
Ancient malayalam alphabets
At present Malayalam has a script of its own, but in the early centuries it used a form called the vattezhuthu which had currency all over the regions of the Cheras and the Pandyas. It disappeared from the rest of the peninsula by about the fifteenth century, but in Kerala it continued to be in use for three more centuries. Documents, letters, books and inscriptions were mostly written in this script, and even after giving it up, children first initiated into the study of the language were required to learn the vattezhuthu characters also, besides those of Malayalam and Tamil.From the vattezhuthu was derived another script called the kolezhuthu. It is said that the ezhuthu or writing was done with a kol, a stick, and hence the name kolezhuthu for the script. There is no fundamental difference between the two scripts except that in kolezhuthu there are no specific symbols for endings in u and for a and o. This script was more commonly used in the Cochin and Malabar areas than in Travancore. Yet another script derived from the vattezhuthu was the Malayanma, which was in common use to the south of Thiruvananthapuram. Malayanma also does not differ fundamentally from the vattezhuthu.With three scripts in current use the writing and reading of Malayalam must indeed have been a difficult affair. Vattezhuthu was perhaps the better form, for it had currency all over Kerala and did not have any regional variations. But the absence of character combinations, the vowels a and o and conventions for symbols were real difficulties. The trouble with kolezhuthu was still more considerable, for it knew regional variations also. And in the case Malayanma, the complexity of the script, Tamil usage and conventional abbreviations for words were handicaps which made it unintelligible to the rest of the region. It is likely that in course of time these difficulties contributed to their disappearance and brought in the grandhalipi which is the basis of the present script.
It is held that grandhalipi-the term literally means ‘book-script’-was in use all over South India since the seventh century AD The advent of Manipravala literature must have been the major factor that paved the way for its introduction in Kerala.
There are 37 consonants and 16 vowels in the script. Malayalam has a written traditional dating back from the late 9th century and the earliest work dates from 13th century. Malayalam differs from other Dravidian language as the absence of personal endings on verbs. It has a one to one correspondence with the Indo Aryan Devanagari syllabarry.
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