Unicode Block - Kirat Rai

Kirat Rai is a script specifically designed for writing the Kirat Rai languages, also known as Khambu, spoken by the Kirat indigenous peoples of eastern Nepal and parts of Sikkim and Darjeeling. It is a modern creation, developed in the late 20th century by local activists and linguists to revive and standardize a distinct written tradition for these communities, which had often used Devanagari or lost their historical scripts. The script features an abugida structure with inherent vowels, and it includes letters for consonants, independent vowel signs, vowel diacritics, and punctuation, along with a set of numerals. Its encoding in digital standards ensures that texts in this script can be preserved, typed, and shared electronically, supporting cultural identity and literacy efforts among the Kirat population.