Script - Kawi
Kawi is an ancient script used primarily in Southeast Asia, particularly in Java, Bali, and Sumatra, during the 8th to 16th centuries. It served as a literary and ceremonial writing system for Old Javanese, Sanskrit, and other regional languages, evolving from the Pallava script of southern India. The script features distinctive rounded, curvilinear letterforms, with vowel signs and diacritics that attach to consonant characters, and it is written left to right. Kawi texts include stone inscriptions, copper plates, and palm-leaf manuscripts, covering royal decrees, religious poetry, and legal documents. Over time, it influenced later scripts like Balinese, Javanese, and Baybayin, though its use declined with the spread of Islam and European colonization. Today, Kawi is studied for historical and philological research, with limited modern revival efforts in cultural heritage contexts.