Telugu Script

An abugida used to write Telugu and, in a near-identical form historically shared before the two scripts diverged, Kannada. It developed from the Bhattiprolu and later Kadamba varieties of Brahmi around the sixth and seventh centuries CE, sharing a common Telugu-Kannada script ancestor with Kannada until the two traditions separated their letterforms over subsequent centuries. Its rounded, cursive shapes reflect the same palm-leaf writing tradition that shaped its southern neighbors, and it marks vowels attached to consonants through modifying strokes in the abugida pattern, with a distinct sign to cancel the inherent vowel.