Ramseyer Bible Collection - South and Southeast Asia

South and Southeast Asia

A number of alphabets appeared for the writing of the many languages of South and Southeast Asia. No link has been demonstrated between the seal script of the early civilization of the Indus Valley and the Indo-Aryan inscriptions of the 3rd and 4th centuries BCE. Whether this script was invented or borrowed from Semitic origins is conjectural.

Shown are examples of Nagpuria and Hindi (in Devanahari), Tamil, Malayalam, and Gujarati from South Asia; and from Southeast Asia and the Pacific, Lao, Cambodian, Balinese (in Javanese character), Bugis, and Burmese.

Tibetan appars to have been an invented alphabet (7th Centuary CE), but based upon an earlier Indian script.

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Bugis Samuel; Amsterdam, Het Nederlandsch, Bijbelgenootschap, 1893 [70]	Tibetan New Testament; Shanghai, British and Foreign Bible Society, 1913 [15]	Burmese St. John, Rangoon; British and Foreign Bible Society, 1914 [546]
Cambodian St. Luke; Singapore, British and Foreign Bible Society, 1900 [189b]	Hindi [in Devanagari] Matthew; Allahabad; 1935 [1078]	Malayalam St. Luke; Mangalore, British and Foreign Bible Society, 1928 [1266]
Nagpuri [in Devanagari] St. Michael; Calcutta, 1914 [1031]	Lao Matthew; Song Khone, British and Foreign Bible Society, 1916 [1036]	Tamil St. John; Madras, British and Foreign Bible Society, 1929 [1064]
Gujarati Luke; Bombay, British and Foreign Bible Society (Bombay Auxillary), 1930 [1061]		Balinese [in Javanese character] Luke; Semarang, Soerabaja, 1910 [987]

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Ramseyer-Northern Bible Society Collection

South and Southeast Asia