Santali alphabet

Santali alphabet

Santali alphabet (Ol Cemet'/Ol Chiki)

The Santali alphabet, which is also known as Ol Cemet', Ol Ciki or simply Ol, was created in the 1920s by Pandit Raghunath Murmu as part of his efforts to promote Santali culture. Every other major language in India had its own alphabet, so he thought Santali should as well.

Until the invention of this alphabet, Santali was either not written at all, or was written with the Bengali or Oriya alphabets. Christian missionaries prefer to write Santali with the Latin alphabet.

Used to write:

Santali or Santhali, a Munda language spoken by about 5.8 million people in India, Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan. The alphabet was designed for a southern dialect of Santali spoken in the Mayurbhanj district of the Indian state of Orissa.
Santali is also written with the Oriya, Bengali, Devanagari and Latin alphabets.

Sample text