The Ol Onal is an alphabetic writing script of Bhumij language, spoken by Bhumij peoples.[1] Ol Onal script was created between 1981 and 1992 by Ol Guru Mahendra Nath Sardar. Ol Onal script is used to write Bhumij language in some parts of West Bengal, Jharkhand, Orissa, and Assam.[2][3]

Ol Onal script
Bhumij written in Ol Onal script
Script type	Alphabet
Creator	Mahendra Nath Sardar
Time period	1981 to current
Direction	Left to Right
Region	Odisha, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Assam (India)
Languages	Bhumij language[a]
Related scripts
Sister systems	Santali script, Mundari Bani Others: Odia script, Devnagari script, Bengali Script
[a] The Bhumij language often considered as a dialect of Mundari language.
This article contains phonetic transcriptions in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA. For the distinction between [ ], / / and ⟨ ⟩, see IPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters.

History

The Ol Onal script was created in between 1981 and 1992 by Ol Guru Mahendra Nath Sardar for the Bhumij language.

Bhumij community had no written language and knowledge was transmitted orally from one generation to other. Later researchers started to use Devanagari, Bengali, and Odia scripts to document the Bhumij language. However, Bhumijs did not have their own script. His invention of the Ol Onal script enriched the cultural identity of the tribal Bhumij community. He wrote many text books in the Ol Onal script.

Language

Bhumij is the language of the Munda subfamily of the Austroasiatic languages, related to Ho, Mundari and Santali, spoken mainly in the Indian states Jharkhand, Odisha and West Bengal. It is spoken by around 100,000 people in India.[4]

See also

• Bhumij
• Bhumij language

References

External links

• The Ol Onal Alphabet at Omniglot
• https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2022/22151-ol-onal-script.pdf

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