Editing Khojki script (section)

{{Short description|Abugida script}}
{{About|the script|the language|Luwati language}}
{{More citations needed|date=December 2009}}
{{Infobox Writing system
| name        = Khojkī
| altname     = {{script|Khoj|𑈉𑈲𑈐𑈈𑈮}}
| type        = [[Abugida]]
| sample      = Shukla Khojki.svg
| languages   = [[Kutchi language|Kutchi]], [[Sindhi language|Sindhi]]
| time        = 15th century — 20th century
| region      = India, Pakistan, Sindh
| fam1        = [[Proto-Sinaitic script]]
| fam2        = [[Phoenician alphabet]]
| fam3        = [[Aramaic alphabet]]
| footnotes   = 
| fam4        = [[Brahmi script|Brahmi]]
| fam5        = [[Gupta script|Gupta]]
| fam6        = [[Śāradā script|Śāradā]]
| fam7        = [[Laṇḍā scripts|Landa]]
| sisters     = [[Gurmukhi]], [[Khudabadi script|Khudabadi]], [[Mahajani]], [[Multani script|Multani]]
| iso15924    = Khoj
| unicode     = [https://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U11200.pdf U+11200&ndash;U+1124F]<br />
[https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2011/11021-khojki.pdf Final&nbsp;Accepted&nbsp;Script&nbsp;Proposal]
| note        = none
}}
{{brahmic}}
'''Khojkī''' or '''Khojā Sindhī''' ({{langx|sd|خوجڪي}} <small>([[Arabic script]])</small> खोजकी <small> ([[Devanagari]])</small>), is a script used formerly and almost exclusively by the [[Khoja]] community of parts of the [[Indian subcontinent]], including [[Sindh]], [[Gujarat]], and [[Punjab]]. However, this script also had a further reach and was used by members of Ismaili communities from Burma to East and South Africa.<ref name=":1"/> The Khojki script is one of the earliest forms of written [[Sindhi language|Sindhi]].<ref>{{cite journal |title=Khojki Script |journal=Oxford Reference |url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803100035939 |language=en}}</ref> The name "Khojki" is likely derived from the [[Persian language|Persian]] word ''khoja'', which means "master", or "lord".<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Surani |first=Iqbal |date=2017 |title=Satpanthī Khoja-s to Shīʿa Imāmī Ismāʿīlī Ṭarīqa The Construction of Religious Identity of the Khoja-s Imāmī Ismāʿīlī of South Asia. |url=https://doi.org/10.1163/19585705-12341346. |journal=Studia Islamica|volume=112 |pages=1–28 |doi=10.1163/19585705-12341346 |url-access=subscription }}</ref>

As a scholarly article from 2022 has demonstrated, referring to the script as "Khojki" is a relatively new phenomenon, coined by the Russian scholar Wladimir Ivanow. This neologism began to replace the original terms used by Ismailis such as Sindhi and (when necessary to distinguish it from other forms of Sindhi script) Khwajah Sindhi. By this, they did not necessarily mean the Sindhi language, but rather the script utilized by their community, known as the Khwajahs or Khojas.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Virani |first=Shafique N. |date=2022-01-01 |title=Khwājah Sindhi (Khojki): Its Name, Manuscripts and Origin |url=https://www.academia.edu/83720175 |journal=Texts, Scribesand Transmission |pages=280}}</ref> To avoid confusion, the British administrative bureaucracy added the term Khwajah, referring to the script as "Khwajah Sindhi" The Ismailis sometimes did the same to distinguish the script from the language, as well as from other scripts used in Sindh.

The Khwajah Ismaili community continued using the traditional term ‘Sindhi’ alongside the neologism ‘Khojki.’ However, many scholars writing in English and other Western languages dropped the traditional term ‘Sindhi’ was adopting the invented term ‘Khojki.’

The script was employed primarily to record Ismaili religious and devotional literature; most notably in the form of poetry called ''gināns'' (a term derived from the Sanskrit ''jnāna'' meaning contemplative knowledge).<ref>{{Cite book |last=Asani |first=Ali |title=Ecstasy and Enlightenment: The Ismaili Devotional Literature of South Asia |publisher=I.B. Tauris |year=2002 |pages=25}}</ref> Khojkī belongs to a family of scripts classified as ''landā'' or ‘clipped’ alphabets primarily employed as commercial and mercantile scripts by various Hindu communities of Sind and Punjab.<ref>Bruce, Juan, “The Origins, Evolution, and Decline of the Khojki Script,” Dissertation, University of Reading, 2015), p. 33.</ref> It is one of the two [[Landa scripts|Landā scripts]] used for liturgy, the other being the [[Gurmukhī alphabet]], which is associated with [[Sikhism]].<ref name="Asani 2002 106">{{Cite book |last=Asani |first=Ali |title=Ecstasy and Enlightenment: The Ismaili Devotional Literature of South Asia |publisher=I.B. Tauris |year=2002 |pages=106}}</ref>