Editing Assamese alphabet (section)

==History==
[[Image:Kanai Baraxiboa rock inscription.png|right|thumb|400px|''Kanai-boroxiboa'' rock inscription, 1207 CE, shows proto-Assamese script]]
The [[Umachal rock inscription]] of the 5th century evidences one of the earliest use of the script in the region. The script was very similar to the one used in Samudragupta's [[Allahabad Pillar]] inscription. Rock and copper plate inscriptions from then onwards, and ''Xaansi'' bark manuscripts right up to the 18th–19th centuries show a steady development of the Assamese alphabet. The script could be said to develop proto-Assamese shapes by the 13th century. In the 18th and 19th century, the Assamese script could be divided into three varieties: ''Kaitheli'' (also called ''Lakhari'' in [[Kamrup region]], used by non-Brahmins), ''Bamuniya'' (used by Brahmins, for Sanskrit) and ''Garhgaya'' (used by state officials of the [[Ahom kingdom]])—among which the ''Kaitheli'' style was the most popular, with medieval books (like the ''Hastir-vidyrnava'') and sattras using this style.<ref>{{harv|Neog|1980|p=308}}</ref> In the early part of the 19th century, Atmaram Sarmah designed the first Assamese script for printing in [[Serampore]], and the Bengali and Assamese lithography converged to the present standard that is used today.