Javanese script

The Javanese script, natively known as Aksara Jawa (ꦲꦏ꧀ꦱꦫꦗꦮ) and Hanacaraka, is an abugida developed by the Javanese people to write several Austronesian languages spoken in Indonesia, primarily the Javanese language and an early form of Javanese called Kawi, as well as Sanskrit, an Indo-Aryan language used as a sacred language throughout Asia. The Javanese script is a descendant of the Brahmi script and therefore has many similarities with the modern scripts of South and Southeast Asia. The Javanese script, along with the Balinese script, is considered the most elaborate and ornate among Brahmic scripts of Southeast Asia.

The script was widely used by the court scribes of Java and the Lesser Sunda Islands. Numerous efforts to standardize the script were made in the late 19th to early 20th-century, with the invention of the script's first metal type and the development of concise orthographic guidelines. However, further development was halted abruptly following World War II and especially during the Japanese occupation of the Dutch East Indies in which its use was prohibited and the script's use has since declined. Today, everyday use of the Javanese script has been largely supplanted by the Latin alphabet.