Phagspa

Phagspa script, also called the Phags-pa script, is a historical alphabet created in the 1260s by the Tibetan monk Phags-pa Lha-bla-ma at the request of Kublai Khan. It was intended as a universal writing system for the languages of the Yuan Empire—Mongol, Chinese, Tibetan, and Sanskrit—and to facilitate administration across diverse peoples.

Phagspa was commissioned by Kublai Khan around 1268 and presented to the court soon after. It was designed to be flexible enough to render the empire's main languages, in parallel with the empire's administrative reforms. The script spread in official contexts, appearing on decrees, plaques, and inscriptions, but it never achieved broad literacy beyond bureaucratic circles. After the rise of the Ming dynasty and the gradual decline of Yuan control, its use faded by the 14th century.

Architecturally, Phagspa is an alphabet: letters represent consonants and vowels, and diacritic or positional cues adapted to accommodate different languages. Its design drew on Tibetan script as a base, with influences from other writing systems of the region, yielding a distinctive, angular style intended to be legible for speakers of Mongol, Chinese, Tibetan, and Sanskrit.

Today Phagspa is studied as a historical curiosity and a notable example of an imperial attempt at universal script. Surviving examples are limited to inscriptions and manuscripts from the Yuan period, and the script serves as a window into cross-cultural administration in medieval Eurasia.