Shahmukhi

Shahmukhi is a Perso-Arabic script used to write the Punjabi language in Pakistan. It is derived from the Urdu script and Persian influence and is written from right to left. The script is part of the broader family of languages in the region that adopted the Perso-Arabic writing system.

The name Shahmukhi comes from Persian and roughly translates to the “mouth of the Shah,” reflecting its historical association with Persianate administration and literature in the subcontinent. Shahmukhi represents Punjabi phonology through an extended set of Perso-Arabic letters and diacritics that accommodate sounds not present in Urdu or Persian. It generally follows the Nastaliq calligraphic style.

Shahmukhi uses the Arabic-based alphabet with Punjabi-specific letters to denote phonemes such as aspirated and retroflex consonants. Vowels are often indicated with diacritics but can also be implied from context, resulting in a script that can vary in orthographic precision in everyday writing.

In terms of usage, Shahmukhi is the dominant script for Punjabi in Pakistan and is widely used in education, newspapers, literature, religious texts, and digital media within the Punjab region. In contrast, Punjabi in India is primarily written in Gurmukhi. The two scripts represent the same language in different regional and cultural contexts, contributing to the linguistic diversity of the Punjabi-speaking world.

Unicode encodes Shahmukhi as part of the Arabic script family, with fonts and input methods supporting Punjabi-specific characters. This enables Shahmukhi to be used in modern computing, publishing, and online communication.