Shahmukhi (Punjabi: شاہ مُکھی, pronounced [ʃäː(ɦ)˦.mʊ.kʰiː], lit. 'from the king's mouth', Gurmukhi: ਸ਼ਾਹਮੁੱਖੀ) is an alphabet (abjad) developed from the Perso-Arabic script used for the Punjabi language (including its varieties), predominantly in Punjab, Pakistan. It is generally written in the Nastaʿlīq calligraphic hand, which is also used for Persian and Urdu. Shahmukhi is one of the two standard scripts used for Punjabi, the other being Gurmukhī used mainly in Punjab, India. Shahmukhi is written from right to left and has 36 primary letters with some other additional letters.
>>>PUT SHARE BUTTONS HERE<<<
In this Dossier
Shahmukhi alphabet in the context of Gurmukhi
Gurmukhī (Punjabi: ਗੁਰਮੁਖੀ [ˈɡʊɾᵊmʊkʰiː], Shahmukhi: گُرمُکھی) is an abugida developed from the Laṇḍā scripts, standardized and used by the second Sikh guru, Guru Angad (1504–1552). Commonly regarded as a Sikh script, Gurmukhi is used in Punjab, India as the official script of the Punjabi language.
The primary scripture of Sikhism, the Guru Granth Sahib, is written in Gurmukhī, in various dialects and languages often subsumed under the generic title Sant Bhasha or "saint language", in addition to other languages like Persian and various phases of Indo-Aryan languages.
Shahmukhi alphabet in the context of Punjabi Muslims
Punjabi Muslims (Punjabi: پن٘جابی مُسلمان) are Punjabis who are adherents of Islam. With a population of more than 112 million, they are the third-largest predominantly Islam-adhering Muslim ethnicity in the world, after Arabs and Bengalis.
The majority of Punjabi Muslims are adherents of Sunni Islam, while a minority adhere to Shia Islam. Most of them are primarily geographically native to the Pakistani province of Punjab, but a large group of them have ancestry across the Punjab region as a whole. Punjabi Muslims speak or identify with the Punjabi language (under a Perso-Arabic script known as Shahmukhi) as their mother tongue.
Shahmukhi alphabet in the context of Punjabis
The Punjabis (Punjabi: پنجابی (Shahmukhi); ਪੰਜਾਬੀ (Gurmukhi); romanised as Pañjābī) are an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group associated with the Punjab region, comprising areas of northwestern India and eastern Pakistan. They generally speak Standard Punjabi or various Punjabi dialects on both sides.
Majority of the overall Punjabi population adheres to Islam with significant minorities practicing Sikhism and Hinduism and smaller minorities practicing Christianity. However, the religious demographics significantly vary when viewed from Pakistani and Indian sides, respectively, with over 95 percent of the Punjabi population from Pakistan being Muslim, with a small minority of Christians and Hindus and an even smaller minority of Sikhs. Over 57 percent of the population of the Indian state of Punjab is Sikh and over 38 percent Hindu with a small minority of Muslims and Christians.