Fonts and scripts
You may need to display South Asian scripts on your computer to read newspapers online or websites using South Asian languages. In addition, you may want to type in differernt langauges not currently supported by your computer.
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South Asia Language Resource Center (SALRC)The South Asia Language Resource Center (SALRC) at the University of Chicago has compiled a list of various fonts for each major language and many minor languages used throughout South Asia. These can be downloaded and used on your computer. It also includes some instructions on what is needed to properly use and install them.
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Ancient ScriptsFrom the author: "This is a site not to replace texts books or instructional web sites. Instead, it is designed to give an introduction to writing systems, which hopefully will tantalize the reader into searching for more information on the web or in books and publications."
Transliteration allows you to romanize a script according to a standardized system. Transliteration systems are largely determined by the Library of Congress - click HERE for LINKS to a schema in a PDF of the language you need.
Transliteration Fonts:
1) Arial Unicode MS
Many computers now have Arial Unicode MS installed in Word. Use insert symbol to type the characters.
2) Gentium
If you do not want to us Arial font - one of the best fonts for transliteration is Gentium.
Follow the instructions below for installing:
- Click 'Download main Gentium fonts' from their homepage
- Scroll Down and choose according to your operating system (i.e., Windows or Mac)
- Windows users choose 'Gentium 1.02 (Windows, Mac OS X, GNU/Linux)'
- Mac users choose 'Gentium 1.02 (Mac OS 9, Mac OS X)'.
- After installation, those using Windows can enter characters via the 'insert symbol' function in Word. Mac users should open character palate. Make sure you are choosing the correct character set (i.e., Latin-Extended, etc., for your needs).
- The download package contains Gentium and GentiumAlt - GentiumAlt may be better for your needs
Hindi/Urdu are the two South Asian Languages offered here at Washington University in the Jewish, Islamic, and Middle Eastern Studies department.
For a discussion on the relation between the two and a history of the words 'Hindi' and 'Urdu' check out "A Long History of Urdu Literary Culture, Part I" by Shamsur Faruqi in Literary Cultures in History at Olin Library.
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Urdu Ghazal ReaderThe Digital Urdu Ghazal Reader is an interactive on-line reader that aids students in orthography, pronunciation, vocabulary, grammar, and cultural and literary context. Printable versions of the ghazals are also available.
Online Catalogs
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IndCat: Online Union Catalog of Indian UniversitiesA unified Online Library Catalogues of books, theses and journals available in major university libraries in India. The union database contains bibliographic description, location and holdings information for books, journals and theses in all subject areas available in more than 112 university libraries across the country.
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Dehli Public LibraryDPL holds 1.5 million volumes in its branch libraries throughout Delhi. This catalog is part of a retro-conversion project being undertaken by DPL to place all volumes in a OPAC.
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South Asia Union CatalogueThe South Asia Union Catalogue is an historical bibliography describing books and periodicals published in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, colonial Burma, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka from 1556 through the present and a union catalogue of holdings.
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Urdu Library Catalog of the Urdu Research Centre (URLC)URLC makes accessible the private Urdu collection of Mr. Abdus Samad Khan. Mr. Samad Khan's library is widely considered one of the world's finest for early Urdu periodicals and printed books. Holdings are well rounded across all areas of Urdu publishing. Most imprints date from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and are unavailable at any U.S. library. There are over 26,000 monograph titles in the URLC collection, though not all have been entered into the database.
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Urdu Research Library ConsortiumThese holdings reflect the territorial interests and activities of the East India Company and the India Office, and include literature and documents on India, Pakistan, Burma, Bangladesh and neighbouring countries, Iran and the Gulf states, South Africa, St Helena, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, China and Japan.
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Holdings of 19th century publications at the British Library's Oriental and India Office CollectionsThese holdings reflect the territorial interests and activities of the East India Company and the India Office, and include literature and documents on India, Pakistan, Burma, Bangladesh and neighbouring countries, Iran and the Gulf states, South Africa, St Helena, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, China and Japan.
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Official Publications of IndiaGovernment and non-Government reports related to pre-and post-independance South Asia
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Digital Library for International Research (DLIR)An on-line public access catalog containing the records of all the holdings in CAORC (Council of American Overseas Research Center) libraries from Europe, the Near and Middle East, South and Southeast Asia, and West Africa. Plans are now underway to include bibliographic materials from Inner Asia and the New World, as well as from other collections in countries that host centers.
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Digital South Asia LibraryPortal for digital resources in South Asian studies circa 2005.
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CONSALD Library Resource GuidesUniversity Library guides created by members of the Committee on South Asian Libraries and Documentation