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A Systemic Study of Indian Ancient Script by determining the Issues for

Effective use of Handwritten Character Recognition

Dr. Kirti Nilesh Mahajan

Professor, Bharati Vidypeeth Deemed to be University, Institute of Management & Entrepreneurship

Development, Pune

kirtimahajan75@gmail.com

Mr. Niket Tajne

Research Scholar, Bharati Vidypeeth Deemed to be University, Institute of Management &

Entrepreneurship Development, Pune

nikettajne22@rediffmail.com

ABSTRACT:

Massive amount of ancient documents are created by our ancestors. This all documents are

published already on the digital libraries on single click in worldwide. Also this documents published in

Paper Media. Transcription of this documents are either prepared by manually or by the help of digital

technology. These all ancient Documents are already available in raw images which are very useful to

investigate the ancient philosophies of any field. However these raw images to be transliterate in electronic

format by adopting the some image processing algorithms for appropriate transcription of the ancient

documents. The character recognition difficulty is meager high due to some causes. This Research Paper

investigates the problems faced in digital transcription of ancient handwritten text documents. The Research

paper is organized in Three Section the First Section highlighted the Introduction about ancient script like

MODI script, Handwritten Character Recognition techniques. The Second Section is all about the Problems

investigating of MODI Character and last section is highlighted the Concluding remarks of analytical

research.

Keywords : Image Processing, Character Recognition, Handwritten Character Recognition techniques.

1. INTRODUCTION

Indian content is the best example of diversity. This diversity reflected in the peoples living culture,

food, and communication. In India at every miles of distance this variation of the culture is exemplified. For

communication purpose the people used varies languages. Not only in the orally but writing wise also. These

all spoken languages has some historical reference some has individually referenced and some has mixed of

two or three languages. In this section of paper the historical background and its significance are discussed,

also the introduction about the handwritten character recognition is deliberated.

The significance of transliteration is very much high. This kind of computation techniques is not

only used for the converting the one script / language into another script / language but also open the new

techniques, thoughts, to showcase the pathway for the newcomer to do the extraordinary work in the same

field. It’s also helpful for the each and every single person of the society. Transliteration sometimes work on

the basis of the optical character recognition, handwritten character recognition, Neural Network, Pattern

Recognition to achieve various objectives of specific work.

As the significance of ancient handwritten document are very much countless. The issues and

problem of regarding these wonderful manuscript have to be discuses and find out appropriate elucidation

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about the transliteration of particular manuscript in this paper the introduction about the ancient script called

MODI script and the issues related with the handwritten character manuscript are deliberated.

1.1 HISTORY OF MODI SCRIPT

MODI script is one of the most popular Ancient scripts used in western and southern part of India.

The use of MODI script is for the administrative and quotidian purpose. The principal meaning of MODI

word is inspire by the Persian word “Shikasta” which means breaking in English language and the Meaning

of MODI word in Marathi language, is “Modne” which means also breakdown in the parts[1][2]. There is

some substantiation about the origin of the script, says that the proper MODI alphabet originated in the 12th

century which was used for Administrative work, Education, and other routine activities which called as

“Adyakalin”. Then in 13th century it was used for the same purpose which called as “Yadvakalin”. In next

three century i.e. from 14th century to 16th century this script called as “Bahamanikalin” in this period the

script majorly used in the administrative work. In the court of Maratha emperor Shivaji Raje Bhosale the

script is rapidly use due to the cursive type of nature of MODI script. The MODI script used in the period of

17th century is the period of Maratha King Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj hence the MODI script used in this

period is called as “Shivakalin”. The next period of the MODI script is in period of “Peshwa”. The “Peshwa”

used this script in the 18th century. Because the MODI script is used in “Peshwa” era the script name was

“Peshwakalin”. The writing style major change happened in “Peshwakalin” MODI script that is the reason

the script was categorized in four different segment naming as “Chitnisi”, “Bilavalkali”, “Mahadevpanti”,

“Ranadi” these four categorize is based on the writing style of MODI script. The next period of MODI script

is also naming as “Pashwakalin” and the time duration is from 18th century till the mid of 20th

century[3][4][5]. The following Fig. 1 show the period of MODI script development according to their

century.

Fig. 1 Period of MODI Script with century

In period of 18th century till the mid of 20th century the area of MODI script utilization is not

restricted to the precise area but it utilize in the Education, Healthcare, Ayurveda, Astrology, literature,

Science, Fine Arts, , Pharmacy, Chemistry, social sciences, Psychology, Drawings, music, , History, and

many more other fields. The manuscript of MODI script is available in so many museums. Not only in Indian

cities, but in other countries of the world[5][6].

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The MODI alphabet are variant of the Marathi Language and it has 14 vowels, 34 consonant letters

and 10 Numbers[7][8]. Following Fig. 2, Fig 3, Fig 4 are show the MODI Vowels, MODI Consonants and

MODI Numerals Respectively.

Fig. 2 MODI Vowels

Fig. 3 MODI Consonants

Fig. 4 MODI Numbers

The Significance of such a beautiful manuscript which was not only used for the administrative

purpose but also it was used in every field like medical, food, arts, culture and also maintain the daily routine

documents. Now a days these MODI script ancient documents are golden pages for every archaeologist and

people who have an interest in ancient manuscript. In the between of 16th century till 20th century this script

was very much popular and it’s used everywhere. Due to the change in Social and Political views in the mid

of 20th century in western part of India the ‘devnagari’ script naming as ‘balbodh’ was used everywhere as

a primary language[4]. From that period of time the MODI script was gradually push out of its usage from

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everywhere and from that time this beautiful arts of writing gets cease to exist. Fortunately there are many of

MODI documents are preserved by the some states like Maharashtra, Goa, and Karnataka[9][10][11].

1.2 HANDWRITTEN CHARACTER RECOGNITION

Handwritten Recognition is the computer based technique to identify the received handwritten input

from source format into the target format. Most of the time the handwritten character recognition system uses

the image as a source so the sensed data is always offline. Handwritten Character recognition is the major

type of Optical character recognition in the field of pattern recognition another type of optical character

recognition is the Printed Character recognition. The following Fig. 5 show the different type of Optical

character recognition[12][13].

Fig. 5 Types of Optical Character Recognition

The Optical Character Recognition Techniques is the one of significant way to identify whether the

Printed character or Handwritten character. Now a days the Optical character recognition is used in all

domains like banking, healthcare, administrative, etc. The best advantage of the optical character recognition

is to reduce the human efforts for data entry, storage of the document manually, etc. The handwritten

character recognition system is categorized in to two parts and these are Off-Line Character Recognition and

On-Line Character Recognition system respectively.

1.2.1 ON-LINE CHARACTER RECOGNITION SYSTEM

In the Handwritten character recognition system the On-Line Character Recognition System is used

the digital gadgets like digital Pen, Touch Pad / Digital Pad, or any other digitalized gadgets from where the

hand motion of the user can perceive. The On-line handwritten character recognition system is basically work

on the 2-Dimensional data acquisition mechanism. Here any pointing device who is responsible to accept the

string of coordinate’s i.e.(x, y) is used. The On-Line Handwritten Character Recognition system is more

accurate than the Off-Line Handwritten Character Recognition reason is that data acquisition of the user

writing is dynamic by nature. The second reason is recognition of On-line happened more accurately is

interactivity which means the tracing the error is very fast. The On-Line character recognition system is also

very much fast because in On-Line character recognition system the unwanted bit removal process called

‘Noise Removal’ process is not consider because the data acquisition is happened with direct interaction

through the devices not by the another way.

1.2.2 OFF-LINE CHRACTER RECOGNITION SYSTEM

In the Handwritten character recognition system the Off-Line Character recognition system is the

second type. It takes the Raster images for the character recognition. In Off-Line character recognition the

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data acquisition is done by scanned the handwritten document through the Computer Scanner or any other

scanning device how scan the image from the piece of paper and then do the further process. The best

advantage of Off-Line Character recognition system it is capable to immune the various writing styles to

handle by it. Hence it takes the little more cost in terms of Processing and Time for the detecting the hand

stroke of handwritten documents. Off-Line Character recognition system takes more time for progressing

phase for Noise removal.

2. ISSUES IDENTIFICATION IN MODI SCRIPT CHRACTERS

Significant of the MODI script are huge. This ancient script is already available in the various

research center, libraries, and in some universities. Due to enormous demand of the MODI script so its major

requirement is Transliteration. Transliteration is the segment of Natural Language Processing (NPL). It is

use full in the cross language information reclamation without changing the original essence of the source

script / language. There are many problems in identification of MODI character like writing style of script,

difference of MODI vowels, consonants, etc. these all are elaborated more properly below.

2.1 THE ISSUE OF WRITING STYLE OF MODI SCRIPT

The MODI script is by nature is cursive in nature that is the main reason were this language used in

various department of the Maratha King Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaja[14]. The MODI script also called as

shorthand writing script because it write the character very much faster without pull up the pen from the

paper[15]. The Major impact of the cursive nature of the MODI script is reflected not only on Marathi

language but it also reflected on the Gujarati language too[16]. The following Fig. 6 demonstrate the nature

of MODI script cursive type which was written by Maratha King Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaja which is 344

years old found in the Capital of Maratha Kingdom called “Satara” in 2018[17].

Fig. 6 Old Letter Written by Shivaji Maharaj

2.2 THE ISSUE OF SPECIFIC STRUCTURE OF MODI SCRIPT

In the Literary Techniques the sentence arrangement and word arrangement is specific for the

particular language that called as “Form”[18] were the writing for the particular language or script gives the

proper structure of reader and writer also. On the basis of writing structure many languages in overall world

writing style is from left to right which is one type of Horizontal writing style in this type the English, French,

Italian, African, Some Indo Aryan languages, Japanese using hiragana and katakana etc. languages has the

writing style from left to right. The second type of Horizontal writing style is right to left some languages

has right to left writing style like Urdu, Arabic script, Persian script, Iranian languages. The second type of

the writing style is Vertical writing style. In this writing style the Chines, Japanese, Korean languages writing

style is top to down style following fig. 7 show the type of language writing style[19][20].

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Fig. 7 Type of Language / Script writing Style

As we discuss the type of Language / Script writing style are categorized in to two major parts. The

MODI manuscript many ancient document are demonstrate the type of horizontal writing style of left to right.

But some documental evidence this statement as ambiguous because there is no any structure or style for

writing the MODI manuscript. Following fig. 8 show the account related document in the period of Maratha

Ruler[21].

The stone inscription written in MODI script was found in the Thanjavur located on temple. The

stone inscription written in MODI script is constructed in the period of Kulothunga Chola and it is maintained

by the Pandyas and Maratha rulers subsequently. Following fig. 9 show the stone inscription written in MODI

script. Because it is written on Stone so embossed character are not displayed properly and the some character

are embossed without any alignment[22].

Fig. 8 MODI manuscript from the

Maratha Ruler period

Fig. 9 Stone Inscription written in MODI

script from the Kulothunga Chola

period

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2.3 THE ISSUE OF NOISE IN MODI SCRIPT HANDWRITTEN DOCUMENTS

The Image noise is the combine blend of random variation of different color pixel information and

brightness from the digital image. The digital noise or image noise is form between the process of degradation

and restoration. If noise is exist in the digital image it produces unrequired effects in image such as blurred

lines, dots, objects, unrealistic edges, and disturbs background scenes, color. The Noise in the existing digital

images is the big issue for the transliteration and the other purpose of the data acquaintance. Noise in the

images itself stated that the age of the documents and the availability and applicability of the digital content.

The noise present in the digital content is deteriorating the quality of the digital images. In the original image

pixel O(x,y) the Noise is mixed which is called as N(x,y) the resulting image is formed called as

ON(x,y)[23][24].

𝑶𝑵 (𝒙, 𝒚) = 𝑶(𝒙, 𝒚) + 𝑵(𝒙, 𝒚)

Following are the some types of Noise model which are majorly belong to Photoelectronic, Impulse and

Structured Noise of digital model[24][25]. These noises occurs in either, Binary images, Gray images or

Color images.

Fig. 10 Types of Noise Model exist in Digital Images

Following fig. 11 and fig. 12 show the existence of the Noise in the MODI script digital images. The Fig. 11

show the Amplifier Noise or Gaussian Noise structure and the Fig. 12 show the Impulse Noise called Slat &

pepper noise.

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Fig. 11 Prize Winning letter

given by Maratha King

Fig. 12 Letter written by

Nanasaheb Peshwa

2.4 The Issues of Writing style of MODI character

The character arrangement, word formation play major role in the literature. Unfortunately character

are misarranged the complete meaning of the sentence or rather context of the literature is changed. In every

language / script the MODI script also has 14 vowels and 34 consonant but the some are similar in

arrangement and writing also which change the total meaning of the sentence. Following are the category

explicate the different variation of MODI script and similarity of MODI with Marathi and Gujarati language.

Following Table 1 show the different writing style of the one MODI script handwritten character and Table

2 show the similarity between the MODI script, Marathi, Gujarati language.

Devanagari

script

Writing Style

– 1

Writing Style

– 2

Writing Style

– 3

Writing Style

– 4

Writing Style

– 5

स / Sa

च / Ch

ढ / Dh

ख / Kh

ण / Na

Table 1. Differentiation writing style of one letter of MODI Script

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Devanagari

script

MODI

Scrip

Marathi Gujarati

Devanagari

script

MODI

Scrip

Marathi Gujarati

ग

ग

ગ

घ

घ

ઘ

छ

छ

છ

झ

झ

ड

ड

ડ

ढ

ढ

ઢ

ण

ण

त

त

ત

ध

ध

ઘ

भ

भ

श

श

શ

ष

ष

ષ

ळ

ळ

क्ष

क्ष

ક્ષ

Table 2. Similarity between MODI, Marathi and Gujarati

3. CONCLUSION

In this Research paper the significant of the MODI Script has been discussed, where different

perspective of the MODI script are formed, arranged, and deliberated properly. In the Second half of the

research paper the different mechanism of the Handwritten Character Recognition has been discussed and

studies the various types of handwritten character recognition system. In the last section of the research paper

the few problems found in the MODI manuscript for writing and transliterating which are based on different

literature and evidence are discussed. The few problems of ancient scripts are basically highlighting the

lacunas of MODI script why it is not been so popular even if it is so beautiful in writing and reading.

The discussed problem may give the help to the all fraternity of Computer Science and Application

to resolve the problem of reading and transliterating the MODI Script. The Problem regarding the MODI

script handwritten character is described with proper evidential background. It focus on the writing style of

the MODI script and the some evidence show the unambiguous about the writing style and structure of the

MODI script. It also explain the types of Noise exist in the Digital images. In the last Problem of the MODI

handwritten character is, show the similarity between MODI, Marathi and Gujarati and it also show the one

type of character written in different form in MODI script writing which some time unclear for the

transliteration and Natural language processing. The differential style of the MODI script is defiantly the

good area for the research. This research work is helpful to all people how wants to do the something extra

ordinary work in the field of pattern recognition.

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