Since I was dealing with such a traditional topic, it was difficult for me to find the right source for information. I reached out to my parents and checked if they can help me procure any historic documents or data to back my research. My father got me in touch with a PhD scholar in India, with an MA in Hindi and Linguistics, and they helped me in getting some documents for my research.
Here is what I found today -
The term Devanagiri may have two meanings - One as mentioned by Gaurishankar Heerachand Ojha, Varanasi was originally called 'Devanagar', since it become the centre of language in India, the script was termed 'Devanagiri'. Other reason is that the name refers to 'Dev' refers to god, and 'nagar' refers to city, focusing on writing, together it means 'gods writing'.
The script has evolved from Kutil, Nagari and Brahmi. Below is a chart for its evolution that I have created.

Western scholars refuse to believe or document the existence of Sindhu Script (Indus valley script) by relating it to false remains of Harappa. Dr. Suniti Kumari Chatterjee, refutes these claims and stands by the evolution of Brahmi from Indus Valley. Further evidence was found in this India today publication by Amish Tripathi in 2020, upon the discovering of the Naga stone, that helped archeologists, Mahesh Keshavam, Gangadhar Yadav and Akbar Patel, connect the dots between Brahmi and Indus Valley Seal. The language identified in the seals was Sanskrit. As Gangadhar goes, "...the practice of using the Devanagiri script for the Sanskrit language is a relatively recent phenomenon. In ancient times, many other scripts were used, including the Brahmi script. In fact, ancient manuscripts have been found in Kerala wherein Sanskrit had been written in the Malayalam script. So the idea of using different scripts for the same language is not new in India. Of course, originally, Sanskrit had no native script and was primarily an oral language.?" [1]
Further, this paper by Dr. Subrat Kumar Prusty and Dr. Biwanandan Dash, critically studies the anatomical structures of Brahmi script and compares it with other scriptures found in rock art of Gondwana land, Sindhu Script, Viramkhol inscription, Ashokan inscriptions and Indus Valley seals, and established its connection and visual similarities more with Indic scriptures rather than the Aramaic alphabet. The scripts in India, therefore, developed independently of the influence of western alphabets and much before them. [2]
Hindi, as a language, appeared around 1000-1500 AD (adikal). It was heavily affected by foreign influences. For instances, during this time ढ़ and इ were added in the script. Persian influences saw - ख़ ज़ फ़ added in the vocabulary with the additional anusvara ं. 1500-1800 (madhyakal) AD saw the divergence of Hindi into Awadhi, Braj and Khadi Boli. 1800 to now is referred to as the Adhunik Kaal, Awadhi and Braj lost its popularity. Due to political influences and industrialisation, Khadi Boli gained momentum over languages such as Hindi, Paschimi, Purvi, Bihari, Rajasthani and Pahadi. It became the main dialect and script of the Hindi we know today.
This research raised a few questions for me-
Anatomical study of Devanagiri, studying more into the anusvara, visarga and other diacritic marks and how they evolved?
What was this political and industrialisation effect on development of the modern day script?
Where exactly am I headed with this research?
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[1] AMISH TRIPATHI BHUJ, F.2. and 2020, 2013/12/23/. Science validates Vedic history: Indus Valley script deciphered, reveals India's true past. India Today, .
[2] Prusty, S.K. and Das, B. (no date) Origin and Development of Indian Scripts: A Positional Study [Preprint]. doi:https://www.academia.edu/36339675/Origin_and_Development_of_Indian_Scripts_A_Positional_Study.
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