Southeast Asia[edit]

Philippines[edit]
Main articles: Ancient Philippine scripts and Suyat

A musical instrument with Tagbanwa calligraphy

The Philippines has numerous indigenous scripts collectively called as suyat. Various ethno-
linguistic groups in the Philippines prior to Spanish colonization in the 16th century up to the
independence era in the 21st century have used the scripts with various mediums. By the end of
colonialism, only four of the suyat scripts survived and continue to be used by certain communities in
everyday life. These four scripts are hanunó'o/hanunoo of the
Hanuno'o Mangyan people, buhid/buid of the Buhid Mangyan people, apurahuano/tagbanwa of
the Tagbanwa people, and palaw'an/pala'wan of the Palaw'an people. All four scripts were inscribed
in the UNESCO Memory of the World Programme, under the name Philippine Paleographs
(Hanunoo, Buid, Tagbanua and Pala’wan), in 1999.[34]

Bow with Hanunó'o calligraphy

Due to dissent from colonialism, many artists and cultural experts have revived the usage
of suyat scripts that went extinct due to Spanish persecution. These scripts being revived include
the kulitan script of the Kapampangan people, the badlit script of various Visayan ethnic groups,
the iniskaya script of the Eskaya people, the baybayin script of the Tagalog people, and the kur-
itan script of the Ilocano people, among many others.[35][36][37] Due to the diversity of suyat scripts, all
calligraphy written in suyat scripts are collectively called as Filipino suyat calligraphy, although each
are distinct from each other.[38][39][40] Calligraphy using the Western alphabet and the Arabic alphabet
are also prevalent in the Philippines due to its colonial past, but the Western alphabet and the Arabic
alphabet are not considered as suyat, and therefore Western-alphabet and Arabic calligraphy are
not considered as suyat calligraphy.[41][42]
Thailand[edit]
Main article: Thai calligraphy
Thai calligraphy

Sanskrit is the primary form of Thai calligraphy. Historically Thai calligraphy has been limited to
sacred texts of the Pali Canon with few wider artistic applications where graphic calligraphy
representing figures and objects is produced. Calligraphy appears on the personal flag of each
member of the Thai royal family bearing its owner's initials in calligraphy. The most obvious place in
the country where calligraphy is present is in graffiti. A few books have been published with
calligraphic compositions.
Vietnam[edit]
Main article: Vietnamese calligraphy

A page from The Tale of Kieu by Nguyễn Du. 19th century.

Vietnamese calligraphy uses a variety of scripts, including Chinese characters, Chữ nôm, and the
Latin-based Quốc Ngữ. Historically, calligraphers used the former two scripts. Due to the adoption of
the Latin-based Quốc Ngữ, most modern Vietnamese calligraphy uses Roman characters.
Traditional Vietnamese calligraphy is strongly affected by that of China for historical and geographic
regions. As part of the East Asian cultural sphere, Chinese was often used as the written medium of
communication, and as a result, Vietnamese calligraphy thus also follows Chinese calligraphy’s
standard and use Han script (Chinese language) in many of its writings. In modern times, calligraphy
has been done mainly in the Latin-based Quốc Ngữ script, as Chữ nôm and Chinese characters
have largely fallen out of use.[43]

South Asia[edit]
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India[edit]
Main article: Indian calligraphy

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encyclopedic entry. Please help improve the article by presenting facts as
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On the subject of Indian calligraphy, writes:[44]

A Calligraphic design in Oriya script

Aśoka's edicts (c. 265–238 BC) were committed to stone. These inscriptions are stiff and angular in
form. Following the Aśoka style of Indic writing, two new calligraphic types
appear: Kharoṣṭī and Brāhmī. Kharoṣṭī was used in the northwestern regions of India from the 3rd
century BC to the 4th century of the Christian Era, and it was used in Central Asia until the 8th
century.