A Comparative Study on Class Characteristics of Devanãgri Script Writers from Three Different States of India

Abstract

India is a multilingual country. Hindi is the national language of India and Devanãgri script is used to write Hindi language. Various documents with legal value are made in Devanãgri script, which may be questioned for their authenticity and authorship. Sufficient research has been done and reported about different scripts. However, researches based on Devanãgri script are limited. This study focuses on finding the significant class characteristics of writers from three different states of India, namely, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Punjab. The data was also statistically analysed using Pearson’s Chi-Square test for its significance. Handwriting samples from 300 subjects were collected from three different states of India to analyze various class characteristics in Devanãgri script. The samples were examined qualitatively and statistically. Various general characteristics were selected for the analysis and characteristic features were tabulated after qualitative examination. Statistical analysis showed that the data was statistically significant. The general characteristics selected for the analysis and comparison of the handwriting samples in Devanãgri script were found to be significant. The impact of regional scripts on the Devanãgri script should be performed, as the influence of regional language could be seen in the samples collected from Punjab.

Keywords

• questioned documents
• devanãgri
• class characteristics
• chi square test
• forensic science
• hindi language