An Indian Word Processor for Hindi, Sanskrit, Marathi and Nepali
लेखनी LeKhaNi/Lekhni
DevaNagari is the script used for writing Hindi, Sanskrit, Marathi and other languages of South Asia. Lekhni is a small but smart bilingual text editor for processing DevaNagari alongwith English; written by Akhilesh Gupta. Before Lekhni he wrote a bilingual plain-text editor 'Emend' for Windows 3.1. It included the first ever font containing glyphs of DevaNagari and Latin.
In 1996, Akhilesh Gupta released version 1 of Lekhni as shareware. About 1,20,000 copies of version 1 and 1.1 (for Windows 95) were distributed. Some of the leading computer magazines included one of these two versions in their CDs.
It was of great help to all those computer users who wanted to have Hindi text mixed with English text. It enhanced the productivity of typists to a great extent.
Word-processing and Indian Scripts
Many Hindi and Marathi typists still use mechanical typewriters in India! They use a keyboard layout called 'Hindi Typewriter Layout' or 'Remington Layout' for typing text of Hindi, Marathi, Nepali or other Indian language in DevaNagari. Remington was the first company which produced Hindi (DevaNagari) typewriters!
Following is the layout that LeKhaNi used to display and support; it is very similar to the 'Hindi Typewriter Layout'.
![[ Lkn's keyb pic ]](images/lekhni_keyb.gif)
Software and Encoding Standards for Indian Scripts
The first attempt by Govt. of India to standardize encoding of Indian scripts resulted in ISCII (Indian Script Code for Information Interchange). Unfortunately no Operating System supported it! Then came Unicode; which based its Indic blocks on ISCII.
ISCII as well as Unicode require complex text layout at operating system's level to support Indic scripts. The operating systems of 90's were not having any component for complex text layout and rendering. So fonts encoded as per 'Hindi Typewriter Layout' (or Remington) were best possible form of hacking (to write Indian scripts) as it required little or no text layout! That's why LeKhaNi used this hacked-encoding.
'Hindi Typewriter Layout' was the best solution (or fix) when no OS supported any standard for Indian scripts. Lekhni used this layout as typists were comfortable with it and because it is simple (i.e. it do not require complex text layout).
Now the operating systems (Windows 2000, XP, etc.) have components for properly rendering complex text. These OSes support Unicode and not ISCII. So now-a-days Unicode is becoming popular and de facto standard...
INSCRIPT layout is the standard produced by Indian Government Agencies for keying in Indian scripts. It is efficient but complex that's why very few typists use it! Most typists prefer Remington layout, general public prefer what is generally called 'Phonetic'. All these layouts are radically different!
LeKhaNi is Embracing Unicode
Lekhni don't allow a user to enter any illogical DevaNagari sequence! Lekhni is just the second program with such facility and only one for Windows. Akhilesh worked for years to make Lekhni a smart program for keying in bilingual text of Nagari languages and English. Alas, about 70-80% of code (program) of Lekhni need to be rewritten to make it Unicode conforming software!
We have already started our Unicode journey! We have completed development of our first Unicode conforming OpenType font. We can proudly say that it is the best font ever designed for DevaNagari. We are developing Lekhni, but due to our limited resources and magnitude of work required to make it a good entry level word processor, we won't be able to release it in near future!
At present we recommend OpenOffice till all new Unicode conforming version of Lekhni is made available. As you may be knowing that OpenOffice is a resource hungry giant, you may need additional RAM! In most of the cases, it is better to install more RAM than buy a new PC. OpenOffice is surely a great freeware.
But if you want our freeware 'LeKhaNi 2.1' (non-Unicode); send an e-mail to ise_lekhni@yahoo.co.in, please mention why you require it!
Unicode Compliant Fonts and Software for Hindi, Sanskrit, Marathi and Nepali
For Windows 2000 or XP, we recommend that you use our Unicode compliant Hindi (DevaNagari) Font with OpenOffice (version 1.1.4 or above) or MS Office (2000 or XP).
The fonts supplied with these operating systems (Win 2000/XP) are not typographically great. These fonts do not have glyphs for '5', '8' and '9' as used in North India for Hindi and other languages. These fonts contain glyphs as used in 'Marathi'.
We are sure that you will like our 'Akhil HE' (Hindi Unicode font) for typesetting Hindi, Sanskrit, Nepali and other North Indian languages with English. You may opt for our 'Akhil ME' (Marathi Unicode font) for typing Marathi and Konkani. All other type-foundries don't recognise these differences!
If you use Windows 98 (SE or ME); then we recommend you to consider our software Sugam-98 which can help you avoid costly upgrade of OS and PC.
New Keyboard Layout for Hindi, Sanskrit, Marathi and Nepali
For those who swear-by LeKhaNi, we will release its new version in 2006, which will be a Unicode conforming shareware. It will support our newly designed keyboard layout called 'iNagari'.. We used to call this layout - TransLit. Lekhni will also continue supporting the 'Hindi Typewriter Layout'.
The modern operating systems directly support INSCRIPT key-layout for keying in Hindi, Marathi, Nepali, Sanskrit text encoded in Unicode. These operating systems require additional software to enter text using popular keyboard layouts like phonetic or TransLit.
Get Free English Font!
Fill the following form and you may get a copy of 'Akhil.ttf' FREE! You should not distribute this font. You should not embed it in any document. This is strictly for your personal use ONLY. You should not make copies of this font. For commercial use you have to buy appropriate licence from us.
We will send this font by email. Just write your name, and email address. Be careful while filling this form, particularly while typing your email address. Please understand that by filling the form you will be added to our email list. We will send you an email newsletter or promotional letter once in a month. Never mark our email as spam, instead delete/remove our font and inform us not to send you emails in future!
We are sure that you will like the quality of our English font 'Akhil.ttf'. So if you can afford, buy a single user license of our Hindi-English OpenType font 'Akhil HE'.
It is unlikely that big computer vendors will pay for OEM licenses of 'Akhil HE' becase -
a) ordinary Devanagari fonts are freely available &
b) most of Indians don't really care for their own scripts!
So sad!
Please don't try to find or download any pirated copy of 'Akhil HE'.