On the issue of scripts, the matter was more fluid some generations ago. Different people would adopt different scripts in different circumstances, and it was t

On the issue of scripts, the matter was more fluid some generations ago. Different people would adopt different scripts in different circumstances, and it was the British push for standardization that settled the matter. For example, when the British took Sindh, they found that officials of the erstwhile Nawab administration used the Persian script, while merchants used the Khudabadi landa script. Women and priests, however, largely used the Devanagari script. The British adopted the Persian script for Sindhi since the clerks they absorbed used it. A similar story played out with Marathi. From the time of the Marathas till as late as the 1920s, Marathi was written formally in the Modi (ie, twisted) script. The British pushed for the adoption of the Devanagari script, since it would simplify logistics at printing presses.