This script is used to write Gujarati, a Western Indo-Aryan language spoken by approximately 56 million people and the official language of the Indian state of Gujarat. It is also used to write Kacchi, a local minority language. The script evolved from a shorthand form of the Devanagari script, which was used by scribes and merchants. During this period, Gujarati was widely used alongside Devanagari, gradually replacing it from the 1800s onwards. It is closely related to other shorthand descendants of Devanagari, including Modi and Kaithi, all of which lack the characteristic śirorekhā, or top horizontal line, of Devanagari. The earliest recorded example of the Gujarati script is a manuscript from c. 1592 CE. Asia’s oldest continuously published newspaper, the Gujarati-language Bombay Samachar (founded in 1822 in British Bombay), has been printed in the script ever since the paper’s inception. Mahatma Gandhi, a native Gujarati speaker, used the script in his countless Gujarati letters and manuscripts.