KATHMANDU, March 21: A workshop on ‘Nepal Lipi’ was organized at Art Pavilion, London on Sunday, March 17. The workshop was organized by World Newah Organisation (UK Chapter) as part of the World Newah Day (March 31) celebration worldwide and was chaired by Shashi Mahaju, chief editor of Matina Publications.

According to a press release issued by World Newah Organisation (UK Chapter), Sanyukta Shrestha, co-ordinator, WNOUK, conducted the workshop which ran for two hours. Following the huge interest shown in, the organizer has decided to conduct the workshop regularly in future.

One of the world’s most beautiful scripts dating back to at least 6-7th century, Ranjana, is a writing system primarily used to write Nepalbhasha and Sanskrit. While the script played a crucial role in preserving Buddhism in South Asia and beyond, it faced rapid decline from the mid-18th till mid-19th century, it read. Following a ban on the language itself, was dealt a severe blow during the Rana regime. In the recent years, the Newars of Kathmandu are active in its revival and this workshop is the first of its kind in Europe as per the press statement.

Visitor at the workshop were mostly UK residents who showed keen interest in learning the script. By the end of the workshop, the participants were able to write their name in Ranjana script without any supervision. Meanwhile, Calligraphic works by Nepali artists Sramdip, Ananda Maharjan and Bimal Bolakhe was also exhibited at the workshop.