Siddham (Sanskrit, accomplished or perfected)—referred to in Japanese as bonji (梵字)—is the name of a North Indian script used for writing Sanskrit. Descended from the Brahmi script via the Gupta script, Siddham in turn gave rise to the Devanagari script.
The writing of mantras and copying of Sutras using the Siddham script is still practiced in Shingon Buddhism in Japan but has died out in other places. It was Kūkai that introduced the Siddham script to Japan when he returned from China in 806, where he studied Sanskrit and Vajrayana Buddhism. Siddham was influential in the development of the Kana writing system, which is also associated with Kūkai -- while the Kana shapes derive from Chinese characters, the princlple of a syllable-based script and their systematic ordering was taken over from Siddham.
See also: Writing_system, Alphabet
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