Hindsight on Bali - the Kawi language

Kawi (from Sanskrit: kavi, "poet") is a language from the islands of Java, Bali, and Lombok. It is actually a literary language based on Old Javanese, but heavily interlarded with Sanskrit loanwords.

The language has its own unique alphabets for writing, including Old Kawi and Tulisan Bali, a script that evolved from Pallava script. Kawi is extinct as a spoken language, but is still used in Bali, Lombok and to some extent in Java as a literary language.





The road signages and boards in Bali written in Kawi.