Soliloquies

Chingam: a new libre Malayalam traditional script font

‘Chingam’/ചിങ്ങം (named after the first month of Malayalam calendar) is the newest libre/open source font released by Rachana Institute of Typography in the year 2024.

Chingam font specimen

It comes with a regular variant, embellished with stylistic alternates for a number of characters. The default shape of characters D, O, ഠ, ാ etc. are wider in stark contrast with the shape of other characters designed as narrow width. The font contains alternate shapes for these characters more in line with the general narrow width characteristic.

Example of stylistic alternate characters in Chingam font. Text without stylistic alternate above, same text with stylistic alternate below.

Users can enable the stylistic alternates in typesetting systems, should they wish.

  • XeTeX: stylistic variant can be enabled with the StylisticSet={1} option when defining the font via fontspec package. For e.g.
% in the preamble
\newfontfamily\chingam[Ligatures=TeX,Script=Malayalam,StylisticSet={1}]{Chingam}
…
\begin{document}
\chingam{മനുഷ്യരെല്ലാവരും തുല്യാവകാശങ്ങളോടും അന്തസ്സോടും സ്വാതന്ത്ര്യത്തോടുംകൂടി ജനിച്ചിട്ടുള്ളവരാണ്‌…}
\end{document}
  • Scribus: extra font features are accessible since version 1.6
  • LibreOffice: extra font features are accessible since version 7.4. Enable it using Format→Character→Language→Features.
LibreOffice stylistic alternates with Chingam font.
  • InDesign: very similar to Scribus; there should be an option in the text/font properties to choose the stylistic set.

Development

Chingam is designed and drawn by Narayana Bhattathiri. Based on the initial drawings on paper, the glyph shapes are created in vector format (svg) following the glyph naming convention used in RIT projects. A new build script is developed by Rajeesh that makes it easier for designers to iterate & adjust the font metadata & metrics. Review & scrutiny done by CVR, Hussain KH and Ashok Kumar improved the font substantially.

Download

Chingam is licensed under Open Font License. The font can be downloaded from Rachana website, sources are available in GitLab page.

Rajeesh

,

7 responses to “Chingam: a new libre Malayalam traditional script font”

  3. I guess, we need to address two problems: (i) RIT prefix has to be added to the font name; (ii) the consonant, “റ” needs to have alternate stylistic version.

    Otherwise, the release looks fabulous. Many thanks for your and Bhattathiri’s hard work.

  4. Agree on both counts. Font shall be renamed in the next version; hope Bhattathiri can quickly draw the alternate version of റ.

  5. Very attractive font. A font with switchable stylistic enhancements is a good idea. Many letters drawn in imaginative ways.

  6. I don’t think I will have any use for a Malayalam font any time soon, but always nice to see work on free fonts like this! Also good to see fonts in so many styles on the website.

    BTW: the first link to the RIT website at the top of the text is broken (the one at the bottom works).

Leave a comment