Chilanka font version 1.500 released

This was originally written by Santhosh Thottingal and published at Thottingal.in.

A new version of Chilanka Malayalam typeface is available now. Version 1.500 adds glyphs required to support International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration

New version of the font is available at: https://smc.org.in/fonts/#chilanka

Chilanka was the first typeface I designed in 2014 for Malayalam. The usecase I had in mind while designing it was to use it in comic or non-serious contexts. But once it was released, contrary to my expectation, people used for serious Malayalam writing. The identity it acquired since its release was more about writing that are personal, such as invitations, intimate letters, reflections of childhood, innocence, nostalgia etc. This was a pleasant surprise to me and happy to see its widespread use everywhere.

Apart from this, a publisher at Kerala started a business of publishing palm leaves(synthetic) with devotional content and epics like Mahabharata printed with this font and I was told that many people buy it. Apparently, the handwriting style font rightly mimic the old palm leaf style writing.

They asked me if I can add the glyphs required for International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration - a transliteration scheme for Sanskrit using latin glyphs for an upcoming work like this. So this release has those new glyphs.