Avestan Typing Speed Test
Free Online Avestan Keyboard – Type the Script of the Zoroastrian Avesta
Welcome to the Avestan keyboard online — the script created to record the Avesta, the liturgical corpus of Zoroastrianism. Our free virtual keyboard provides the full Avestan character set together with Inscriptional Pahlavi characters, so you can write and quote these texts in real Unicode rather than transliteration or images. Nothing to install; it works on any computer, tablet, or phone.
A script built for accuracy. The Avesta was transmitted orally for centuries before anyone wrote it down. When Sasanian-era scribes finally did, around the fifth to sixth century CE, they faced a problem: liturgical recitation had to be preserved exactly, and the existing Pahlavi script — ambiguous, consonant-heavy, full of logograms — was hopeless for the task. So they built a new alphabet from it with an unusually complete set of vowel signs, roughly fifty characters in all. It is one of the most phonetically precise scripts of the ancient world, and it exists for one reason: to stop a sacred text drifting.
The language it records. Avestan is an Old Iranian language, closely related to Vedic Sanskrit — close enough that passages can sometimes be converted between them by regular sound correspondences. Its oldest layer, the Gathas, consists of hymns attributed to Zarathustra himself and is separated from the later Younger Avestan material by centuries. The script is written right to left, inherited from its Pahlavi and ultimately Aramaic ancestry.
Why a keyboard for an ancient script? Because the alternative is worse. Scholars and Zoroastrian communities have long resorted to transliteration into Latin with diacritics, to specialised non-Unicode fonts, or to images — all of which break search, quotation, and citation. Typing genuine Unicode Avestan means a passage can be copied into a paper, an email, or a database and still be the same text on the other side.
Perfect for: Zoroastrian communities in India and Iran and across the diaspora, priests and students working with liturgical text, Indo-Iranian linguists and comparative philologists, historians of religion, and anyone quoting the Gathas, the Yasna, or the Yashts accurately.
Related keyboards: Avestan's descendants and neighbours are also available — see Persian for the modern language of Iran. Switch with the Layout dropdown above.
Your privacy is guaranteed – all typing happens 100% locally in your browser. Nothing you write is sent to a server, stored, or logged.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Avestan script?
An alphabet created in the Sasanian era, around the fifth to sixth century CE, specifically to write down the Avesta — the Zoroastrian liturgical corpus. It has roughly fifty characters, including an unusually full set of vowels, and is written right to left.
Why was it invented if Pahlavi already existed?
Because Pahlavi was too ambiguous for the job. The Avesta had been transmitted orally and had to be preserved exactly as recited, which requires marking vowels and fine phonetic distinctions that Pahlavi simply did not record. Avestan was purpose-built for precision.
What language does it write?
Avestan, an Old Iranian language closely related to Vedic Sanskrit. Its oldest layer is the Gathas, hymns attributed to Zarathustra, which are separated by centuries from the later Younger Avestan texts.
Is the script written right to left?
Yes. Avestan inherits its direction from Pahlavi and ultimately from Aramaic, so it runs right to left. The keyboard handles text direction for you.
Why not just use Latin transliteration?
Transliteration works for discussion but breaks quotation. Scholarly Latin transliteration of Avestan uses heavy diacritics, competing conventions, and non-Unicode fonts, so text cannot reliably be searched, compared, or moved between systems. Real Unicode Avestan survives copying.
Does this include Pahlavi characters?
Yes, the layout carries Inscriptional Pahlavi characters alongside the Avestan set, which is useful when working with the manuscript tradition and with texts that mix the two.
Is this Avestan keyboard free?
Yes, completely free. There is no cost, no registration, no account, and no limit on how much you type. The site is supported by advertising, which is what keeps the keyboard free to use for everyone.
Does it work on mobile phones and tablets?
Yes. The layout is fully responsive and works on Android and iOS phones, tablets, Chromebooks, Windows, and macOS. On a touchscreen you tap the characters directly, which makes it a practical way to type Avestan on a device with no Avestan keyboard installed.
Is my typing private?
Completely private. All processing happens locally in your browser using JavaScript. Your text is never transmitted to a server, never stored, and never logged, so it is safe for personal and sensitive writing.
Keep Practicing
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