Today, if you open a .doc or .txt file created with Vanavil Barani on a modern Windows 10/11 or macOS system, you will see garbage characters (often jumbled English letters or dotted boxes). This is because modern systems expect Unicode (UTF-8), not TAB encoding.
Vanavil Barani was developed by the Chennai-based firm Vanavil Softwares, a pioneering company dedicated to Tamil language computing. During this era, operating systems like Windows 95 and 98 lacked native support for complex Tamil scripts. To type Tamil, users had to install specific fonts that came with their own custom keyboard drivers. Barani became one of the most popular fonts in this category, alongside other contemporaries like "Kamban" and "Mylai."
What set Vanavil Barani apart was its structural elegance. Unlike some fonts that appeared overly mechanical, Barani retained the rounded, flowing characteristics of traditional handwritten Tamil. It was designed for readability, balancing the distinct loops (vattam) and straight lines (nedil) of the script. This made it the preferred choice for desktop publishing of Tamil newspapers, magazines, and literary works. vanavil barani tamil font
The font uses the Vanavil Standard Keyboard, which is nearly identical to the physical Tamil typewriter layout. Here is a quick reference:
| Press (English Key) | Tamil Output (Barani) |
|---------------------|-----------------------|
| a | அ |
| A or aa | ஆ |
| ; (semicolon) | ஔ |
| k | க் |
| K | க |
| u | உ |
| U | ஊ |
| ] | ற |
| [ | ர | Today, if you open a
Full keyboard maps are available as PDFs from Tamil software archives. For efficient typing, users would install a keyboard driver (like Tamil 99 to Vanavil mapper) or use a Tamil Inscript keyboard remapper.
Understanding the encoding is crucial to avoid frustration. Standard Unicode Tamil follows the logical sequence: you type க + ் + ச to get க்ஷ. In Vanavil Barani, every compound character is a single keystroke or a specific key combination mapped to a unique glyph. For web use, ensure the license permits @font-face
For example:
This “pre-composed” character system makes backspacing and editing simpler in older word processors but creates major problems when you copy-paste text into a web browser or modern app (you’ll see a mess of symbols like k;uk;g).
Vanavil font encoding follows a proprietary mapping standard – often a variant of the “TSCII” (Tamil Script Code for Information Interchange) but with differences. This is why a document typed in Barani may not display correctly even with another non-Unicode font like Kambam or Mylai.