In 2010, the Indian government mandated Unicode (specifically, the Mangal font for Hindi and Krutidev for Marathi). The logic was sound: Unicode allowed you to copy-paste "मराठी" from a website into an email without turning it into ";kjkBh."
But DV-TTSurekh refused to die.
Why? Because legacy data is a prison. For a decade, Maharashtra’s Sahitya Akademi awards, court affidavits, and cooperative bank ledgers were typed in DV-TTSurekh. Converting thousands of documents to Unicode was too expensive. Even today, if you receive a scanned PDF from a Maharashtra government office, chances are the original text was set in DV-TTSurekh. marathi dv-ttsurekh font
In the vast, pixelated graveyard of forgotten digital fonts, most expire due to irrelevance or poor design. But every so often, a typeface outlives its creators, its original purpose, and even the operating systems it was built for. One such digital ghost is DV-TTSurekh.
If you have ever filled out a Maharashtra government form online, read an old digital archive of Loksatta, or tried to print a ration card between 2005 and 2015, you have encountered this font. You just didn’t know its name. DV-TTSurekh is not Unicode
Short answer: Only for legacy projects.
Long answer: The Indian government and global tech companies (Google, Microsoft, Apple) have fully standardized on Unicode. If you are starting a new website, writing an eBook, or sending an email in Marathi, you should use Unicode fonts like Mangal, Noto Sans Devanagari, or Kruti Dev 055 (Unicode variant). the Indian government mandated Unicode (specifically
However, if you work in a Marathi-language government office, a traditional printing press, or need to edit old documents, knowing how to use Marathi DV-TTsurekh is an indispensable skill. It remains a vital part of Maharashtra's digital heritage.
DV-TTSurekh is not Unicode.
It is a non-standard, legacy font with custom ASCII mapping.
To view or print such a paper correctly:
