Jaini
Type with Purpose
Good typography guides attention, improves understanding, and makes communication effortless.
The Anatomy of a Typeface
By FontSide · June 2026
Every typeface is a system of decisions — about stroke contrast, x-height, spacing, and rhythm. The best ones feel invisible: you stop seeing the letters and start hearing the voice behind them. That transparency is the hardest thing to design.
A high x-height opens up the counters and makes small text breathe. Tight tracking pulls a headline together; loose tracking gives a caption room to exhale. None of these choices are accidents — they are arguments about how reading should feel.
Uppercase
Lowercase
Numerals
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Package Manager
The recommended way to use fonts in modern web projects.
1. Install Package
pnpm add @fontsource/jaini2. Import in App
// Please select at least one weight and style3. CSS Usage
body {
font-family: "Jaini", system-ui;
}Google Fonts CDN
Use Google's CDN to embed the fonts directly via HTML.
HTML <head>
<!-- Please select at least one weight and style -->Fontsource CDN
Skip the build step by adding this directly to your global CSS file.
Global CSS
/* Please select at least one weight and style */Background & Story
Jaini and Jaini Purva (both Devanagari) are typefaces based on the calligraphic style of the Jain Kalpasutra manuscripts, particularly referencing a manuscript from 1503 CE. The manuscript style has several unique features not seen in the commonly observed Balbodh style. These include a disconnected shirorekha with triangular wedges, short upper matras, squarish letters with large kana height, heavy knots, and the integration of lower matras within the kana height. It also contains some letter-shapes that have evolved over time and are not familiar to current readers. In an attempt to revive the distinct calligraphic style for contemporary use, Jaini adapts visual features of the manuscript style to contemporary letter-structures. Jaini and Jaini Purva differ in their treatment of conjuncts; Jaini adheres to contemporary conventions of horizontal conjuncts, whereas Jaini Purva stays true to vertically stacked conjuncts as seen in manuscripts.
While Jaini Devanagari references past manuscripts, its Latin companion draws inspiration from a hand-lettering style seen in present-day India. In regions where Devanagari is predominantly used, it is not uncommon to see Latin letterforms drawn with a Devanagari pen angle (which is almost perpendicular to the Latin pen angle) with a subtle hint of a shirorekha. Jaini (Latin) draws inspiration from this street style while visually matching it with the wavy stems and squarish counters of Jaini Devanagari.
Jaini Devanagari was designed in 2016 by Girish Dalvi and Maithili Shingre. Jaini Latin was designed in 2023 by Taresh Vohra. This project is led by Ek Type, a collective of type designers based in Mumbai focused on designing contemporary Indian typefaces.
To contribute to the project, see github.com/EkType/Jaini
Tags & Moods
Subsets
Install
pnpm add @fontsource/jainiDesigned by
Ek Type
Links
License
OFL-1.1