 Originally more widespread, its use became later restricted to Kashmir, and it is now rarely used except by the Kashmiri Pandit community for religious purposes.It is a native script of Kashmir and is named after the goddess Śāradā, (another name for Saraswati, the goddess of learing), the main deity of the Sharada Peeth temple.The Bakhshali manuscript uses an early stage of the Sharada script.