arXiv — NLP / Computation & Language · · 3 min read

Urdu Katib Handwritten Dataset: A Historical Document Dataset for Offline Urdu Handwritten Text Recognition with CRNN-Based Baseline Evaluation

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Computer Science > Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition

arXiv:2606.19139 (cs)
[Submitted on 17 Jun 2026]

Title:Urdu Katib Handwritten Dataset: A Historical Document Dataset for Offline Urdu Handwritten Text Recognition with CRNN-Based Baseline Evaluation

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Abstract:Automatic Handwritten Text Recognition (HTR) is inherently a challenging task, and its complexity is further increased when dealing with cursive scripts. Although significant efforts have been made on various cursive scripts, research regarding Urdu Handwritten Text Recognition (UHTR) has been relatively limited. This lag of research is primarily due to the unique challenges posed by its script, and the scarcity and unavailability of benchmark datasets. Therefore, to advance research in UHTR, this study presents a specialized real dataset called the Urdu Katib Handwritten Dataset (UKHD). To the best of our knowledge, this is the first offline Urdu handwritten text lines dataset specifically curated from the materials written by Katibs in historical times. It encompasses a diverse range of flat nib writing variations in the Nastalique calligraphic style. Additionally, the effectiveness of different CRNN-based hybrid models has been evaluated to identify the optimal architecture for Urdu Katib Handwriting Recognition (UKHR). Among the analyzed models, the CNN-BGRU-CTC model showed more robust performance, with low Character Error Rate (CER) and Word Error Rate (WER). This research work aims to support and encourage the research community in developing a robust recognition system for preserving Urdu handwritten literature.
Subjects: Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition (cs.CV); Computation and Language (cs.CL)
Cite as: arXiv:2606.19139 [cs.CV]
  (or arXiv:2606.19139v1 [cs.CV] for this version)
  https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2606.19139
arXiv-issued DOI via DataCite (pending registration)

Submission history

From: Ramza Basharat [view email]
[v1] Wed, 17 Jun 2026 14:46:29 UTC (37,945 KB)
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