SCRIPTS IN INDIA

Module 1

INTRODUCTION

Scholars believed that Ancient India used two main scripts to write - Brahmi and
Kharosti- until the discovery of the ancient Indus Valley Civilization in 1920. The
Brahmi script which was originally written from right to left, developed under
the semitic influence around 7th c. BC.

The Kharosti script came into existence during the 5th c. BC in northwest India, which
was under Persian rule. Although the origin of the Brahmi script is uncertain, it is
commonly believed that the Kharosti script is a direct descended from the Aramaic
alphabet.

As in Aramaic, the Kharosti script is written from right to left and many of the signs of
these languages have similar phonetic value. In the later centuries of its existence,
Brahmi gave rise to eight varieties of scripts. Three of them - the early and late Mauryas
and the Sunga - became the prototypes of the scripts in northern India in the 1st c. BC
and AD. Out of these developed the Gupta writing which was employed from the 4th to
the 6th c. AD.

The Siddhamatrka script evolved during the 6th c. AD from the western branch of the
eastern Gupta character. The Siddhamatrka became the ancestor of the Nagari script
which is used for Sanskrit today. The Nagari developed in the 7th to the 9th c. AD, and
has remained, since the 7th to 9th centuries, essentially unaltered.

To get a complete picture of the development of script in India, we need to take into
consideration the archaeological discovery, in the 1920s, which shows the extensive
urban remains in the Indus Valley. This discovery prompted scholars, working on ancient
texts, to re-examine their views on the different phases of Indian culture.

The extensive excavations carried out at the two principal city sites, Harappa and
Mohenjo-Daro, both situated in the Indus basin, indicate that this Civilization was well
established by about 2500 B.C., and subsequent discoveries have revealed that it covered
most of the Lower Indus Valley.

Recent analyses of the order of the signs on the inscriptions have led several scholars to
the view that the language is not of the Indo-European family, nor is it close to the
Sumerian, Hurrian, or Elamite, nor can it be related to the structure of the Munda
languages of modern India.
If it is related to any modern language family, it appears to be Dravidian, akin to Old
Tamil, presently spoken throughout the southern part of the Indian Peninsula.

The first epigraphic evidence of Sanskrit is seen in 150 AD and this inscription is in the
Brahmi script. The Grantha alphabet that belongs to the writing system of southern India
developed in the 5th c. AD and was used to write Sanskrit. Inscriptions in Early Grantha,
dating from the 5th to 6th c. AD, are on copper plates and stone monuments from the
kingdom of the Pallavas near Chennai.

Scholars have opined that the south has been the gateway for religious and cultural
developments in India. In the beginning, Grantha was used for writing Sanskrit and
Sanskrit was later transliterated with Nagiri after the 7th c. AD. The later varieties of the
Grantha script were used to write a number of South Indian languages, and the modern
Tamil script definitely seems to be originated from the Grantha script.

Module 2

INDUS SCRIPT

The term Indus script or Harappan script refers to the short strings of symbols that were
used during the Mature Harappan period, between the 2500 BC and 2000 BC, to write
their language. In spite of many attempts to decipher the scripts, it is as yet undeciphered.
Even its interpretation as writing has been contested. The underlying language is
unknown, and the lack of a bilingual inscription makes the decipherment almost
impossible.

The first publication of a Harappan seal dates back to 1873, in the form of a drawing by
Alexander Cunningham. Since then, over 4000 symbol-bearing objects have been
discovered. Some early scholars, starting with Cunningham in 1877, thought that the
script was the archetype of the Brahmi script used by Ashoka.

Cunningham's ideas were backed by G. R. Hunter and a few other scholars, who continue
to argue that Indus script was the predecessor of the Brahmi family. However, most
scholars disagree to this argument and believe that the Brahmi script is derived from the
Aramaic script.

Early Harappan

The term refers to the script used in the early Harappan phase, which perhaps evolved
from a few signs found in early Harappa after 3500 BC.

Mature Harappan

These strings of Indus signs are most commonly found on flat, rectangular stamp seals,
but they are also found on at least a dozen other materials including tools, miniature
tablets, copper plates, and pottery.
Late Harappan

After 1900 BC, the systematic use of the symbols ended, after the final stage of the
Mature Harappan civilization.

A few Harappan signs have been claimed to appear until as late as 1100 BC (the
beginning of the Indian Iron Age). On-shore explorations near Bet Dwarka in Gujarat
revealed the presence of late Indus seals having carrying a 3-headed animal, earthen
vessel inscribed in what is claimed to be a late Harappan script, and a large quantity of
pottery similar to Lustrous Red Ware bowl and Red Ware dishes, dish-on-stand,
perforated jar and incurved bowls which are datable to the 16th century BC in Dwarka,
Rangpur and Prabhas.

Module 3

THE ART OF WRITING IN INDIA

The art of writing was first used extensively in the inscriptions of the Indus civilization.
Excavations at Harappa show that the pictographic script was well-developed. In-depth
investigations have indicated that it is comprised of four hundred characters with a
variety of diacritical marks, symbols and other signs. The Harappan inscriptions have
been found engraved on copper plates and seals, and painted on pottery. But as no one
has been able to decipher them to this day, it is quite impossible at this juncture to
evaluate the intellectual life of this buried culture.

It is feasible to assert that the civilization of the Indus valley was highly evolved, literate
and urban. There is little doubt that the wisdom of these ancient people was put in
writing, but that it inevitably suffered extinction after reaching its acme. We do not have
evidence to prove that the art of writing continued in India without interrupted with the
3rd century BC. We have evidences to believe that the art of writing had already reached
maturity in India by the time the Greeks became acquainted with the Phoenician alphabet.

Module 4

THE ANTIQUITY OF WRITING IN INDIA

The term antiquity of writing points to the existence of a system of writing far more
ancient than what was originally considered. The European assumption that the people of
ancient India could not read or write probably springs from the fact that no writing
material was excavated on Indian soil.

There is no direct and concrete reference to the existence of writing in the Rig Veda. Yet,
some scholars suggest that there are indirect references to the existence of writing at
that time.
In the Upanishads, one can see references to aksharas (indelible) and varna (coloured or
painted) and these words could mean written letters. The existence of words like patra
(leaf) and patta (a slab or tablet) also indicate the practice of writing or engraving.

The Ashtadhyayi of Panini (circa 4th century BC) has the word lipi meaning writing or
script and lipikara meaning writer or scriber showing thereby that the knowledge of
writing existed during that period. The Sutra literature has also some references to
writing.

Kautilya’s following statement in the Arthasastra stipulates the existence of writing in

India. The statements that indicate the existence of writing include:
1. The student should learn the alphabet and writing
2. The king should correspond with his writers
3. The king should send his spies with signs and writings
4. The writer should be an able person in reading documents, prompt in composing
and elegant in writing

From this it is clear that writing was known during Kautilya’s period. The two epics,
Ramayana and Mahabhratha, though considered to be originated in the pre-Murayan
period, belong in their present form to the Gupta period, about 4th century AD. They also
mention terms like lekha, lekhana and lekhaka which testify to the existence of the art of
writing.

The early Jaina and Buddhist literature also contains references to writing. The Jaina
works like Pannavana-sutta (about 168 B.C) has references to the eighteen types of
scripts which were in use at that time.

The Buddhist works Mahavastu and Lalitavistara (3rd century A.D) also refer to the
writing that existed at that period. Some foreigners who visited India during Mauryan and
later periods have also made references to the writing system that existed in India during
that period. The General of Alexander the Great, who invaded India, states that the
people of the Punjab knew the art of making papers out of cotton and tattered clothes for
writing purposes. The Greek Ambassador to the court of the Maurya King Chandragupta
writes that milestones were fixed on the road for the convenience of the travellers.

In spite of the evidence presented above, it has been continually stressed that the ancients
passed on their knowledge through oral tradition alone and no art of writing was available
- the earlier part of course is probably true. On the deliberate stress given to oral
transmission, Dr. R.N. Dandekar remarks, "There is, indeed, considerable circumstantial
and inferential character which enables us to perceive the existence of writing even in the
very early periods of Indian cultural history. It is true that the Veda has been handed
down from generation to generation through oral tradition.

The practice of oral transmission of the Veda was adopted, not because written copies of
these texts were not available, but presumably because it was believed that oral
transmission alone was more conducive to the preservation of the magico-religious
potency and the formal protection of those arts.

The debate shows that writing existed in India prior to the period of Mauryan King
Asoka, though we have not yet come across any material evidences like inscriptions to
know more about the nature of this writing.

Let us summarize what we have discussed so far.

We discussed the evolution of writing system and script in India. We analyzed the
discovery of the Indus Valley civilization and about their well developed scripts. It also
throws some light into the ways the people of this civilisation used to record their
activities.

The debate in this unit shows that the writing existed in India prior to the period of the
Mauryan King Asoka, though we have not yet come across any material evidences like
inscriptions to know more about the nature of this writing.

Reference

Singh Upinder, A History of Ancient and Early Medieval India: From the Stone Age
to the 12th Century, Pearson Education India, 2008

Mahadevan Iravatham, Early Tamil Epigraphy: From the Earliest Times to the Sixth
Century A.D. The Department of Sanskrit and Indian Studies, Harvard University,
Cambridge, USA, 2003.

Allchin, F.R. The Archaeology of Early Historic South Asia: The Emergence Of Cities
And States, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995

Salomon Richard, Indian Epigraphy : A Guide to the Study of Inscriptions in Sanskrit,

Prakrit and the Other Indo-Aryan Languages, published by Manoharlal Munshiram,, New
Delhi, 1998

John P. Bodel, Epigraphic Evidence: Ancient History from Inscriptions (History of

Linguistics), Routledge, 2001.

OBJECTIVES
1. To understand the writing system in India in detail
2. To investigate into the ancient writing systems in India
3. To understand the evolution of scripts in India

SUMMARY
This unit deals with the evolution of writing system and script in India. It discusses the
discovery of the Indus Valley civilisation and about their well developed scripts. It also
throws some light into the ways the people of this civilisation used to record their
activities.

The debate in this unit shows that the writing existed in India prior to the period of the
Mauryan King Asoka, though we have not yet come across any material evidences like
inscriptions to know more about the nature of this writing.

FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions)

Q) Which are the scripts used for writing in ancient India?
A) Ancient India apparently used two main scripts to write - Brahmi and Kharosti- until
the discovery of the Indus Valley Civilization in 1920.
Q) When did the Kharosti script came into existence in India?
A) The Kharosti script came into existence during the 5th c. BC in northwest India
which was under Persian rule. Although the origin of the Brahmi script is uncertain, it is
commonly believed that the Kharosti script is a directly descended from the Aramaic
alphabet.
Q) When did the Siddhamatrka script came into existence and which script descended
from Siddhamatrka script?
A) The Siddhamatrka script evolved during the 6th c. AD from the western branch of the
eastern Gupta character. It is believed that the Nagari script which is used for Sanskrit
today is descended from Siddhamatrka became the ancestor of. The Nagari developed in
the 7th to 9th c. AD, and has remained, since the 7th to 9th centuries, essentially
unaltered.
Q) What do the term Indus script or Harappan script refers to?
A) The term Indus script or Harappan script refers to short strings of symbols were used
during the Mature Harappan period, between the 26th and 20th BC centuries to write their
language.
Q) What does the term antiquity of writing in India means?
A) The term antiquity of writing points to the existence of a system of writing far more
ancient than what was originally considered. It is believed that the art of writing was
known to the Vedic people.
Q) What are the statements found in that mentions the existence of writing in ancient
India?
A) Kautilya’s Arthasastra following statement stipulates the existence of writing in India.
The statements that indicate the existence of writing include:
1. The student should learn after his tonsure ceremony, the alphabet and writing

2. The king should correspond with his writers

3. The king should send his spies with signs and writings
 4. The writer should be an able person in reading documents, prompt in composing
and elegant in writing

ASSIGNMENTS
1. Prepare a brief note on the evolution of Indian script
2. Analyse the antiquity of writing India
3. Analyse the importance of the discovery of ancient scripts in India
4. Analyse the art of writing in India

QUIZ
A-Which are the two scripts used in Ancient India?

a) Brahmi and Kharosti

b) Hieroglyphs and Latin
c) Greek and Latin
d) Brahmi and Latin

B- The ---mentions the names of several meters like Gayatri, Anushtubh, Brihat, Jagati
a) Samaveda
b) Rigveda
c) Ramayana
d) Mahabharata

C- The priests monopolized the religious hymns of the Vedas

a) Buddha
b) Brahman
c) Aryan
d) Greek

D- When did the Kharosti script came into existence in India?

a) 5th century B.C
b) 5th century A.D
c) 15th century B.C
d) 50 century B.C

E- The term Indus script or Harappan script refers to symbols used during the ---
a) Aryan Period
b) Late Harappan Period
 c) Mature Harappan Period
d) Early Harappan Period

GLOSSARY
Indus Script
The term Indus script (also Harappan script) refers to short strings of symbols associated
with the Indus Valley Civilization, in use during the Mature Harappan period, between
the 26th and 20th centuries BC. In spite of many attempts at decipherments and claims, it
is as yet undeciphered, and even its interpretation as writing has been contested.

Brahmi Script
The Brahmi script is one of the most important writing systems in the world by virtue of
its time depth and influence. It represents the earliest post-Indus corpus of texts, and
some of the earliest historical inscriptions found in India. Most importantly, it is the
ancestor to hundreds of scripts found in South, Southeast, and East Asia.

Devanagari Script
Devanagari also called Nagari (Nāgarī, the name of its parent writing system), is an
abugida alphabet of India and Nepal. It is written from left to right, does not have distinct
letter cases, and is recognizable (along with closely related scripts like that of Bengali) by
a distinctive horizontal line running along the tops of the letters that links them together.

The Arthasastra
The Arthashastra is an ancient Indian treatise on statecraft, economic policy and military
strategy which identifies its author by the names Kautilya and Viṣhṇugupta, who are
traditionally identified with Chāṇakya (c. 350–283 BC), who was a scholar at
Takshashila and later the prime minister of the Maurya Empire.
Kharosti Script
The Kharoṣṭhī script, is an ancient abugida (or "alphasyllabary") used by the Gandhara
culture, nestled in the historic northwest South Asia to write the Gāndhārī and Sanskrit
languages. It was in use from the middle of the 3rd century BCE until it died out in its
homeland around the 3rd century CE. It was also in use in Kushan, Sogdiana (see Issyk
kurgan) and along the Silk Road where there is some evidence it may have survived until
the 7th century in the remote way stations of Khotan and Niya.

Vedas
The Vedas (Sanskrit meaning "knowledge") are a large body of texts originating in
ancient India. Composed in Vedic Sanskrit, the texts constitute the oldest layer of
Sanskrit literature and the oldest scriptures of Hinduism.
The class of "Vedic texts" is aggregated around the four canonical Saṃhitās or Vedas
proper (turīya), of which three (traya) are related to the performance of yajna (sacrifice)
in historical (Iron Age) Vedic religion:

1.The Rigveda, containing hymns to be recited by the hotṛ;

2.The Yajurveda, containing formulas to be recited by the adhvaryu or officiating priest;
3.The Samaveda, containing formulas to be sung by the udgātṛ.
The fourth is the Atharvaveda, a collection of spells and incantations, apotropaic charms
and speculative hymns.

Ramayana & Mahabhratha

Ramayana & Mahabhratha are the two great Indian Epics. In historical terms, the events
of the Ramayana precede the events of the Mahabharata.