a. 7H Ry ANAM hering the Seript ‘There is no doubt that Brahmi script is at the root of all the seripts of northern India. It volved gradually, changing its form from ‘Mauryan (third to second century BC) to Sutiga (second to first century BC), from Suriga to Kushana (first to second century AD), from Kushana to Gupta (300 - 550 AD) period and so on and so forth, It may be stated thae the form of letters from the Mauryan to the Gupta period had changed so much that Fa-hsien, the Chinese pilgrim who stayed! in India between 400 to 410 AD, could nor find any one who could read the Asokan pillar inscriprions thar he saw in course of his stay. The Asokan script could not be deciphered for a long period of time though several scholars mace attempts to do so. Finally the credit of deciphering may be given to James Princep who accomplished this task in 1837. While examining the numerous shore inscriptions on pillars ancl railings of the Great Stupa at Sanchi, he noticed that practically all the inscriptions had the same two letters at their end. He guessed, correctly as it tumed out, that the two letters conveyed the sense of igift of” and he knew that the most Brahmi 1. Example of Asokan Brahmi PSL UL bw So ve Ws aE tai =f) faa af arn ed srer 2. Example of Kushana Brahmi xGfeu fwATEW aY4d) HAUG wows aya 3. Example of Gupta Brahmi a a wet 44 SbIyB wad yaaa adwa A awa Letters of Brahmi Script in Mauryan, Kushana and Gupta Periods common word for it in Sanskrie and Praksit Janguages is danams. Thus he came (© know: (1) the form of the letter da, (2) that a-matra was aclded to the letter in the form of a horizontal stroke to right at the top of the leer, (3) the form of the letter na and (4) that the anusvara was adled to the leter on the right of its cop and not at the top of the letter as it later came to be Then with the help of biscriptual coins of the Indo-Greek rulers giving their name and ttle in Greck and Brali, the complete key for Brahmi letters could be ascertained. ignificance of Brahmi | The Devanagari seripr, in which Sanskeit, Prakrit, Hindi and Marathi are written, has * evolved from Brahmi, as also many modern regional scripts such as Gujarati, Bangla and Oriya, It may be noted that there are some letters in the Devanagari scripe that are not represented in the Asokan Brahmi seripe, although this was probably the ease because in Pali language of Asokan period they were not needed. In this script, matras are attached to the ‘consonants; it has eonjoint letters and it does not 1 Separate words within a single sentence Bralumi inscriptions have also been found in some south-east Asian countries. Ancient epigraphs are the most important source of history and sinee the epigraphs are written in Brahmi script or in scripts derived from Brahmi the knowledge oF this script is of | utmost importance for the reconstruction of history Kiran Kumar Thaplyal is 1 Former Profesor and Head, A.LH. and Archacolegy, Lucknow — University Wievas Notional Mission for Monuscrips