Hathigumpha Inscription of Kharavela and Bhabru Edict of Asoka

SR No.: 006726
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Shashi Kant
Publisher: D K Print World
Publication Year: 2000
Total Pages: 196
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 16 MB

Page 136

110
The Häthigumpha Inscription and the Bhabru Edict
Kaniska was the last ruler to use it on his coins. Names common to the lists of the Lalitavistara and the Jain Sūtras are Brāhmi and Kharosti, the regional Puskarasāri and Dravida, and the tribal Gandharva.
The first positive evidence of the prevalence of different scripts is provided by the widespread inscriptions of Asoka. To the east of the R. Sutlej all his inscriptions are only in one script
- the Brāhmi, but to the west of the Sutlej his inscriptions have been found in three scripts - the Kharosti, the Aramaic and the Greek. Inscriptions in the Aramaic script and language have been discovered at Taxila (Rawalpindi district, Pakistan), Pule-Darunt (Laghman, near Jalalabad, Afghanistan) and Shari-Kuna (near Kandahar, Afghanistan). The Shar-i-Kuna record is bilingual and it has a recension in the Greek script and language as well. A record only in the Greek script and language has also been found at Kandahar. Two recensions of Asoka's 14 Rock Edicts have been found incised in the Kharosti script and Prakrit language at Mansehra (Hazara district) and Shahbazgarhi (near Charsadda, Peshawar district) in NorthWest Pakistan.
In interpreting the palaeographic evidence two factors should also be kept in view, namely the scribe's hand and the material on which the matter is inscribed. Change in general contours of letters takes a long time to take effect. In that light the stages in the development of Brāhmi script would be AsokanBrāhmi, Kuşāņa-Brāhmi and Gupta-Brāhmi. Whereas the Asokan-Brāhmi is plain, the Kuşāņa-Brāhmi develops angularities and the Gupta-Brāhmi develops curvatures. Inscriptions dating prior to the Christian Era are in the AsokanBrāhmi, those of first to third century AD are in the KuşāņaBrāhmi and those of fourth to sixth century AD are in the GuptaBrāhmi. In adducing the date of a record it would not be proper only to compare its style of scribing with some record found at a distant site. The internal evidence of the record itself should also be looked into to determine its date.