Development of Nagari Script

SR No.: 006800
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: A K Singh
Publisher: Parimal Publication
Publication Year: 1991
Total Pages: 386
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 6 MB

Page 24

Development of Nāgarı Script
Bajpai33 is of the view that the Nāgarī script was christened Devanāgari when Sanskrit, the language of the Vedas, employed it. Chaudhari"4 likewise believes that the name Devanāgarī was derived on the resemblance of Devavāni Sanskrit. But this view too rests on slender foundations. It is evident that Sanskrit was being written in Brāhmi and its derivative scripts from the very beginning, hence the question of Nāgarī being associated with Sanskrit is unwarranted. Here we may agree with H.R. Kapadia, that "One will not be completely unjustified to believe that the name Devanāgari is not so old as Nāgarī."35
However in the present state of knowledge, it is not possible to settle the problem finally but it can be indicated that the term Nāgara or Nāgari denoted some geographical area or region. The term is mentioned in the Silpaśāstras (10-11th century ) and the Holal inscription (12th century) as well as in Jain commentaries (referred to above) by Malayagiri and Hemachandra. Here, it must be admited that the term Nāgari is not found earlier than the 10th-11th century A.D. It is, however, futile to discuss the appearance of a word in this or that work because such words are recorded in works long after getting currency among the people.
Earlier Stages
Brāhmi is the earliest known historical script of India. In the present state of our knowledge there is no specimen of Brahmi which can be definitely assigned before the Mauryan times. The Mauryan Brāhmi was formed by simple geometrical configurations like horizontal and perpendicular lines, angles and triangles, circles and semi-circles, curves and dots, etc. Nāgarī placed alongside Mauryan may seem vastly different in appearance.50 However, passing through the various developmental stages, some or the other part of every letter of the Mauryan Brāhmi is still retained in the Nāgarī forms with only some ornamental or simplified additions and modifications.
In the natural process Brāhmi developed continuously at least from the time of Asoka. But there are some remarkable stages of its development