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THE ALPHABET
the Sanskrit name of Kashgar; (4) as the Indian corruption of kharaosta or kharaposta (the Indo-Aryan khara meaning "ass," and the Iranic posta, "skin"), the "ass-skin," implying that this script had been employed for writing on ass-skins; (5) the most probable theory seems to be that an Aramaic word like kharottha became, through popular etymology, the Sanskrit word kharoshtha.
Coins and Inscriptions
Kharoshthi has been known for a long time, as many Indo-Greek and Indo-Scythian coins between 175 B.C. and the first century A.D. were written in this script, but its greater importance was realized after the discovery, in 1836, of a Kharoshthi inscription incised on a rock in the vicinity of Shahbazgarhi (on the Indo-Afghan borders) giving a translation of Asoka's (see next Chapter) edicts, belonging probably to 251 B.C.
Other Documents
Later, many other Kharoshthi documents were found. For instance, in the twenties of this century, Sir Aurel Stein discovered in Niya and Lou-lan, Eastern Turkestan, many interesting Kharoshthi documents written in Indian ink on wood, skin and paper, belonging mainly to the third century A.D. An important Kharoshthi Buddhist manuscript, apparently of the second century A.D. had previously been found in Eastern Turkestan. The most recent Kharoshthi inscriptions seem to belong to the fourth-fifth centuries A.D.
The dating is, however, not always easy; only about 40 inscriptions are dated. An additional chronological difficulty is that the dated inscriptions, although indicating years, months and days, do not specify the era. The majority of the inscriptions were discovered in ancient Gandhara, now eastern Afghanistan and the northern Punjab.
The Script
Kharoshthi is not a monumental, but a popular, cursive, commercial and calligraphic script. The direction of writing is from right to left (Fig, 140, 2), although there are some few inscriptions and of more recent date written from left to right. The numeral signs are characteristic (Fig. 140, 1).
It is now commonly accepted that the Kharoshthi script (Fig. 140) has descended from the Aramaic alphabet; this theory is based on two important facts, the likeness of many signs having similar phonetic value, and the direction of writing. The connections of the Aramaæans with India have been proved by the Aramaic inscription on the stone found at Taxila on the Hydaspes of the third century B.C. (see p. 255). The Kharoshthi script, however, must have originated in the fifth century B.C., in north-western India, at that time under Persian rule, which was the best medium for the spread of the Aramaic speech and script.
