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Lord Mahavira and His Times
sort of writing was known to the people. A prescribed thief is called Likhitaka chora which means literally 'registered thief." The word Akkhara occurs in the Anguttara Nikaya, the Samyutta Nikaya and the Dhammapada. The word Lekhani (pen) is mentioned in the Anguttara Nikaya.5 The prose-Jātakas, which were admittedly compiled later, possess a number of references to writing, writing material and several kinds of written documents. All these Pāli evidences prove that some sort of writing definitely existed during the sixth century B.C. or even earlier, but unfortunately we do not know its name or character.
The Ashtadhyayi of Panini contains the terms denoting the existence of the art of writing-Lipis and Libi (script), Lipikāra (a writer or scribe), Yavanāns (Greek script), Grantha' (a book) and Svarita1o (a mark in writing).
For the first time we meet two scripts, Brahmi and Kharoshthi, in cursive and advanced forms of letters during third century B.C. in the Aśokan inscriptions. This fact also leads us to infer that writing had had a long history before the epigraphs of Aśoka were engraved.
Brahmi and Kharoshthi are the two most important scripts mentioned in the Jaina and Buddhist texts. In the Jaina sutras the Pannavaṇā, the Samavāyānga (Ch. XVIII) and the Bhagavati (Ch.V), the names of scripts are mentioned. The first two contain a list of eighteen scripts and the last one refers to only one-Brahmi, The Buddhist work Lalitavistara contains the names of 64 scripts, both Indian and foreign, known to or imagined by the Indians during the
1. Vin, I-2.
2. Angu, I-72, III-107.
3. Sam, II-267, 1-38.
4. Dhp, (Tanhavagga-19)
5. Angu, II-200.
6. På, 13. 2. 21.
7. Ibid.
8. Ibid, 4. 1. 49.
9. Ibid, 1..3. 75..
10. Ibid, 1. 3. 11.
11. According to Jaina traditions, this script was given by the first Tirthankara Rishabha to his daughter Brahmi,from whom it derived its name.
