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Vol-1, XXIX
THE INDIAN SCRIPTS
The Brāhmi Script
The earliest records of Indian epigraphy have been inscribed in the Brāhmi and Kharosthi scripts. The rock edicts of Mauryan King Asoka have been inscribed in Brāhmi script. His shahabazagadhi and Manasehra versions are inscribed in the Kharosthi.
A number of theories have been propounded to trace the origin of the Brāhmi script :
1. The theories which regard the Brāhmi script of indigenous origin and
2. The theories which trace the origin of the Brāhmi script to some foreign
source.
3.
The theories of indigenous origin :
(a) Dravidians Origin : Edward Thomas and other scholars maintained that
the Dravidians were responsible for the invention of the Brāhmi characters, which were borrowed by the Aryans. This supposition is basically wrong, as the original habitat of the Dravidians was in the South and the original home of the Aryans was in northern India. The earliest specimens of writing are found in northern India, the original home of the Aryans and not in the South, the native place of the Dravidians. 11
(b) Aryan or Vedic Origin :
General Cunningham, Dowson, Lassen etc. held the view that the Aryan priests developed the Brāhmi alphabet from indigenous Indian hieroglyphics.12 Unless the phonetic values of the Indus script are exactly fixed, nothing certain regarding its bearing on the Brāhmi character can be said. But it is quite possible to derive some of the Brāhmi characters from some of the signs of the Indus valley script.13
(2) The theories advocating foreign Origin: (a) Greek origin : Otfried Müeller, James Prinsep, Raoul de Rochette, Emile
Senart, Goblet d'Alviella, Joseph Halevy, Wilson etc. were of the opinion that the Brāhmi script was derived from the Greek alphabet. But Bühler thinks, it is a priori improbable theory, as there is no doubt that the Greek
