Science and Art of Calligraphy and Painting

Author(s): S Andhare
Publisher: Indian National Science Academy

Page 24

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Kharoshti, Brahmi and other scripts
A brief historical survey of religions in India reveals that there were three main civilizations flourishing since ancient times. The first being the Jain oral tradition, the second being the Buddhist, and the third, as Vedic. Of the three, the first two seem to have nurtured the growth of writing and developing the script more than the third one.
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According to Oza', it was the Vedic script which must have been the most ancient, but we are ignorant about its evolution and progress. However, looking to the available visual and textual data on the scripts and inscriptions in India, it becomes evident that the antiquity of Indian script could go back to ca. 5th cent. B.C. if not earlier.
The Buddhist text of Lalitavistara2 mentions a long list of 64 scripts, in which the Brahmi and Kharosthi are mentioned as first and second. As per Jain tradition, Bhagwan Rishabhadev3 had taught his daughter Brahmi, (the knowledge of writing the script). Since that time this script is known as Brahmi.
In the ancient period only Brahmi and Kharosthi were popular. The former was written from the left to right while the latter was written from the right to the left. It was mentioned as 1. G. H. Oza: "Bharatiya Prachin Lipimala" (Hindi), III ed. Delhi, 1979
2. Lalitavistara, Ch. 10 gives the list of 64 scripts at p.17 but mentions that most of the name are imaginary.
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3. Muni Punyavijayji "भारतीय जैन श्रमण संस्कृति अने लेखन कला'' साराभाई नवाब, अमदाबाद 1950 P. 4 (आवश्यक नियुक्ति भाष्य गाथा - 93 )