Transcript BRAHMI SCRIPT DERIVATION, DECIPHERMENT & STUDY FROM INDIAN COINS Mahesh Kalra Asst. Prof. / Curator Dinesh Mody Institute for Numismatics & Archaeology.

BRAHMI SCRIPT
DERIVATION, DECIPHERMENT &
STUDY FROM INDIAN COINS
Mahesh Kalra
Asst. Prof. / Curator
Dinesh Mody Institute for
Numismatics & Archaeology
Epigraphy is the study of written matter recorded
on hard or durable material.
The term is derived from the Classical Greek
epigraphein (‘to write upon, incise’) and
epigraph (‘inscription’).
Palaeography (Palaeo ~ Old Graphis ~ write) is
the study of ancient scripts to decipher and
understand the writings of the people of the past
eras
In India, the presence of numerous ancient and
medieval inscriptions in stone, metal, objects
(seals, coins, copper plates) led the Indologists (a
group of interested European and Indian scholars)
to seek ways and means to decipher India’s
ancient and medieval scripts
Brahmi is the mother of most Indian and SouthEast Asian scripts which evolved during and after
the Mauryan era spreading through traders
travelling to these regions
Priorly, this script was tentatively called Indian
Pali script by Indologists (including James
Prinsep who finally deciphered it in 1837)
to differentiate it from Aramaic Pali (the name
given to Kharoshthi)
The name ‘Brahmi’ was given by Georg Buhler
(1870) who came across a list of ancient Indian
scripts listed in the tenth chapter of the ancient
Buddhist text, Lalitavistara (3rd century B.C.)
listing 64 Indian scripts under the Art of writing
Kavyagranthacharitram
The earliest examples of Brahmi script in the form of
Ashokan Edicts are etched out on pillars and rocks
found spread through the length and breadth of the
Indian sub-continent
 This aroused the curiosity of these scholars to decipher
this script to understand the History of various Indian
dynasties
 Brahmi was devised to write Sanskrit and Prakrit with
perfect co-ordination between phonetics and writing.
The Vedic people’s extraordinary care for reciting Vedic
hymns correctly led to the development of phonetics as
an important subject of study (called Shiksha, a
Vedanga). This same passion must have led to the
development of Brahmi in the late Vedic era.
 However, there are no Vedic era inscriptions in Brahmi

SITES OF ASHOKAN
INSCRIPTIONS
Other examples of Brahmi inscriptions are the
Girnar Inscription of Rudradaman I (Western
Kshatrapa ruler)
 Gupta inscriptions all over North and East India
 Satavahana inscriptions in Naneghat, Nashik,
etc.
 pre-Satavahana inscriptions in early Tamil
Brahmi in Nagarjunkonda, Bhatteprolu, etc.
 Buddhist inscriptions in Kanheri, Panduleni
(Nashik), Karle, etc. made it very attractive

GIRNAR INSCRIPTION OF ASHOKA


The earliest
attempt to decipher
Brahmi was by
Firuz Shah
Tughluq (r. 13551388) who
transported an
Ashokan pillar
from Topra to Delhi
by boat using
immense labour
However, much to
his surprise and
chagrin, the
learned Brahmins
of the day were
clueless about the
ancient script and
hence unable to
read the Pillar
Inscriptions
PIPRAWAHA VASE INSCRIPTION