On the Origin of the Indian Brahma Alphabet c5.43

c5.43

Three other cases, mentioned respectively in the Kurudhamma Jātaka,¹ the Tesakuna Jātaka and the Sambhava Jātaka are again different.² All three stories narrate, how particularly valued moral maxims were engraved on gold-plates apparently in order that they might [11] not be forgotten. In the first the inscription records at the king's command the Kurudhamma, the law of the Kurus, which is identical with the five great precepts, imposed by all Indian religions on laymen, ‘Not to slay, not to steal, not to commit adultery, not to lie, not to drink intoxicating drinks.’ According to the second story the future Buddha caused the *vinicchayadhamma* “the maxims concerning righteous judgment and the behaviour of kings”, which he had preached, to be perpetuated in the same way.³ In addition to these testimonies for the use of writing the Kaṭāhaka Jātaka, already quoted, gives a hint regarding the existence of writing-schools and the manner in which writing was taught in ancient India. But, this had be better reserved for a fuller discussion of that subject.