On the Origin of the Indian Brahma Alphabet c6.43

c6.43

The other coins of the same period, struck outside the Panjab, show legends in Brāhmī, even that from Mathurā, op. cit. plate VIII, 1, in which town also a votive inscription in Brāhma characters of the third century (Reports Arch. Survey, Vol. XX, plate VI) has been found. Only in one case Kharoṣṭhī letters have turned up further south, but under circumstances, which do not allow the inference that the alphabet was generally used or known. This case occurs in the Siddāpur Edicts where the writer Paḍa has added at the end his qualification *lipikareṇa* 'the scribe' in Kharoṣṭhī characters. This looks like a joke or a boast, as if Paḍa, proud of his accomplishments, had been anxious to make it apparent that he knew more than the ordinary characters. And, as he was [48] in the royal service, it is not unlikely that he may have acquired a knowledge of the Kharoṣṭhī during a stay in a northern office, or may have been a Northerner by birth.¹