On the Origin of the Indian Brahma Alphabet c8.5

c8.5

In addition, Sir A. Cunningham has shown that the Kharoṣṭhī held always a secondary position and was used even in the earliest times side by side with the Brāhmī. This is proved by the evidence of his coins from Taxila, several of which bear only Brāhma inscriptions or Kharoṣṭhī and Brāhma inscriptions, with letters of the type of Aśoka's Edicts. The analysis of the legends, which I have given ante p. 48 f., shows that those of four types have been issued by traders' guilds and that one is probably a tribal [46] coin, belonging to a subdivision of the Aśvakas or Assakenoi, who occupied portions of the western bank of the Indus at the time of Alexander's invasion. This result considerably strengthens Sir A. Cunningham's position, as it of the Edicts and of its derivatives *dipati* "he writes" and *dipapati* "he causes to write", which are not found in any other Indian language. *Dipi* is undoubtedly as Dr.