Indian Palaeography from about B.C. 350 to about A.D. 1300 c11.s3.1

c11.s3.1

Though the oldest Indian alphabet is a creation of the Brahmanical schoolmen (see above, page 17), and though the instruction in writing has remained even in recent times chiefly in the hands of Brahmans, there are yet indications that professional writers, and perhaps even castes of professional writers, existed already at an early period. The oldest name of these men is *lekhaka*, used in the canon of the Southern Buddhists and the epics (see above, page 5). In the Sāñci inscription, Stūpa I, No. 143,⁵ it is clearly used to designate the profession of the donor; it may, however, be doubted if it means, as I have translated it, "copyist of MSS." or "writer, clerk." In various later inscriptions,⁶ *lekhaka* undoubtedly denotes the person who prepared the documents to be incised on copper or stone. But in the present day a *lekhak* is always a man who copies MSS., and this profession is usually the resource of poor Brahmans, and sometimes of worn-out clerks (Kāyasths, Kārkūns). Such men were, and are, employed also by the Jainas. But many Jaina MSS. have been copied, as their Praśastis show, by monks or novices, and even by nuns. Similarly, we find, among the copyists of the Bauddha MSS. from Nepāl, Bhikṣus, Vajrācāryas and so forth.⁷