Indian Palaeography from about B.C. 350 to about A.D. 1300 c11.s3.5

c11.s3.5

Another name of the professional writers, which was used already in the 4th century B.C., is the word *lipikara* or *libikara*, discussed above, page 5. In the Koṣas⁸ it is given as a synonym of *lekhaka*, and in the Vāsavadattā⁹ it means "writer" in general. Aśoka uses it in the 14th rock edict as a designation of his clerks. Similarly, Paḍa, who copied the Siddāpura edicts, calls himself *lipikara*, and in the Sāñci inscription, Stūpa I, No. 49,¹⁰ the donor Subāhita-Gotiputa takes the higher title *rājalipikara*, "a writer of the king." In the earlier times, *lipikara* probably was an equivalent for "clerk."