Indian Palaeography from about B.C. 350 to about A.D. 1300 c6.s1.9

c6.s1.9

The story, according to which in particular the Indian script running from the left to the right is an invention of Brahmā (*Fan*), is told in full in the Chinese Buddhistic Fawanshulin.⁸ The two Jaina works mentioned above, and the Lalitavistara,⁹ indicate its existence by naming the most important script *bambhī* or *brāhmī*. These traditional statements make it advisable to adopt the designation *Brāhmī* for the characters in which the majority of the Aśoka edicts are written, and for their later developments.