Indian Palaeography from about B.C. 350 to about A.D. 1300 c6.s2.t3: C. — Foreign Works

Indian Palaeography from about B.C. 350 to about A.D. 1300 c6.s2.t3

Language: English

C. — Foreign Works

c6.s2.t3.1

To the last quarter of the fourth century B. C. refer the statement of Nearchos,¹ according to which the Hindus wrote letters on well beaten cotton cloth, and the note of Q. Curtius,² which mentions the tender inner bark of trees as serving the same purpose, and clearly points to the early utilisation of the well known birch bark. The fact that, according to these two writers, two different *indigenous* Indian materials were used in B. C. 327—325, shows that the art of writing was then generally known and was nothing new. To a slightly later time belongs the fragment No. 36 *a* of Megasthenes,³ which speaks of mile-stones indicating the distances and the halting places on the high roads. In another often discussed passage,⁴ Megasthenes says that the Indians decided judicial cases according to unwritten laws, and adds in explanation that they knew no γράμματα and settled everything ἀπὸ μνήμης. According to the now usual interpretation, this statement has been caused by a misunderstanding. Megasthenes took the term *smṛti*, used by his informants, in the sense of μνήμη, “memory,” while they meant it in the sense of “the sacred tradition concerning law,” or “the lawbooks,” which, according to Indian principles, can only be explained orally by one who knows the Dharma.

Linked texts (2)

Historiae Alexandri Magni — Q. Curtius Rufus, Latin
Ἰνδικά — Μεγασθένης, Ancient Greek

Indian Palaeography from about B.C. 350 to about A.D. 1300 c6.s2.t3: C. — Foreign Works

C. — Foreign Works

c6.s2.t3.1

c6.s2.t3.2

c6.s2.t3.3

c6.s2.t3.4

c6.s2.t3.5

Linked texts (2)