Indian Palaeography from about B.C. 350 to about A.D. 1300 c7.s1: § 6. — How it was deciphered
Indian Palaeography from about B.C. 350 to about A.D. 1300 c7.s1
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§ 6. — How it was deciphered
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The Indian alphabet running from right to left, the *Kharoṣṭhī lipi*,¹ has been deciphered exclusively by European scholars, among whom MASSON, J. PRINSEP, CH. LASSEN, E. NORRIS, and A. CUNNINGHAM must be particularly mentioned.² The coins of the Indo-Grecian and Indo-Scythian kings with Greek and Prākrit inscriptions furnished the first clue to the value of the letters. The results, which the identifications of the royal names and titles seemed to furnish, were partly confirmed, partly rectified and enlarged, by the discovery of the Shāhbāzgarhī version of the Aśoka edicts and E. C. BAYLEY’S Kāngrā inscription in Brāhmī and Kharoṣṭhī. The characters of the Aśoka edicts are readable with full certainty, with the exception of a few ligatures (see below, § 11, C, 3, 4). Similarly, the inscriptions of the Sakas offer no difficulties, and the new MS. of the Dhammapada from Khotan³ is in general not difficult to read. But considerable portions of the inscriptions of the Parthian Guduphara and of the Kuṣana kings Kaniṣka and Huviṣka, still resist the attempts of decipherers and interpreters.
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¹ Regarding the name, see § 1 above, and B.IS. III², 113 f.
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² P.IA. 1, 178—185; 2, 128—143; W.AA. 242 ff.; J.ASB. 23, 714; C.ASR. 1, VIII; Centenary Review 2, 69—81; C.CIS. 3 ff.; SENART, IP. 1, 22 ff.; ZDMG. 43, 129 ff.
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³ See the next paragraph.
Linked texts (1)
- Dhammapada — Pāli