Elements of South-Indian Palæography, from the Fourth to the Seventeenth Century A.D. c4.24

c4.24

The word lipi (which occurs in a sūtra of Pāṇini—iii., 2, 21, corresponding to Çak. iv., 3, 132, *i. e.* divāvibhāniçāprabhābhāskarārushkartrantānantādināndilipibalicitraxetrajñaghābāhvahardhanurbhaktasankhyāt taḥ ||) is in some respects remarkable. The Açoka edict (where it first occurs) is called a dhammalipi and is said to be lekhitā or lekhāpitā. As in every case writing originally consisted of scratches or incisions on a hard substance (bricks were used in Assyria; bamboos in China, and stone in Egypt *primitively*), one would expect instead of a word from √() lip (=smear), a derivative of √() likh (=scratch); especially as the last is always used in India to express the act of writing on *any* substance (*e. g.* in the Mānavadharmaçāstra).