Indian Palaeography c12.s2.1

c12.s2.1

Rock engravings of about this period and of slightly later date¹ have been discovered in India at several places. Here the figures are drawn by scratching. But the technique of the engraving of the Aśokan inscriptions was far in advance of these. We find the technical terms *lipikara* or *dipikara*, derived from the original Achaemenian *dipi* and used with the verb *likhite* or *lekhite*, from the root *likh*, ‘to draw’ or ‘to write’. In the Shahbazgarhi R.E.² the verb used is *nipistaṁ* or *nipesitaṁ*, formed from the root *ni-pis*, equivalent to the modern Persian *navishtan*, also meaning ‘to write’. Hence the word *lipikara* or *dipikara* is taken to mean ‘writer’. Bühler translates it as ‘clerk’. These terms from the Aśokan inscriptions do not explain the complete process involved in engraving on stone. But it is significant that the emphasis was laid on ‘writing’, because the writer’s part was of primary importance.³