Indian Palaeography c12.s2.5

c12.s2.5

Another term for engraving found in literature is *chhindati*, from the root *chhid*, meaning 'to cut'. These two verbs together describe the whole process of engraving. There were two stages: the first was the writing of the inscription on the stone by a *lipikara*, and the second was the actual work of cutting the letters on the stone. The former was done by a literate man, but the latter was the work of a stone-cutter who was probably illiterate, judging from the way he blindly followed the long wavy lines of the writer. The letters were cut by chiselling along the lines drawn by the writer, but the chiseller did not always follow the same process of forming the letters as was done by the writer. The writer, of course, was responsible for the shape and the style of the letters, but the chiseller made slight variations; e.g. while cutting the letter *ya* he might begin with [Figure:] or [Figure:], and then add the second hook as [Figure:] or [Figure:]. These variations do not make any fundamental difference in the actual form of the letters. The very technique of engraving implies such variations. But it is important to note that the engraver's part was secondary in the Aśokan inscriptions. It was the writer who dictated the style of writing.