Indian Palaeography c13.2

c13.2

AŚOKAN Brāhmī, described in the last chapter, had a unity of purpose which ultimately determined the style of writing. That script, in spite of minor differences, can be termed imperial. In contrast to the Aśokan inscriptions stand a great number of records, which, except for the donative inscriptions of Daśaratha, the grandson of Aśoka, show a variety of purpose and are entirely different in content and style from the Aśokan. Whether we take the administrative records, like the Mahasthan inscription or the Sohgaura plate, or study the royal rescripts, like the Nanaghat or the Hathigumpha inscriptions, we are struck by the great change that marks them out from the Aśokan mode of expression. To these we must add the relic casket inscriptions found within the monumental stūpas which were to develop into great store-houses of stone sculptures bearing numerous gift records, and also the short epigraphs mentioning the excavation of caves found far away in the south—all due to the influence of the Buddhist (and very rarely Jaina) monks. Last but not the least is the writing found for the first time on coins, which no longer follow the old technique of punching, but are produced by the techniques of incuse stamping as in the Negama coins from Taxila, die-striking, and even casting. All these mark a great advance from the world of the Mauryas. The Mauryan standard no longer held good in this new context, but unfortunately the old palaeographers, for lack of better evidence, took Aśokan Brāhmī as the time-scale for dating all sorts of writing. This was evidently not valid for the vast subcontinent where the imperial hand was no longer the moving factor; and further, when we take into consideration the diffusion of technical knowledge, we have to bear in mind the question of time-lag from one region to another. It is not necessary to think of a universal standard of writing for the whole of India and Pakistan, nor should we expect the evolution from Aśokan Brāhmī to take place in all the regions in the same manner. Aśokan Brāhmī, as we know today, was the creation of the royal scribes, but the inscriptions included in this chapter are of many kinds—royal, popular, and individualistic. They follow different standards reducible into various regions on the basis of technical achievement, and hence the title of this chapter—The Provincial Brāhmī Scripts. The middle of the first century A.D. completes the incorporation of a new technique of writing that came in with the intrusion of the Śakas into the subcontinent.