Indian Palaeography c8.31

c8.31

From these palaeographers we have inherited large numbers of charts illustrating different characters, elaborate descriptions of the different forms of letters, and information about the time when such forms first appear in writing. It is from the accurate recording of this that the date of an epigraph is determined. Bühler went a step further in tracing the origin and development of the regional scripts. He divided even Aśokan Brāhmī into northern and southern groups and talked of a separate 'Drāviḍī' script, especially in connexion with the Bhattiprolu inscriptions. This classification has been accepted until now, and Dr. Vimalananda in his thesis took it for granted. But C. S. Upasak, in his detailed study of Mauryan Brāhmī, has for the first time challenged the validity of such a classification. His method rests again on the formal comparison of the signs, but by his detailed analysis he has found that no particular forms are exclusive to the northern or the southern areas.