Early South Indian Palaeography c11.55

c11.55

Literary works in classical Sanskrit such as epics, *smṛtis*, *kāvyas*, dramas and works dealing with polity, morals and technical subjects contain innumerable references to the art of writing in India. Though such of them as are posterior to the days of Aśoka may not be of much value as evidence of the earlier existence of writing in India, the Brahmanical literature of the country assignable to the period before the rise of Buddhism are of much value for a study of the problem of the antiquity of writing in India.