Early South Indian Palaeography c11.t7: vii. The Bhaṭṭiprolu Relic-casket Draviḍi Inscriptions

Early South Indian Palaeography c11.t7

Language: English

vii. The Bhaṭṭiprolu Relic-casket Draviḍi Inscriptions

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These inscriptions engraved on the relic caskets found at Bhaṭṭiprolu⁶⁴ in the Brāhmī script of the Drāviḍi type are unique. Bühler who has edited them in the *Epigraphia Indica* assigns to them a date slightly earlier than the period of Aśoka.⁶⁵

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⁶⁴ In the Krishna District of Andhra Pradesh.

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⁶⁵ *Ep. Ind.*, Vol. II, pp. 323 ff.; D. C. Sircar, *op. cit.*, Vol. I, pp. 215. ff.

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Scholars who are unwilling or hesitant to assign high antiquity to the art of writing in India mainly base their conclusions on the *argumentum ex silentium*, ignoring some of the literary references to it cited above giving later dates to some others. But one thing they cannot ignore, namely the internal evidence furnished by the inscriptions of Aśoka. They are engraved on rocks, pillars of stone or the walls of caves in the then main scripts of the country, Brāhmī and Kharoṣṭhi, and distributed over a wide area throughout the length and breadth of the country from the Himalayas in the north to Siddhapura, Yerraguḍi and Rājulamandagiri (roughly a little to the south of the Tungabhadrā) in the south and from Girnar in the Kathiawar in the west to Dhauli and Jaugadha in the east. A study of the palaeography of these records indicates the following characteristics.

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i. The majority of the letters in these inscriptions have different forms, which must have developed under varying conditions in different regions, and periods by different peoples. For instance, the letter *A* vowel alone has more than ten forms (Bühler).

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ii. At least two main varieties of scripts, northern and southern are noticed, though other regional varieties are also traceable.

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iii. Again it is seen that each letter has two forms, the monumental (generally angular and carved with due attention being paid to its aesthetic aspect) and the cursive (with a tendency to the formation of curves as in ordinary writing). This would be possible only when the letters had been in use for a long time to enable them to be easily recognised and identified.

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iv. Some letters show advanced forms indicating that they were changing in their basic forms in the course of their evolution.

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Bühler says: "The existence of so many local varieties, and of so very numerous cursive forms proves in any case that writing had a long history in Aśoka's time and that the alphabet was then in a state of transition."⁶⁶ Several centuries should have elapsed for the development of the several varieties of scripts to be used in the inscriptions of the period of Aśoka. Aśoka himself says that he was engraving his edict on stone so that it may last long.⁶⁷ This implies that writing was then made on perishable materials also. Further the Mauryan Emperor prescribed a number of religious texts for daily use and recital by monks and laity alike.⁶⁸ These works, it is certain, were not engraved on stone but written on common materials such as leaves, barks or paper which were all frail and perishable. The use of such perishable material also explains why specimens of earlier writing are not found in the country. The few specimens so far recovered are only either on stone or metal which will not easily perish. Further it is the practice to discard old manuscripts after they are copied afresh for future generation. By this process even the script would be changed, only the one prevailing at the time of copying being used.

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⁶⁶ *Ind. Ant.*, XXXIII, App. p. 8.

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⁶⁷ Rock Edict II, Khalsi.

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⁶⁸ Bhabru Edict.

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The system of education that obtained in ancient India laid emphasis on learning direct from the teachers by mouth personally, thus memorising the text.⁶⁹ The Vedas had to be pronounced correctly and it was believed that incorrect pronunciation would kill the *Yajamān*. This could be achieved only by oral learning direct from a teacher qualified for the same. Even in secular literature memorising of the texts was considered necessary. These do not, however, mean that written texts were not used at all, as will be evident from the view of Bṛhaspati referred to earlier.

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⁶⁹ Ṛg. Veda, VII, 103. 5.

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Bothling in his English introduction to the edition of the *Mānavakalpa Sūtra* prepared by Goldstucker says that in his opinion, though writing was not used for the propagation of literature (which was done orally) it was employed at the time of composing new works.⁷⁰ The mention in the *Mahabharata* that Gaṇeśa wrote the text to the dictation of the author Vyāsa as he went on composing is quite in conformity with the above. Roth was strongly of the opinion that the art of writing must have been known very early in India for works like the *Pratiśakhyas* of the Vedas could not be composed without its help.⁷¹ Bühler himself says: "there is nothing to bar the conjecture, repeatedly put forward that even during the Vedic period manuscripts were used as auxiliaries both in oral instruction and on other occasions. An argument in favour of this conjecture, it is now possible to adduce the indisputable fact that the Brāhmī alphabet has been formed by phonologists or grammarians and for scientific use''.⁷²