Indian Epigraphy: A Guide to the Study of Inscriptions in Sanskrit, Prakrit, and the Other Indo-Aryan Languages c7.s2.t2.9

c7.s2.t2.9

While the name Brāhmī for the ancient Indian national script is no doubt in a general sense correct, it should be kept in mind that we do not really know precisely what form or derivative of the script the authors of the early script lists were referring to as “Brāhmī,” nor whether this term was actually applied to the script used in the time of Aśoka.⁴¹ The name Brāhmī is thus used loosely, as a matter of convenience, by modern scholars to refer to the Aś method [as Cunningham’s] may establish anything, or—nothing.”⁴⁵ Other early speculative theories attributed the origin of Brāhmī in the protohistoric period to various “races,” such as the Dravidians⁴⁶ or the “enlightened Aryans.”⁴⁷