Indian Epigraphy: A Guide to the Study of Inscriptions in Sanskrit, Prakrit, and the Other Indo-Aryan Languages c7.s2.t3.38

c7.s2.t3.38

Finally, there is the much discussed matter of the direction of writing. In support of his argument for a Semitic derivation, Bühler cited an early coin from Eraṇ bearing a Brāhmī legend running from right to left instead of the normal direction as a remnant of "a period during which the Brāhma characters were written in both directions" (OIBA 45), that is, of a transitional phase in the reversal of the original direction of writing of the Semitic prototype. This particular piece of evidence has been rejected by several scholars⁸¹ on the grounds that reversed coin legends are not at all uncommon from various periods and regions. However, some more recent discoveries, such as the Erraguḍi Aśokan rock edicts written in semiboustrophedon,⁸² have again raised the possibility that Brāhmī might sometimes have been written from right to left in the early phase of its development. The several early Brāhmī cave inscriptions from Sri Lanka written from right to left⁸³ could also