Indian Epigraphy: A Guide to the Study of Inscriptions in Sanskrit, Prakrit, and the Other Indo-Aryan Languages c7.s2.t6.16

c7.s2.t6.16

The significance of the anomalous consonant forms at Bhaṭṭiprōḷu is, however, still not entirely clear, especially in light of the prevailing uncertainty as to the date of the script; Bühler (EI 2, 325) tentatively dated the Bhaṭṭiprōḷu inscriptions at not later than 200 B.C., while Sircar (SI 224; cf. n. 5 there) places them at "about the end of the 2nd century B.C." These nonstandard consonant characters can hardly be dismissed as mere "mistakes" on the part of the engraver (so Dani, DIP 70), though Bühler (2.2.3.2.4) seems to have overemphasized their significance for the origin and history of Brāhmī. All in all, it seems more likely that the Bhaṭṭiprōḷu script represents a provincial offshoot of early Brāhmī in the south, rather than a separate line of development from a hypothetical Semitic prototype itself, as Bühler believed.