Indian Epigraphy: A Guide to the Study of Inscriptions in Sanskrit, Prakrit, and the Other Indo-Aryan Languages c7.s2.t6.2

c7.s2.t6.2

After the Mauryan period, Brāhmī script began to undergo its gradual process of evolution (see tables 2.3 and 2.4). But, with the exception of the Bhaṭṭiprōḷu and early Tamil scripts (to be discussed shortly), the changes are at first mostly minor, so that Brāhmī of the first century B.C. is still not markedly different in appearance from its Mauryan predecessor. Nonetheless, certain of the formal evolutions first noted in this period (especially in the latter half thereof), such as the development of rudimentary head marks and the equalization of the vertical portions of certain letters, are important in prefiguring more radical formal changes which are to appear in the following centuries.