Indian Epigraphy: A Guide to the Study of Inscriptions in Sanskrit, Prakrit, and the Other Indo-Aryan Languages c7.s3.t1.31

c7.s3.t1.31

Thus, while the Kharoṣṭhī script developed and remained concentrated in the Gāndhāra region, it also spread over a wide area within and far beyond the immediately adjoining portions of modern Pakistan and Afghanistan. The spread of Kharoṣṭhī was no doubt promoted by its use by the Indo-Scythian rulers, and especially by the Kuṣāṇa kings, who seem to have been responsible for its introduction into the north Indian heartland on the one hand and Bactria on the other. The expansion of Kharoṣṭhī was also intimately connected with the spread of Buddhism under the patronage of the aforementioned rulers, as is indicated by the content of the inscriptions from outlying regions such as Bactria and China; these inscriptions, mostly dedicatory and memorial in content, are often hardly distinguishable in form from similar inscriptions from India, and presumably reflect the presence of Gāndhārī-speaking Indian monks in the Buddhist monasteries of these places.