Indian Epigraphy: A Guide to the Study of Inscriptions in Sanskrit, Prakrit, and the Other Indo-Aryan Languages c7.s3.t2.1

c7.s3.t2.1

The Kharoṣṭhī script first appears in inscriptions in the Shāhbāzgaṛhī and Mānsehrā rock edicts of Aśoka, datable to the middle of the third century B.C. In these early records the script appears as a more or less fully developed system, which may be taken to indicate a significant prehistory. But it is difficult to estimate how long such a presumed developmental period might have taken, though it is likely on historical and paleographic grounds (see 2.3.6) that Kharoṣṭhī originated sometime during the Achaemenian era.¹³² Bühler (OKA 50 = OIBA 98) was inclined on paleographic grounds to date the origin of Kharoṣṭhī to the earlier phase of this period, that is, around the beginning of the fifth century B.C., but in view of uncertainties about the details of his proposed Aramaic derivation (see 2.3.6), Bühler's early dating can be accepted only provisionally at best. On the other hand, late dates such as ca. 330 B.C. proposed by Halévy¹³³ or after 325 B.C. suggested by Falk¹³⁴ are problematic, especially if, as seems most likely, the *lipi* referred to by Pāṇini is Kharoṣṭhī (2.1.2). In short, there is no clear evidence to allow us to specify the date of the origin of Kharoṣṭhī with any more precision than sometime in the fourth, or possibly the fifth, century B.C.