Indian Epigraphy: A Guide to the Study of Inscriptions in Sanskrit, Prakrit, and the Other Indo-Aryan Languages c7.s3.t4: 2.3.4 Paleographic features of Kharoṣṭhī
Indian Epigraphy: A Guide to the Study of Inscriptions in Sanskrit, Prakrit, and the Other Indo-Aryan Languages c7.s3.t4
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2.3.4 Paleographic features of Kharoṣṭhī
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Unlike Brāhmī and the many scripts derived from it, Kharoṣṭhī, alone among Indic scripts,¹⁴¹ is written from right to left. Unlike the highly symmetrical, “monumental” early Brāhmī script, Kharoṣṭhī has a cursive ductus which would seem to reflect an origin in a “clerk’s” script, written with pen and ink.¹⁴² The Kharoṣṭhī script also contrasts with Brāhmī in that it is top-oriented; that is, the distinctive features of each character tend to be at the top instead of at the bottom as in Brāhmī.
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¹⁴¹ Except for occasional examples of early Brāhmī inscriptions written from right to left; see 2.2.3.2.4.
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¹⁴² Cf. Bühler, OKA 49 = OIBA 97: “The Kharoṣṭhī alphabet is not a Pandit’s, but a clerk’s, alphabet.”
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As noted earlier (2.1.3), Kharoṣṭhī employs essentially the same diacritically modified consonantal syllabic system of Brāhmī and its derivatives, despite some important differences in detail. The script comprises a basic set of consonantal symbols with inherent *a*, “full” vowel signs used for word initial and non-postconsonantal vowels, and diacritic signs attached to the consonants to indicate postconsonantal vowels. The main difference in graphic principle between Brāhmī and Kharoṣṭhī is that the latter for the most part¹⁴³ does not differentiate long and short vowels. That is to say, the vowel signs, both full and diacritic, designate vowel quality but not quantity. For example, the same sign represents either *i* or *ī*, and the inherent postconsonantal vowel can be read as either *a* or *ā* (to be understood by context); thus [Figure:] = *ka* or *kā*; [Figure:] = *ki* or *kī*, and so on. The full or initial vowel signs further differ from those of Brāhmī in that they are all constructed from the basic vowel sign for *a* to which are affixed the postconsonantal vowel diacritics to form initial *i*, *u*, and so on; thus [Figure:] = initial *a*/*ā*, while [Figure:] = initial *i*/*ī*.
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¹⁴³ For the development in the later period of a system for differentiating vowel quantity in Kharoṣṭhī, see section 2.3.8.
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As in Brāhmī, the inherent vowel system necessitates the formation of consonantal conjuncts or ligatures, though the methods and details of their formation in Kharoṣṭhī are somewhat different and sometimes problematic. The basic principle is the same as that of Brāhmī, with the two or more consonants of a phonetic cluster joined graphically from top to bottom, with or without abbreviation of one of them.
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Some of the resulting conjuncts, for example, 𐨮𐨿𐨐 *ṣka* < 𐨮 *ṣa* + 𐨐 *ka*, are self-evident, but many others involve alterations of the constituent parts to the point that they may become unrecognizable. As in later forms of Brāhmī and its derivatives (see 2.2.5.2), *ra* (which is especially common in Kharoṣṭhī texts, since the Gāndhārī language tends to retain it in consonantal groups; see 3.1.2.3 and 3.1.4.2.1) develops special forms for both pre- and postconsonantal position: for example, 𐨪 *ra* + 𐨬 *va* > 𐨪𐨿𐨬 *rva*; 𐨬𐨿𐨪 = *vra*. Similarly (and again as in Brāhmī),¹⁴⁴ postconsonantal *ya* has a special form, as in 𐨯𐨿𐨩 *sya*.
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Other consonantal combinations, particularly those involving stops and sibilants, are also prone to take special and often obscure forms in Kharoṣṭhī, for instance, 𐨯 *sa* + 𐨟 *ta* > 𐨯𐨿𐨟 *sta*. Some special consonantal signs are problematic in that both their graphic constituents and their phonetic value are uncertain, notably the common character 𐨲, which regularly corresponds to Sanskrit *kṣa*¹⁴⁵ but which can hardly be derived from a graphic combination of 𐨐 *ka* and 𐨮 *ṣa*; Dani (DIP 259) considers it a reduction of 𐨖 *cha*, while Rapson (KI III.320 n. 3) suggests a connection with 𐨮 *ṣa*. Thus it is not at all certain that Kharoṣṭhī characters of this type are really conjuncts in the standard sense of the term; they may have arisen from modifications of single consonants, or may have been created ad hoc