Indian Epigraphy: A Guide to the Study of Inscriptions in Sanskrit, Prakrit, and the Other Indo-Aryan Languages c7.s5.t3.2

c7.s5.t3.2

Unlike in China or the Islamic world, in traditional India calligraphy did not achieve the level of a major art, which is not surprising in view of what has been said earlier (2.1.1, 2.5.1) about the relatively low status of the written word in India. Nonetheless, many specimens of calligraphic writing from various periods do survive in Indic inscriptions, and some of them demonstrate a very high degree of skill and artistry, although this aspect of Indian epigraphy and paleography has received little attention in scholarly writing.