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Indian Epigraphy: A Guide to the Study of Inscriptions in Sanskrit, Prakrit, and the Other Indo-Aryan Languages c7.s5.t4: 2.5.4 Biscript inscriptions

Indian Epigraphy: A Guide to the Study of Inscriptions in Sanskrit, Prakrit, and the Other Indo-Aryan Languages c7.s5.t4

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2.5.4 Biscript inscriptions

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Biscript inscriptions, that is, those written in the same language repeated in different scripts, are found occasionally in various periods, though they are much less common than bilingual inscriptions (see 3.6). In the northwest, inscriptions were occasionally written in both Brāhmī and Kharoṣṭhī scripts, for instance, the Kanhiāra and Pāṭhyār inscriptions (CII 2.1, 178–9).²²⁸ Another Brāhmī/Kharoṣṭhī biscript has recently been discovered in Mathurā (EI 40, 168–9). Inscribed seals often have legends in both Brāhmī and Kharoṣṭhī (e.g., CII 2.1, 100, no. 2; 102, no. 11); one seal in the British Museum has the name of the owner in these two scripts and in Greek as well (JRAS 1905, 809–13).

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²²⁸ See also J. Ph. Vogel, “Two Brahmi and Kharoshthi Rock-Inscriptions in the Kangra Valley,” EI 7, 1902–3, 116–9.

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FIGURE 2. Shell character (*Śaṅkhalipi*) inscription from Siddha kī guphā, Deogaṛh (Lalitpur Dist., UP). Photograph courtesy of Michael D. Willis.

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Biscripts are also sometimes found among later inscriptions; these typically involve a combination of a local form or derivative of Brāhmī and a more widely used script such as Devanāgarī. A well-known example is the Paṭṭadakal pillar inscription of the time of the Cālukya king Kīrttivarman II (A.D. 754; EI 3, 1–7; see 2.2.5.4), with the full text given in both northern Indian Siddhamātṛkā and in the current local southern (proto-Telugu-Kannada) script. In other cases, such as the Kāṅgrā Jvālāmukhī *praśasti* (EI 1, 190–5), part of the inscription is written in the local script (Śāradā) and the rest in Devanāgarī.

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