Indian Epigraphy c14.s1.10

c14.s1.10

The earliest epigraphs in Nepal are the Rummindei and Nigali Sagar pillar inscriptions of the Maurya emperor Aśoka (3rd century B.C.) written in the Early Brāhmī alphabet and Prakrit language.² Early Licchavi epigraphs like the Changunarayan pillar inscription (464 A.D.) of Mānadeva are written in Sanskrit and the Late Brāhmī of East India, while the characters of the Sanskrit records of the later members of the Licchavi family are Siddhamātṛkā.³ Though most of the early medieval records of Nepal belonging to later dates, both epigraphic and literary, are written in Gauḍīya or the East Indian derivative of Siddhamātṛkā, some Buddhist manuscripts are written in Bhaikṣukī, while Buddhist Dhāraṇīs, etc., in Sanskrit were often written in a derivative of the Siddhamātṛkā alphabet called Rañjā or Rañjanā which was also used for that purpose in Tibet.⁴ The Tibetan alphabet itself is a slightly modified form of Siddhamātṛkā. Buddhist Dhāraṇīs were written in China and Japan in the Siddhamātṛkā alphabet till quite recent times.