Indian Epigraphy c9.t2.3

c9.t2.3

Q. Curtius seems to refer to the Indian practice of writing on birch bark when he says that, at the time of Alexander’s invasion, the Indians used the tender bark of tree for writing.² A synonym of *bhūrja* is *lekhana*, i.e. ‘writing’ or ‘a written document’, while it is also recognised in the sense of other words meaning ‘a written document’. The use of birch bark is supposed to have started in the north-west, although copper plates of the central, eastern and western regions of India, cut to the shape of birch-bark sheets, suggests the spread of the custom in early times. In North India, letters were generally written on birch-bark sheets.