Age of the Nandas and Mauryas c11.s21.16

c11.s21.16

There are thus thirty-three Aśoka inscriptions of varying length and importance, many of them available in different versions. The language of the inscriptions is Māgadhi, the official language of the royal chancery at Pāṭaliputra ; only some versions, particularly those of Girnār and Shābazgarhi, exhibit certain not very important indications of the influence of local dialectical variations.¹ The inscriptions in Shābazgarhi and Mānsehrā are in the Kharoṣṭhi alphabet written from right to left; at the end of the inscriptions in the Mysore state the word *lipikareṇa* is also found written in Kharoṣṭhi ; otherwise all the Aśoka inscriptions except the Laghman fragments are written in one variety or other of the Brāhmī script. At Yerraguḍi, the Minor Rock Edict is found written partly in the boustrophedon style, that is alternately from left to right and vice-versa¹.