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Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v1.c8.s2.t5: Brahmi Script

Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v1.c8.s2.t5

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English

Brahmi Script

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Brāhmī lipi (梵寐书) was one of the earliest scripts of ancient India to be found in Ashokan Pillar inscriptions of 3^rd century BCE. It had several varieties that evolved into other scripts such as Siddham, Nagari and Devanagari which were then widely in use. The Arabian scholar Al-Biruni recorded in his book of India that multiple scripts were used in different areas of India in the 11^th century CE. According to him, Brāhmī script was then in use to write many languages and was popular on the Silk Road. The so-called Tocharian and Khotan Saka language were written in Brāhmī script of the middle Asian italic type.

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It has been recorded in the 10^th chapter titled *Displaying of Books* of the fourth volume of *Lalitavistara Sutra* that as per the knowledge of Bodhisattvas there were then 64 scripts of different forms. The concerned book has been translated by an Indian monk, Divakara, in the middle of the Tang Dynasty. The Brāhmī (fan-mei) *lipi* in Sanskrit was reckoned as the first form of the script. Its transliteration in Chinese was 'fan-mei' (梵寐). Another Indian monk, Dharmaraksa, translated another version of *Lalitavistara Sutra* during the western Jin dynasty. The seventh chapter titled *Appearing Books* was to be found in the third volume of the same *Lalitavistara Sutra*, that recorded the names of 64 scripts and the first kind of the 'Brahmana script' corresponded with 'Brāhmī script'. There are two important

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Brahmi script on the Ashokan stone pillar

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sources that have reference to the names of Indian speech sounds which must be mentioned. First, the concerned chapter titled *Learning of Techniques* in the 11^th volume of *Abhiniskramanasūtra* translated by Indian Tripitaka master in the Sui Dynasty, listed the names of the 64 scripts and the book of annotations titled the *Present Brahmana preached by Brahma* covered all the sounds (pronunciation) of all the scripts in 14 words. Second, the biography of Zhu Shihang found in *Biographies of Eminent Monks* authored by Hui Jiao of the Liang dynasty records that Zhu Shihang arrived in Khotan (Yutian) in the 5ᵗʰ year of Gan-lu of the Wei Dynasty (260 CE).

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Another monk, Shi Sengyou, pointed out in the fourth chapter titled *Records on Sound and Meaning of Sutras with similarities and difference* that there were three makers of scripts in ancient China and India. They were Brahma, Kharosthi and Cang Jie. Brahma and Kharosthi lived in India and the scripts created by them 'explained *dharma* in the Pure Land', and were called Brahmi and Kharosthi script.

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[Figure: Dunhuang Brahmi script, fragment of *‘Pratītya-samutpāda-sūtra (Yuan qi jing/Sutra on Conditioned Arising)’*]

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Brahmi script meant Brāhmī *lipi* here and it was written from left to right, while Kharosthi script was from right to left. The two differed from Chinese which was written from top to bottom. Further, the volume numbering 51, *Abhidharma-mahavibhasa-sastra* which was written by Kātyāyani-putra, interpreted by 500 Arhats and translated by Indian monk Buddhavarman and Dao Tai in the Northern Liang Dynasty recorded that the Brāhmī script was made by Govindara Brahman. *The Book of the Sui Dynasty: Records of Sutras* gives reference about 'One Volume of Brahmi Script' which was the basic teaching material to learn Sanskrit. Many relics written in Brāhmī script have been transmitted to the areas of north-west China. In 1943, Xiang Da found a piece of broken stone of sutra pillar of India in Dunhuang area. The Indian scholar Professor V V Gokhale thought that it was the fragment of Pratītyasamutpādasūtra written in Brāhmī script in the middle of the 5ᵗʰ century. Similar relics or literature related to the Brāhmī script had played a great role in the propagation of Indian language and culture beyond the borders of the Western Region.

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(*Chen Ming*)

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