Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v1.c8.s2.t5.7

v1.c8.s2.t5.7

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.