Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v1.c8.s3.t1.1

v1.c8.s3.t1.1

*Scripts* found in another version of *Lalitavistara Sutra* (volume four) translated by another monk named Divakara refers to 64 scripts as the first type, and the second of its kind was the Kharoùñhī *lipi* corresponding to Kharosthi script. The 11ᵗʰ volume of *Abhiniskramanasūtra* translated by an Indian monk during the Sui Dynasty lists names of 64 scripts and the annotations made about this mentions Kharosthi *lipi* as the second type and it was termed as donkey lip (lu-chun) language of the Sui Dynasty. As for Fairy Saint Kharoùñhī mentioned in volume 41 of *Mahavaipulya-mahasanni-pata-sutra*, it has been translated by Indian Tripitaka Narendrayasas with an annotation on translation talks of the donkey lip language of the Sui Dynasty. This shows that the free translation of Kharosthi or Kharoùñhī is donkey lip. It has been recorded in volume 42 of the *Abhidharma-mahavibhasa-sastra* that Brāhmī script was ranked before Kharosthi script and people usually learned the Kharosthi script after studying the Brāhmī script. This work has been written by Kātyāyani-putra with necessary interpretation by 500 arhats and the same has been translated by Indian monk Buddhavarman and Dao Tai of the Northern Liang Dynasty. Further mention has been made in volume 67 of Hui Lin's *Sounds and Meanings of All Sutras* that it shall be called Kharoùñhī, meaning the script of broader area people of the north. The entry of Kharosthi in volume 5 of Fa Yun's *Collection of Terms* offers the same explanation saying that Kharoùñhī or Kharosthi meant script of Bianchu people in the north. The script was mainly used to spell northwestern dialects such as Gandhari in India. It was quite popular all throughout the Silk Road, especially in the areas including Niya in Xinjiang of China till the closing decades of the 6ᵗʰ century CE. It was one of the common scripts on the Silk Road at that time and was also used to spell the languages such as Sanskrit and Tocharian.