Life in Ancient India as Depicted in the Jain Canons, with Commentaries: An Administrative, Economic, Social and Geographical Survey c13.s1.t2: Brāhmī and Kharoṣṭrī Scripts
Life in Ancient India as Depicted in the Jain Canons, with Commentaries: An Administrative, Economic, Social and Geographical Survey c13.s1.t2
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Brāhmī and Kharoṣṭrī Scripts
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Brāhmī and Kharoṣṭrī are the two most important scripts mentioned in the Jain and Buddhist texts.¹⁵ The former was written from left to right and the latter from right to left. The Kharoṣṭrī alphabet was introduced overland into the extreme north west of India about 500 B.C. and was used locally in Gandhāra. Later on, gradually Kharoṣṭrī disappeared from India and was replaced by Brāhmī from which all other alphabets used in India have evolved. Buhler has adopted the designation Brāhmī for the characters in which the majority of the Asoka edicts are written. According to him, the Brāhmī alphabet has been formed by phonologist or grammarians for scientific use.¹⁶
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¹⁵ The Lalitavistara (p 125f) mentions sixty four livis, the first two being Brāhmī and Kharoṣṭrī
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¹⁶ Ojha, op cit pp. 17-36, 1, 4, Rhys Davids, Buddhist India, p 124.
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In Jain texts Bambhī occupies the first and fundamental place in the enumeration of the eighteen livis to which homage is paid in the beginning of the Bhagavai.¹⁷ According to the Samavāyāṅga, Bāmblī livi comprises forty six māyakkharas (mātrkāsaras) or the original letters excluding four liquid vowels, viz. Ṛ (ऋ), Ṝ (ॠ), ḷ (ऌ), Ḹ (ॡ), and L (ळ).¹⁸
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¹⁷ According to Muni Punyavijayaji, it commemorates the fact that the Jain Āgamas were first written in the Brāhmī script, op cit, p 5
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¹⁸ Dr Gaurishankar Ojha admits Kṣa as an alternative for L (ळ), op. cit., p. 46
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It is stated that Bambhī was not only a specific name of a script but a generic name which stood for the eighteen scripts mentioned above.¹⁹
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¹⁹ According to Muni Punyavijayaji, however, all the eighteen lipis are not necessarily the varieties of Bambhī (ibid. p. 5).
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The rest of the livis seem to have disappeared and no trace of these has been found so far.
Linked texts (2)
- Samavāyaṃga — Sudharman, Ardhamāgadhī Prakrit
- Viyāhapannatti — Sudharman, Ardhamāgadhī Prakrit