History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v2.c24.s1.312

v2.c24.s1.312

Great controversies have raged round the question whether the art of writing was known in India in very ancient times, whether it was used for literary purposes in the times of Pāṇini and whether the Brāhmī alphabet was an indigenous product or whether it was imported into India from some foreign land. Max Muller in his ‘History of ancient Sanskrit Literature’ started the astounding and absurd theory that writing for literary purposes was unknown to Pāṇini (p. 507). Later on that position was given up. Then Bühler wrote his famous work 'on the origin of the Brāhmī alphabet' mainly relying on the resemblances of a few letters of the Aśokan script with an ancient Semitic alphabet and came to the conclusion that the Brāhmī alphabet was derived from a Semitic script sometimes about 800 B. C. It never occurred to that learned scholar to advance and carefully examine the other possible hypotheses which any unbiassed and cautious scholar should have ordinarily advanced viz. that the Semitic script might have been derived from the Brāhmī alphabet and was later on developed or both might have been derived from some unknown ancient script. All these theories are now in the melting pot on account of the seals bearing writing in some undeciphered script found at Mohenjodaro and Harappa, some of which are at least 5000 years old. So if the Brāhmī alphabet was at all borrowed, it is clear now that it was not necessary for Indians to travel so far as Westernmost Asia for that purpose.