An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology v1.c25.s4.23

v1.c25.s4.23

The antiquity of writing of India after the discovery of the Harappa civilization [4.9] it traced to the 3rd millennium B.C., but there is no clear relationship between the Harappa [20.4.1] and the earliest Brāhmī characters. The Vedic literature does not contain any direct reference to any script but according to some several indications make a case for the currency of a writing system. Some scholars fix the antiquity of the Brāhmī script between the 8th and 6th centuries B.C. But Bühler brings the date forward on the ground that the literary evidence shows a widespread use of writing in the 5th century B.C. and perhaps in the 6th, as the alphabets of the Aśokan edicts not being a homogeneous writing was no recent invention in the 3rd century B.C. But recent researches during the last two decades have led some scholars to maintain that Brāhmī was invented just before Aśoka. These scholars do not place any inscription, including those from PIPRAHWA, Mahasthan and SOHGAURA, before Aśoka. They hold that a standard script has been used in Aśokan edicts without any form exclusive to the n. or the s. The theory that Brāhmī was originally written from right to left has long been discredited.