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An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology v1.c25.s4.t1: 20.4.3 Kharoṣṭhī

An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology v1.c25.s4.t1

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20.4.3 Kharoṣṭhī

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Of the two main scripts known from ancient Indian epigraphs, the one written from right to left was earlier designated as Bactrian or Indo-Bactrian, being first noticed on the coins of the Indo-Greek rulers of Bactria, as Kabulian, Arianian or Gandhārian on geographical grounds, and as Bactro-Pāli or Ariano-Pāli on the basis of the language used. Kharoṣṭhī, the name currently popular, was used first by T. de Lacouperie and was popularized by Bühler. It is mentioned in the *Lalitavistara* (c. 3rd century A.D.). The Chinese encyclopaedia *Fa-Wan-Shu-Lin* (A.D. 668) speak of the script invented by Kia-lu (or Kia-lu-she-ti). Kharoṭṭhi (Kharoṣṭhī) appears among the 18 scripts listed by the *Pannavaṇa-sūtra* and *Samavāyaṅga-sūtra*. The *Mahavastu* records the form Kharostri.

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Kharoṣṭha is apparently a Prakritized form of the Sanskrit name *Kharauṣṭha* (*khara*+*oṣṭha* meaning ass-lip). The *Fa-Wan-Shu-Lin* takes Kharoṣṭha to be the personal name of the inventor of the script, probably on the analogy of the connection between Brahmā and Brāhmī but this does not have any other tradition to support it. Lacouperie identifies Kia-lu with Kyros, the Kuras and Kurish of the cuneiform inscriptions, the Khusrau of Persian history. The suggestion connecting the name of the script with the barbarous peoples on the n.-w. boundaries, covered by the common appellation Kharoṣṭha, or with the fact that its characters are irregular elongated curves resembling the moving lips (*oṣṭha*) of an ass (*khara*) is hypothetical. According to Lévi the correct name of the script was Kharoṣṭra derived from the Chinese name Kia-lu-shu-tan-le for the province of Kashgar. Franke equates the Prakrit form Kharoṭṭha with Ko-lo-to, a country to the s.-w. of Kashgar, also named as Kie-pan-to Han-to and Ko-kuan-tan. But Kharoṣṭhī as the earliest form of the name of the script and its continuous history in India long before its introduction in C. Asia go against the theory. Ludwig’s suggestion that the name was a false transliteration of Kharoṭṭha equated with an imaginary Aramaic word meaning ‘engraving, writing’ is conjectural. Przyluski’s theory, which finds favour with Das Gupta, postulates that the original name of the script, derived from *kharaposta* (or *kharaosta*) meaning hide of donkey, referred to the material on which it was originally written, *kharoṣṭha* being its Indian corruption. But this is equally a presumption, and the derivation of the name remains open.

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The use of Kharoṣṭhī by Aśoka for his edicts at Mansehra and Shahbazgarhi is a clear proof that it was in popular use in the n.-w. regions before his times. Further the script is found mostly in the records of foreign rulers, the Greeks, Scythians, Parthians and Kushans. Thomas pointed out the close connection between Kharoṣṭhī and Aramaic as obvious in the direction of writing, the identical forms of some letters (e.g., *na*, *ba*, *ra* and *va*) and the employment of one basic form for the initial vowels. Taylor attributed the origin of Kharoṣṭhī to the requirements of the Achaemenian rule and proposed that its letters had gradually evolved from Aramaic. Bühler who elaborated Taylor’s arguments said that the script had arisen out of the official intercourse between the scribes of the Satraps and those of the native chiefs or other authorities. Das Gupta lists the principal letters of the Kharoṣṭhī borrowed from the Aramaic and the letters derived from the borrowed signs and then mentions two new features of Kharoṣṭhī: the formation of the compound *akṣaras* and the adding of the vowel-signs. Dani’s analysis is more penetrating. He holds that Kharoṣṭhī resulted from the effort to find a vehicle for writing the local language in a way ‘intelligible to the local people as well as convenient to learn by the administrative staff who were familiar with Aramaic’. There is no long gap between the introduction of Aramaic and the evolution of Kharoṣṭhī. Though its letters have not evolved from the Aramaic ones, the Kharoṣṭhī script was created on the basis of Aramaic. The peculiarities of the phonology and the grammar of the local languages could not be adequately expressed through Aramaic letters and this brought Kharoṣṭhī nearer to Brāhmī. The Kharoṣṭhī letters were based on Aramaic to the extent the requirements of the Indian alphabet permitted; other letters were created by adding diacritical marks.

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Kharoṣṭhī can be said to have had an Indian origin only in so far as it originated and circulated in India, was used to express Indian languages through Indian alphabets and went out of India with the Indian people and religion to be employed for writing Indian languages.

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The area of regular use of the Kharoṣṭhī was the n.-w. region. It extended from about 69° to 73° 30′ long. and from the Hindu Kush to about 33° lat. Its e. most limit is Manikiala in Panjab, but inscriptions are reported from Kangra and Karnal as well. The Śaka Kṣatrapas took it to Mathurā and Gujarat. A solitary record from Patna was evidently carried from n.-w. Leaving aside coins from Seistan and Kandahar, the w.most Kharoṣṭhī inscriptions are from Khawat (Afghanistan) and Thal valley (Baluchistan), and the n.most are from Tirath (Swat) and Khalatse (Ladakh). Mohenjo-daro in Sind is the s.-most point. [A note by the scribe in the s. Rock-edicts of Aśoka is in Kharoṣṭhī.] Outside India Chinese Turkestan has yielded numerous documents and a Prakrit *Dhammapada* in Kharoṣṭhī.

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The Kharoṣṭhī originally written with a pen shows two styles. In one the veticals have at the lower and on the left an upward slant as a foot-mark, and in the other the verticals thin out into curves. Some letters get cursive forms through the tendency of drawing lines and curves in one sweep.

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The script was used from the middle of the 3rd century B.C. (Aśoka) to the 3rd-4th century A.D. (later Kushan) but survived for some time more in Chinese Turkestan. However the forms of the letters do not indicate any evolution. The otherwise uniform script shows variations on account of two factors: the nature of the material on which it was written—stone, metal plate or vase, coin, cameos, birch-bark, wood, leather or paper—and the need to communicate new sounds in other languages by inventing diacritic strokes. Besides these there is no clear palaeographical indication for framing a chronological chart for the script.

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Das Gupta, C.C., 1958, *Development of Kharoṣṭhī Script*, Calcutta. See also bibliography under 20.4.2.—L. GOPAL

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20.5

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A stylus is basically a writing instrument of wood, bone, ivory, metal or terracotta. It can even be a piece of reed or a feather with a sharp wedge-shaped or pointed end. Besides writing it can also be used for marking figures and decorative designs on objects of clay by incision. There are two types of styli one with a thick or pointed end and the other with a notiched end. The former type was held directly in the closed first by the scribe; in the other type the notch was fixed into the wooden frame which was held in the hand.

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Stuli in the form of carrot-shaped cones of terracotta, bone and ivory have been reported from practically all the sites of the Harappa culture including Harappa and Mohenjo-daro besides of course many unspecified bone pieces. Bone and ivory styli have been reported from the late Neolithic [4.6.4] levels of CHIRAND and SONPUR and also from PGW [4.15] levels at ATRANJIKHERA and HASTINĀPURA. KAYATHA has yielded both the types from the NBPW [4.18] levels. The earliest use of the stylus is indicated by the clay seals of the Euphrates-Tigris delta datable to 3000 B.C. [It is likely that many of the bone/ivory objects described as styli were actually arrow-heads, 19.3, 1 or points.]

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