An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology v1.c25.s4.t1.2

v1.c25.s4.t1.2

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.