An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology v1.c25.s4.t1.3

v1.c25.s4.t1.3

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.