History of Hindu Mathematics: A Source Book v1.c7.s5.14

v1.c7.s5.14

Recent discoveries have, however, sounded the death knell of all theories deriving the Indian script from foreign sources. Pottery belonging to the Megalithic (*c.* 1,500 B.C.) and Neolithic (6,000 B.C.—3,000 B.C.) ages, preserved in the Madras Museum, has been found to be inscribed with writing. And according to Bhandarkar² five of these marks are identical with the Brâhmî characters of the time of Aśoka. The excavations at Mohenjo-daro and Harappa have also brought to light written documents, seals and inscriptions, dating from before 3,000 B.C. Thus it would be now absurd to trace the Brâhmî to any Semitic alphabet of the eighth or ninth century B.C.