Brahmi script
Ancient Indian script, ancestor of many modern South Asian writing systems.
Brahmi (pronounced BRAH-mee; 𑀩𑁆𑀭𑀸𑀳𑁆𑀫𑀻; ISO: Brāhmī) is an ancient Indian writing system that first appears in the historical record as a fully developed script around the 3rd century BCE. It is an abugida, meaning it uses diacritical marks to attach vowels to consonant symbols. From Brahmi descended the Brahmic scripts, a vast family still used across South and Southeast Asia, making it one of the most influential writing traditions in the world.
The script changed only slightly from the Mauryan period (3rd century BCE) through the early Gupta period (4th century CE). It is thought that a literate person of the 4th century CE could still read Mauryan inscriptions. After that, the ability to read the original Brahmi script was lost. The earliest securely dated and best-known Brahmi inscriptions are the rock-cut edicts of Ashoka in north-central India, from 250–232 BCE.
European scholars, particularly those in the Asiatic Society of Bengal in Calcutta, focused on deciphering Brahmi in the early 19th century, during East India Company rule. The script was deciphered by James Prinsep, the Society’s secretary, in a series of articles in the Society’s journal in the 1830s. His work built on earlier epigraphic studies by Christian Lassen, Edwin Norris, H. H. Wilson, and Alexander Cunningham.
The origin of Brahmi is still debated. Most scholars argue it was derived from or influenced by one or more contemporary Semitic scripts. Others favor an indigenous origin or a connection to the much older, undeciphered Indus script, but the evidence for these is insufficient.
Brahmi was the first script listed in the Sanskrit *Lalitavistara Sūtra*. Modern scholars initially did not connect this name with the ancient script. They first called it “pin-man” script in English, likening its characters to stick figures. It was also known as “lath,” “Laṭ,” “Southern Aśokan,” “Indian Pali,” or “Mauryan.” The name 'Brahmi' was already used by scholars like James Prinsep in the 1830s and Albrecht Weber in the 1850s, long before it was adopted in the influential work of Georg Bühler, though he used the variant “Brahma.”
The Gupta script of the 5th century is sometimes called “Late Brahmi.” From the 6th century onward, Brahmi diversified into many local variants, grouped as the Brahmic family.
Quick Facts
- Languages
- Sanskrit, Pali, Prakrit, Saka, Old Uyghur, Old Tamil, / Tocharian, Elu
- Sisters
- Kharosthi
- Unicode
- [https: · www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U11000.pdf U+11000–U+1107F]
Facts from the source article.
Lore & Background
The earliest indisputably dated and best-known Brahmi inscriptions are the rock-cut edicts of Ashoka in north-central India, dating to 250–232 BCE. The writing system underwent only relatively minor evolutionary changes from the Mauryan period (3rd century BCE) down to the early Gupta period (4th century CE), and it is thought that as late as the 4th century CE, a literate person could still read and understand Mauryan inscriptions. Sometime thereafter, the ability to read the original Brahmi script was lost.
The decipherment of Brahmi became the focus of European scholarly attention in the early 19th century during East India Company rule in India, particularly in the Asiatic Society of Bengal in Calcutta. Brahmi was deciphered by James Prinsep, the secretary of the Society, in a series of scholarly articles in the Society's journal in the 1830s. His breakthroughs built on the epigraphic work of Christian Lassen, Edwin Norris, H. H. Wilson and Alexander Cunningham, among others.
The origin of the script is still much debated, with most scholars stating that Brahmi was derived from or at least influenced by one or more contemporary Semitic scripts. Some scholars favour the idea of an indigenous origin, or connection to the much older and as yet undeciphered Indus script, but the evidence is insufficient at best. The name 'Brahmi' was associated with the script in the 1880s by Albert Étienne Jean Baptiste Terrien de Lacouperie, based on an observation by Gabriel Devéria, and the name was adopted in the influential work of Georg Bühler.
Reader's Guide
Brahmi script is significant as the foundational writing system from which dozens of modern scripts across South and Southeast Asia have descended, making it one of the world's most influential writing traditions. One survey found 198 scripts that ultimately derive from it. The Gupta script of the 5th century is sometimes called 'Late Brahmi', and from the 6th century onward, Brahmi diversified into numerous local variants grouped as the Brahmic family of scripts.
Among the inscriptions of Ashoka written in Brahmi, a few numerals were found, now called Brahmi numerals. These numerals are additive and multiplicative, not place value. However, in the second half of the 1st millennium CE, some inscriptions in India and Southeast Asia written in scripts derived from Brahmi included decimal place-value numerals, constituting the earliest existing material examples of the Hindu–Arabic numeral system now in use worldwide.
The Brahmi script is mentioned in ancient Indian texts of Hinduism, Jainism, and Buddhism, including the Lalitavistara Sūtra, which lists 64 scripts with Brahmi first. The script's decipherment in the 1830s by James Prinsep, building on earlier epigraphic work, allowed modern scholars to read ancient Indian inscriptions and understand the history of the Mauryan and subsequent periods.
Did You Know?
- Brahmi script was the first in the list of 64 scripts mentioned in the Sanskrit Lalitavistara Sūtra.
- The earliest indisputably dated Brahmi inscriptions are the rock-cut edicts of Ashoka, dating to 250–232 BCE.
- Brahmi was deciphered by James Prinsep in the 1830s, building on work by Christian Lassen, Edwin Norris, H. H. Wilson, and Alexander Cunningham.
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