Ancient Indian Scripts – UPSC Notes – Art and Culture

The Ancient Indian scripts serve as a written representation of spoken language. Over time, the development of writing has progressed from the use of pictograms to inscribed images, with inspiration drawn from calligraphic strokes.

Many contemporary Indian scripts have evolved over centuries from the Brahmi script.

Ancient Scripts Overview

In the 1830s, significant strides in Indian epigraphy unfolded, marking a pivotal period in the study of ancient scripts. Below is a brief exploration of key Ancient Indian Scripts:

1. Indus Script:
   • Originating around 1900 BC in Harappa, the Indus Script possibly influenced the development of the Brahmi Script.
   • Despite evidence that the Harappans possessed writing skills, the Indus Script remains undeciphered, making it an enigmatic script of the ancient world.
2. Brahmi Script:
   • Ancestor to the Brahmic family, the Brahmi Script gave rise to various Indian scripts such as Devanagari, Odia, Gujarati, Tamil, Telugu, and scripts in Southeast Asian countries.
   • Ashokan inscriptions from the third century BCE represent the earliest use of Brahmi, with the script eventually deciphered by James Prinsep in 1838.
   • Prakrit inscriptions predominantly utilized Brahmi, though scripts like Kharosthi were employed in the northwest.
3. Kharosthi Script:
   • Flourishing from the 3rd century BCE to the 3rd century CE, Kharosthi was a prominent script in the northwest.
   • Indo-Greek and Scytho-Parthian rulers utilized Kharosthi on coins alongside the Greek script, while the Kushanas employed it in inscriptions and coins.
   • Written horizontally from right to left, Kharosthi was deciphered in the mid-19th century by scholars including James Prinsep.
4. Devanagari Script:
   • The spoken sounds of Hindi find their written form in the Devanagari script.
   • This script is also employed for scripting Sanskrit, Nepali, and Marathi languages.
   • Characters in Devanagari dangle from a horizontal line, termed the head stroke, positioned at the top of each character.
   • Diverging from English letters, which ascend from a line beneath them, Devanagari is a distinctive combination of a syllabary and alphabet.
   • The writing direction is from left to right.
5. Grantha Script:
   • Numerous Grantha characters closely mirror their Tamil counterparts, showcasing nuanced distinctions.
   • The Grantha script, tracing its roots to the ancient Asokan Brahmi script, holds significance in South India, particularly in Tamil Nadu, India, and Sri Lanka.
6. Takri Script:
   • Emerging from the Sarada script, the Takri script once graced the western Himalayan regions.
   • However, in the early 20th century, Devanagari took precedence, leading to the replacement of the Takri script.

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