Ancient Indian Scripts

The script is a written symbolisation of speech. Throughout the ages, the evolution of writing from the image of pictograms and then later on inscriptional images were inspired from calligraphic strokes.

Most modern Indian scripts have developed from the Brahmi script over hundreds of years. 

This article will provide you with information about Ancient Indian Scripts in the context of the IAS Exam.

This is useful for GS Paper I of the UPSC Syllabus.

The candidates can read more related information for their competitive exams from the links provided below:

List of Ancient Indian Scripts

Some of the most momentous developments in Indian epigraphy took place in the 1830s.  A list of Ancient Indian Scripts are discussed in brief below: 

Source – NCERT

Indus Script

• Brahmi Script may be possibly derived from the Indus Valley Script. 
• The Indus script was found in Harappa at around 1900 BC, whereas the first Brahmi and Kharosthi inscriptions were at nearly 500 BC.
• Harappans knew how to write, and most of their seals contain some form of script. 
• But unfortunately, no one has yet been able to decipher that script. 
• The Indus script is an undeciphered script of the ancient world.

Brahmi Script

• Brahmi is the ancestor of the Brahmic family of scripts, which includes all Indian scripts, viz. Devanagari, Odia, Gujarati, Tamil, Telugu etc. and also ancient scripts in Sri Lanka, Burma, and south-east Asian countries: Java, Sumatra, Cambodia. 
• Present alphabets of Burma, Thailand, Indonesia, Laos, Cambodia are derived from Brahmi.
• The Ashokan inscriptions dating to the third century BCE used the Brahmi script, the earliest evidence of the use of Brahmi.
• Most Asokan inscriptions were in the Prakrit language, while those in the northwest of the subcontinent were in Aramaic and Greek. 
• Most Prakrit inscriptions were written in the Brahmi script; however, some, in the northwest, were written in Kharosthi. 
• It was only after decades of painstaking investigations by several epigraphists that James Prinsep was able to decipher Asokan Brahmi in 1838.

Kharosthi Script

• Kharosthi was one of the major scripts of the northwest from 3rd century BCE to 3rd century CE.
• Kharosthi script was used extensively by the Indo-Greek, Scytho-Parthian rulers in their coins together with Greek script. 
• The Kushanas used the Kharosthi script in their inscriptions and coins.
• It was written from right to left in horizontal lines.
• Kharoshti was deciphered by James Prinsep and others around the middle of the 19th century. 

Devanagari Script

• The sounds of spoken Hindi are generally written in Devanagari script, which is also used to write Sanskrit, Nepali, and Marathi.
• Devanagari’s characters hang from a horizontal line (called the head stroke) written at the top of the character. 
• Unlike English letters, which are written up from a line below them. 
• This writing system is a combination of syllabary and alphabet. 
• It is written from the left to right direction. 

Grantha Script

• A number of Grantha characters are nearly the same as the equivalent Tamil characters.
• However, it is to be noted that there exist subtle differences from the Tamil Equivalent.
• The Grantha script which ultimately derives from the ancient Asokan Brahmi script is a major script living in South India, especially in the State of Tamil Nadu, India and in Sri Lanka. 

Takri Script

• The Takri script derives from the Sarada script and was used in the western regions of the Himalayas. 
• By the early 20th century, the Takri script has been replaced by Devanagari. 

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