UNIT 2

EVOLUTION OF
SCRIPT AND
LANGUAGES IN
INDIA: HARAPPAN
SCRIPT AND
BRAHMI SCRIPT
LANGUAGE
 Language is the mode of expression of
thought by means of articulate sounds.
 This is not deliberately framed by man,
but it came out of necessity from his
innermost nature.
 The languages of the world can be
grouped into a large number of families.
Some of the most important families are
Indo European, Semitic, Dravidian,
Bantu, Ural-Altic, Malayo-Polinesian,
South-East Asiatic and Hamitic.
THE SCRIPT
 The script of the language evolved in
keeping with the development of literature
in it. It has originated, like all other Indian
scripts, from the Brahmi.
 Every piece of knowledge persists through
the ages with the help of scripts. If scripts
had not yet evolved, the world would have
been left without any record of its
achievements.
 The relation between speech and writing is
indeed very close. Writing is the durable
and visible representation of the language.
•A script is also known as writing system or
orthography.
•It is a standard for representing the parts of a
spoken language by making specific marks on a
medium (Paper, rocks, birch-bark, etc).
•The two ancient scripts in India comprise
Brahmi script and Kharosthi script.
•Most of the ancient and modern scripts in India
are developed from Brahmi script be it
Devanagari, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Odia,
Assamese/Bengali, etc. Hence, It can very much
be contended that Brahmi is the mother of
scripts.
•However, Urdu is written in a script derived
from Arabic, and a few minor languages such as
Santhali use independent scripts.
ORIGIN OF SCRIPT
 The origin of script has been a topic of
much discussion.
 In India, the Harappan Seals containing
symbols which have been deciphered as
alphabets, belong to 3000 B. C.
 the Indian sources of Writing, such as '-- the
quotations from Naradasmrti, Yajnavalkya
siksa, Ramayana, Mahabharata , Upanisads,
and from the works of the learned Kalidasa,
Bhasa, Kautalya, Bharata, Palini etc., can be
considered as literary evidences to prove
the indigenous origin of writing.
 CH
RO
NO
LO
GY

Source: Self Clicked

•Harappan civilization was discovered in 1920–22 when
two of its most important sites were excavated.
•These were Harappa on the banks of the river Ravi and
Mohenjo-Daro on the banks of the Indus.
•On the basis of the archaeological findings the
Harappan civilization has been dated between 2600
B.C–1900 BC and is one of the oldest civilizations of the
world.
•It is also sometimes referred to as the ‘Indus Valley
civilization’ because in the beginning majority of its
settlements discovered were in and around the plains of
the river Indus and its tributaries.
•But today it is termed as the Harappan civilization
because Harappa was the first site, which brought to
light the presence of this civilization.
•Besides, recent archaeological findings indicate that
this civilization was spread much beyond the Indus
Valley. Therefore, it is better it is called as the
Harappan civilization.
•It is the first urban culture of India and is
contemporaneous with other ancient civilizations of
the world such as those of Mesopotamia and Egypt.
•Our knowledge of the life and culture of the
Harappan people is based only on the archaeological
excavations..
 INDUS VALLEY
CIVILIZATION
One of the highly developed and
cultured civilization. The earliest
scripts in India so far is the Indus
Valley pictographic script. Two great
cities of over 5000 yrs old have been
discovered in the excavation of
Harappa and Mohenjodaro.
Over 3000 seals have been discovered
in the Indus Valley.

Source: Self Clicked

HARAPPAN SCRIPT
 The characters are largely pictorial but include
many abstract signs.
 The inscriptions are thought to have been
written mostly from right-to-left (because there
are several instances of the symbols being
compressed on the left side, as if the writer is
running out of space at the end of the row
there), but they sometimes follow a
boustrophedonic style.
 The number of principal signs is about 400.
Since that is considered too large a number for
each character to be a phonogram, the script is
generally believed to instead be logo-syllabic
 INDU
S
Pashupati seal : This seal shows a
three headed deity, many have
identified it with Bhagwan Shiva
also known as Pashupati, seated
in an advanced yogic position of
Mul Bandhana Asana

Gilgamesh seal : This seal shows a

man with two tigers. Many scholars
say that this is the Mesopotamian
priest king Gilgamesh who was
16ft tall and could fight two tigers
all alone.

Source: Self Assembled

 INDUS
VALLEY
SCRIPT

Source: Self Clicked

BRAHMI SCRIPT
 Origin of the Brahmi script: The most
common script of Asokan edicts was the
Brahmi.
 Some scholars call it ‘Pali’ script. There
are different opinions among the
scholars regarding the origin of the
Brahmi Script
 Some scholars consider it to foreign
origin
 Brahmi is the oldest writing systems
used in the Indian subcontinent and in
Central Asia during the final centuries
BCE and the early centuries CE.
 Some believe that Brahmi was derived
from contemporary Semitic script or
may be Indus script.
 All surviving Indic scripts in South East
asia are descendants of the Brahmi.
 CH
RO
NO
LO
GY

Source: Self Clicked

ORIGI
N OF
BRAH
MI
ORIGI
N OF
BRAH
MI
 The Brahmi alphabet seems to have derived
from prehistoric Indus Valley script of a
semi-pictorial nature and was popular in the
major part of Bharatavarsha”. (D.C. Sircar:
Inscriptions of Asoka).
 There is no doubt that Brahmi script is at the
root of all the scripts of northern India. It
evolved gradually, changing its form from
the Mauryan (third to second century BC) to
Sunga (second to first Century BC), from the
Sunga to Kushana (first to second century
A.D.) from the Kushana to Gupta (A.D. 300
to 550) period and so on and so forth
 The best-known Brahmi inscriptions are
the rock-cut edicts of Ashoka in north-
central India, dated to 250–232 BCE.
The script was deciphered in 1837 by
James Prinsep. Brahmi is usually written
from left to right. Brahmi is an abugida,
meaning that each letter represents a
consonant, while vowels are written with
obligatory diacritics called matras in
Sanskrit, except when the vowels
commence a word.
 There is a basic difference between
scripts of Asoka’s period and scripts of
post Asoka period. In Asokan scripts,
there was no horizontal straight line put
over the alphabets. On the other hand,
all the north Indian letters bear
horizontal straight line over the
alphabets
ALL THESE DESCENDENTS OF
BRAHMI SCRIPT ARE COLLECTIVELY
CALLED BRAHMIC SCRIPTS.
 BRAHM
I
SCRIPT

Source: Self Clicked

 Strokes added to indicate different vowels
following the consonants

Source: Self Clicked

 BRAH
MI

Brahmi script is one of the

earliest scripts known to
India. It came into
existence in the form of
stone inscriptions during
the reign of Asoka, in 4th -
3rd century B.C

Pillar showing Suvanna Kartaka Jataka Story,

Sunga 2nd Century B.C, Bharhut M.P

Source: Self Clicked

 MAURYA
DYNASTY

 The 4 th century B.C

witnessed the rise of
Magadha Empire ( present
day Bihar ) under the rule
of Chandragupta Maurya in
323 B.C.
 The empire later
expanded under
Asoka the Great.

Source : Google images

 BUDDHISM

Asoka embraced Buddhism

and was later dedicated to the
propagation of Buddhism
across Asia making several
stupas , rock edicts, pillars.
This change in King
Asoka’s life came after
witnessing the mass deaths
which was the result of
Kalinga War.

Source: Self Clicked

 CHILD LEARNING
BRAHMI
VERNMALA

Found from Sugh, Haryana,

ht: 5.4 cm_ in stone, 3rd century
B.C
Source: Self Clicked
Girnar, Gujrat, 3rd c B.C
 MI
EDICT
S

Source: Self Clicked

 DEVELOPMENTAL
STAGES OF
BRAHMI

Source: Self Clicked

DEVELOPMENT OF LETTER ‘K’
DEVELOPMENT OF LETTER ‘K’
 TRANSFO
RMATION
OF
BRAHMI

Source : Google images

MAURYAN
BRAHMI
2ND C B.C

Naga
 N
BRAHMI
3-5TH C
B.C

Source : Google images

 POST
MAURYAN
BRAHMI

Jain Votive Plaque, Kushan

Kankali Tila, Mathura,
U.P
Source: Self Clicked
MAURYA
N
BRAHMI
2 C A.D
ND

Jain Votive Plaque, Kushan

Kankali Tila, Mathura,
U.P
 BRAHMI - NAGARI
11 C A.D
TH

Buddhist Preist, Pala

Eastern India

Source: Self Clicked

 NAGARI 12 TH

C A.D

King Prativideva & Queen Kelachhadevi

Gahadavala, Alwar,
Rajasthan
Source: Self Clicked
NAGARI 12TH C A.D

King Prativideva & Queen Kelachhadevi

Gahadavala, Alwar,
Rajasthan
 BOOK
CONSISTS
OF ?
 It is a brief introduction
about the ancient
Script Brahmi.
 This book talks about
ancient writing styles
and how it further
developed into its other
various descendants.
 Brief Historical
documentation of
various scattered form
of information, put
together in one book
format.
 Translating Text to
visuals.
 More on interaction with
Brahmi
 KHAROSTHI
SCRIPT

Source: Self Clicked

 BIBLIO
GRAPH
Y
Books :
• Hidden Horizons
• Typography of Devnagari
• A history of Ancient and Early Medieval India
• Understanding India : The Culture of India
• The Indo – Aryan Languages
• Elephant in Indian Art and Mythology
• Unknown masterpieces of Indian Folk and Tribal Art
• Palo linguistic Profile of Brahmi Script.
• An invention of the early Mauryan Period.
• Development of Nagari Script
• Origin of Brahmi Script
• Brahmi Script its Paleography

Websites :
• www.wikipedia.org
• www.ancientscripts.com
• www.chinese-school.netfirms.com/Tibet/brahmi.html

Visits:
• National Museum - New Delhi
• National Library – New Delhi
• National Museum – Kolkata
• Prince of Wales - Mumbai