Brahmi - Grantham Pad

Test set: বাংলা देवनागरी लिपि हिन्दी ગુજરાતી ਗੁਰਮੁਖੀ. ಕನ್ನಡ മലയാളം ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଅକ୍ଷର தமிழ் తెలుగు

The earliest scripts in India

James Prinsep (1799-1840) was orientalist and editor of the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. He succeeded in reading Brahmi and Kharosthi scripts. The inscriptions of Emperor Ashoka are in Brahmi and Kharoshthi scripts.

Brahmi script was documented by James Prinsep, who was determined to read ancient inscriptions. There are many variations in scripts like ashoka brahmi, gupta brahmi, tamil brahmi and so on. Scholars are divided on the origin of the Brahmi script. There is no reliable information on scripts used by Panini, used for the composition of his work, though words such as lipi and lipikara are mentioned.

The languages of India are phonetic in nature and hence the writing system for any language maps the sounds of the aksharas to specific shapes. The basic set of aksharas for most languages consist of vowels and consonants. The actual rules for forming consonant vowel combinations and conjunct characters vary from script to script.

Cave inscriptions in Tamil-Brahmi script at Mangulam was discovered by Robert Sewell in 1882, and deciphered by Subrahmanya Aiyer in 1924 (as usual disputed by some). Iravatham Mahadevan deciphered Tamil Brahmi, which was found on stone monuments called hero stones. He devoted 50 years of his life to visiting, documenting and deciphering the Tamil-Brahmi inscriptions engraved on the brow of natural caverns found on hills in Tamil Nadu and on pottery, coins and rings.

Grantha and new script (Chola-Pallava script, emerged in Pallava and Chola territories. The forms of some of the letters were simplified in the 19th century to make the script easier to typeset. In the 20th century, the script was simplified even further in a series of reforms.

Table of Language Scripts