Brahmi script
Escritura brahmi
- Date
- c. 250 BCE · confidence medium
- Place
- Pataliputra (Patna), Bihar, India
- Credited to
- Maurya Empire (edicts of Ashoka)
- Field
- Knowledge & symbols
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
Abugida script in which each consonant carries an inherent vowel that can be modified with diacritical marks, known on a large scale from the edicts of Ashoka. Almost all the scripts of South and South-East Asia descend from it, from Devanagari to Tamil, Thai or Khmer.
Its origin (Aramaic-Semitic derivation or local invention) is disputed. Ceramic fragments from Anuradhapura (Sri Lanka) and Tamil Nadu may predate Ashoka, going back to c. 450 BCE.
What it led to
- imperial administration in writing in the subcontinent
- family of Brahmic scripts of Asia
- notation of Indian numerals