Early Indian epigraphy: Difference between revisions

[[File:Ashoka Lauriya Areraj inscription.jpg|thumb|One of the [[Edicts of Ashoka]] in the [[Brahmi script]], in [[Lauriya Araraj]], [[Bihar]], circa 250 BCE.]]

The earliest undisputed deciphered [[epigraphy]] found in India are the [[Edicts of Ashoka]] of the 3rd century BCE, written in very early forms of middle-[[Indo-Aryan languages]] in the [[Brahmi script]]. [[Jainism in Tamil Nadu|Samanam]] inscriptions in [[South India]] written in [[Bhattiprolu alphabet]], [[Tamil-Brahmi]] and the [[Kadamba alphabet]] are also of relatively early date. Some Tamil-Brahmi inscriptions discovered at [[Keeladi excavation site|Keeladi]],<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/tamil-nadu/keeladi-findings-traceable-to-6th-century-bce-report/article29461583.ece |title=Keezhadi excavations: Sangam era older than previously thought, finds study |author=Dennis S. Jesudasan |date=20 September 2019 |newspaper=The Hindu}}</ref> [[Palani]],<ref name="Poruthal 2">{{cite news |url=http://www.thehindu.com/news/states/tamil-nadu/article2538550.ece |title=Porunthal excavations prove existence of Indian scripts in 5th century BCE: expert |last=Kishore |first=Kavitha |date=15 October 2011 |work=The Hindu |publisher=The Hindu Group |access-date=17 October 2011}}</ref><ref name="Porunthal 3">[http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/tamil-nadu/porunthal-excavations-prove-existence-of-indian-scripts-in-5th-century-bc-expert/article2538550.ece Porunthal excavations prove existence of Indian scripts in 5th century BCE: expert]</ref> [[Erode]],<ref name="Kodumanal 4">{{cite news |url=http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/kodumanal-reveals-more-hidden-gems/article4731632.ece |title=Kodumanal excavations prove existence of Indian scripts in 5th century BCE: expert |last=Subramaniam |first=T.S. |date=20 May 2013 |work=The Hindu |publisher=The Hindu Group |access-date=20 May 2013}}</ref> and [[Adichanallur]],<ref>{{cite news |title=Rudimentary Tamil-Brahmi script' unearthed at Adichanallur |date=February 17, 2005 |url=https://www.thehindu.com/2005/02/17/stories/2005021704471300.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091012142602/http://www.thehindu.com/2005/02/17/stories/2005021704471300.htm |url-status=dead |work=[[The Hindu]] |archive-date=October 12, 2009 }}</ref> have been claimed to be as ancient as 6th century BCE, but so far only the claimed pre-Ashokan inscriptions at [[Anuradhapura]] in Sri Lanka have been published in an internationally recognised academic journal.<ref name="Anuradhapura">{{Citation |title=Passage to India? Anuradhapura and the Early Use of the Brahmi Script |first1=R.A.E. |last1=Coningham |first2=F.R. |last2=Allchin |first3=C.M. |last3=Batt |first4=D. |last4=Lucy |journal=Cambridge Archaeological Journal |volume=6 |number=1 |year=1996 |pages=73–97 |doi=10.1017/S0959774300001608}}</ref>

there is substantially older epigraphy in the [[Indus script]], which dates back to the early 3rd millennium BCE. Two other important archeological classes of symbols are found from the 1st millennium BCE, [[Megalithic Graffiti Symbols]] and symbols on [[punch-marked coins]], though most scholars do not consider these to constitute fully linguistic scripts, and their [[semiotic]] functions are not well understood.  

Of the c. 100,000 inscriptions found by the [[Archaeological Survey of India]], about 60,000 were in [[Tamil Nadu]];<ref>{{cite news |title= Students get glimpse of heritage |url= http://www.hindu.com/2005/11/22/stories/2005112215970400.htm |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20060518064346/http://www.hindu.com/2005/11/22/stories/2005112215970400.htm |url-status= dead |archive-date= May 18, 2006 |author= Staff Reporter |date = November 22, 2005 |access-date= 2007-04-26 |work= [[The Hindu]] |location=Chennai, India}}</ref> of these 60,000 inscriptions, only about 5 per cent were in other languages such as Telugu, Kannada, Sanskrit and Marathi; the rest were in [[Tamil language|Tamil]]. Over 25,000 Kannada inscriptions were unearthed in Karnataka, though an in depth study of many of these is yet to be conducted according to Hampi Kannada University Sociology department Head and Researcher Devara Kondareddy.<ref>http://www.deccanherald.com/content/174214/take-up-study-unearthed-inscriptions.html</ref>

The first undisputed evidence of writing in the Indian Subcontinent apart from the Bronze Age [[Indus script]], which is undeciphered and may not actually encode spoken or written language, are the [[Edicts of Ashoka]] from c. 250 BCE.<ref>Colin P. Masica, ''The Indo-Aryan Languages (Cambridge Language Surveys)'', Cambridge University Press, 1993.</ref> Several inscriptions were thought to be pre-Ashokan by earlier scholars; these include the [[Piprahwa]] relic casket inscription, the [[Barli inscription|Badli pillar inscription]], the [[Bhattiprolu]] relic casket inscription, the [[Sohgaura copper plate inscription]], the [[Mahasthangarh]] Brahmi inscription, the [[Eran]] coin legend, the [[Taxila]] coin legends, and the inscription on the silver coins of [[Sophytes]]. However, more recent scholars have dated them to later periods.<ref>{{cite book |author=Dilip K. Chakrabarty |title=India: An Archaeological History: Palaeolithic Beginnings to Early Historic Foundations |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wPQtDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT356 |year=2009 |publisher=Oxford University Press India |isbn=978-0-19-908814-0 |pages=355–356}}</ref>

Until the 1990s, it was generally accepted that the [[Brahmi script]] used by Ashoka spread to South India during the second half of the 3rd century BCE, assuming a local form now known as [[Tamil-Brahmi]]. Beginning in the late 1990s, archaeological excavations have produced a small number of candidates for Brahmi epigraphy predating Ashoka. Preliminary press reports of such pre-Ashokan inscriptions have appeared over the years, such as [[Palani]],<ref name="Poruthal 2"/><ref name="Porunthal 3">[http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/tamil-nadu/porunthal-excavations-prove-existence-of-indian-scripts-in-5th-century-bc-expert/article2538550.ece Porunthal excavations prove existence of Indian scripts in 5th century BCE: expert]</ref> [[Erode]],<ref name="Kodumanal 4"/> and [[Adichanallur]],<ref>{{cite news |title=Rudimentary Tamil-Brahmi script' unearthed at Adichanallur |date=February 17, 2005 |url=https://www.thehindu.com/2005/02/17/stories/2005021704471300.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091012142602/http://www.thehindu.com/2005/02/17/stories/2005021704471300.htm |url-status=dead |work=[[The Hindu]] |archive-date=October 12, 2009 }}</ref> dated to c. 500 BCE, but so far only the claimed pre-Ashokan inscriptions at [[Anuradhapura]] have been published in an internationally recognised academic journal.<ref name="Anuradhapura"/>

*[https://web.archive.org/web/20101021044255/http://www.hinduonnet.com/lr/2003/08/03/stories/2003080300280400.htm Records and revelations]