Writing & Scripts
Kharosthi script
c. 3rd c. BCE - 3rd c. CENorthwest Indian scribesGandhara inscriptionsIndus / NW (now Pakistan/Afghanistan)
300 BCE
A right-to-left script used in the northwest and along the Silk Road.
- Dated
- 300 BCE–300 CE
- As scholars put it
- c. 3rd c. BCE - 3rd c. CE
- Originator
- Northwest Indian scribes
- Source text
- Gandhara inscriptions
- Region
- Indus / NW (now Pakistan/Afghanistan)
- Discipline
- Writing & Scripts
- Evidence
- Documented
- Confidence
- High
- Verification
- Reference-cited
Meanwhile in the West
One of two scripts on Ashokan edicts.
Fair to say
Eventually fell out of use.
Path to modern innovation
A key script for Gandharan Buddhist texts.
Transmission
Carried along Central Asian trade routes.
References
- 1Salomon, Indian Epigraphy
Further reading
Corrections and additional sources: edit IND-196 on GitHub.