It can be proved on palæographical grounds that the forms of Brāhmī letters used in incising this record are older than those of Aśoka's inscriptions. "The existence of so many local varieties, and of so very numerous cursive forms, proves, in any case, that writing had had a long history in Aśoka's time and the alphabet was then in a state of transition." The alphabet is also recognised to be "a script framed by learned Brāhmaṇs for writing Sanskrit." The earliest Indian inscription is the record on the Piprāwā vase discovered in 1898. ![]() Bühler recognised the antiquity of the Indian Alphabet in Aśoka's time. It is sufficient for the purpose of the present article that Dr. Leaving aside the various theories about the origin of the ancient Indian alphabet, we turn to examine it as it has been found to exist at the beginning of the historical period.
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