Update:
2007-07-21 11:54 PM -0400
TIL
Brahmi Script
Brahmi
by U Kyaw Tun, M.S.
(I.P.S.T., U.S.A.). Not for sale. Prepared for students of TIL Computing
and Language Center, Yangon, MYANMAR.
These pages are in Arial Unicode MS font. Please remember that not all
Unicode fonts are alike. Myanmar characters are in gif picture format and you
do not need any Myanmar font to read it. Myanmar spellings in both Myanmar script
and in Romabama and are included. Romabama spellings are within { }, and
words within < > are regular English words.
This is a collection from various sources:
• Ancient Scripts, Lawrence K Lo,
http://www.ancientscripts.com/phonetics.html
• Bhujimol script,
palm-leaf MS of the Devimahatmya, Bihar or Nepal, 11th century.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhujimol
Asoka or Brahmi Script
Comparison of Brahmi,
Karosthi, Myanmar and Telugu scripts
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Sanskrit was the language imported, thousands of years ago, into the area south
of Himalaya (roughly that of Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India) by the
Indo-Europeans (formerly called the Indo-Aryans). But the possibility
exists that the indigenous languages might have scripts of their own used for
writing on palm leaves (round shapes preferred), and the speakers of the
Sanskrit, the Brahmanas, had borrowed the local scripts and developed them into
what is now known as Brahmi and engraved it into stone (the linear shape would
be more easy to engrave). It should also be noted that writing on palm leaves
would have been more common than chiseling the characters into stone. The
term "Brahmi" or
{braah-mi ak~hka.ra} is probably not fitting since, the script was found on the
pillars of King Asoka (273-232 B.C.), who belonged to the ruling class of
{hkat-ti-ya} and not to
{brah-ma-na} the class used by kings as their scribes and masters of ceremonies
in the temples and halls of power.
Working on the possibility that the rounded scripts have a precedence
over linear-shaped scripts, I have included Myanmar script (formed from circles
-- perfect on writing on palm leaves, and which is relatively free from the influence
of Sanskrit), and Telegu (a South Indian script), for comparison. It should be
noted that Myanmar-script used for writing Burmese-language had been thought of as derived from
Mon, which itself was borrowed from South Indian scripts. I am just looking at a
very slim possibility that the rounded shape was that of the Tibeto-Burman
speaking peoples and the Dravidians who had lived in the area into which the
Sanskrit-speaking Indo-Europeans -- the
{brah-ma-na} with their liturgies and chants -- had come in. And that
Myanmar script, was indeed, a very old script and had not been developed from
any southern Indian script.
Note also what Lawrence Lo had to say (see below), "Yet on the
other hand, the way Brahmi, and its relative Kharosthi,
works is quite different from Semitic scripts, and may point to either a stimulus-diffusion or
even indigenous origin".
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It seems that there were many indigenous locals scripts among which two have
come up to light: the Asoka (Brahmi) and its close relative the Kharosthi
script.
http://www.ancientscripts.com/brahmi.html
http://www.ancientscripts.com/kharosthi.html
Click here to see the
downloaded scripts.
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Kharosthi Script
3rd BCE - 4th CD.
UKT: It is described as belonging to the Brahmi-script family, but since it
was written from right to left (see Unicode Consortium,
http://www.unicode.org/versions/Unicode4.0.0/ch09.pdf ), I hesitate to
include it in the Brahmi-script family.
The Kharosthi Script was more or less contemporarily with the Brahmi script,
appearing around the 3rd century BCE mainly in modern-day northern Pakistan and eastern Afghanistan,
although some examples do occur in India. Like Brahmi, Kharosthi seemed to have been developed for
Prakrit dialects (which was the common speech of everyday life as opposed to Sanskrit which was
the liturgic language). For instance, the earliest example of Brahmi and Kharosthi did not have
the dipthongs /ai/, /au/, and the vocalic /r/ and /l/, which existed in Sanskrit but not in Prakrit.
In particular, Kharosthi seemed to be used primarily for the Prakrit dialect of Gandhari. The
evidence for this is in the form of a diacritic mark that denotes a transformation of an intervocalic
constant (sometimes from a stop to a fricative), which existed in Gandhari.
Structurally, the Kharosthi and the Brahmi are nearly identical. The
characters in both
represent a constant followed by the short vowel /a/ (Lawrence Lo's notation: a "C-a" sign).
Both denote change in vowel by adding marks to a sign. Consonant clusters are formed in both system
by juxtaposing two signs closely together, sometimes forming a ligature. There are some difference,
though. For one, while Brahmi had different signs for different initial vowels, Kharosthi used
the same marks that change vowels in C-a signs on the sign for initial /a/ to denote other initial
vowels. Another difference is that while Brahmi differentiated long and short version of the
same vowel, Kharosthi used the same sign for both.
Eventually the Kharosthi script fell out of use by the 3rd or 4th century CE, and the descendent
of Brahmi eventually took hold in the northwestern India to Assam in the east --
the extent of Asoka Empire and the outlying areas..
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Bhujimol script
Bhujimol is the name of the most ancient form of the Nepali script.
In 2003, a brick was discovered in Kathmandu
(Nepal), in the course of reconstruction of the Dhando Chaitya, bearing inscriptions in both Brahmi and Bhujimol: The upper face is inscribed with Cha Ru
Wa Ti in Brahmi, and with Cha Ru Wa Ti Dhande / He Tu Pra Bha in the
Newari Bhujimol script. There are Swastika (Sanskrit
svastikaḥ, sign of good luck, swastika, from svasti,
well-being.) marks at the two ends of the upper face with a Chakra mark in between. The brick measures 35.5cm x 23cm x 7cm
and weighs 8.6 kg. The brick may date to as early as the 3rd century BC. The previously earliest known inscription in the
Kathmandu valley dated to the 6th century, at the Changu Narayan in Mandeva. The inscription is interpreted to refer to
Charumati, a daughter of king Ashoka's.
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Brahmi script
5th century BCE to 4th century CE,
The Brahmi script is one of the most important writing systems in the world by virtue of its
time depth and influence. It represents the earliest post-Indus corpus of texts, and some of the
earliest historical inscriptions found in India. Most importantly, it is the ancestor to hundreds
of scripts found in South, Southeast, and East Asia.
This elegant script appeared in India most certainly by the 5th century BC (UKT:
the time line corresponds with the birth of Gottama Buddha), but the fact that
it had many local variants even in the early texts suggests that its origin lies further back in
time. There are several theories on to the origin of the Brahmi script. The first theory is that
Brahmi has a
West Semitic
origin. For instance, the symbol for a resembles Semitic letter 'alif.
Similarly, dha, tha, la, and ra all
appear quite close to their Semitic counterparts. Another theory, from a slightly different school
of thought, proposes a
Southern Semitic
origin. Finally, the third theory holds that the Brahmi script came from
Indus Valley Script. However,
(at least in Lawrence K Lo's opinion), the lack of any textual evidence between the end of the Harappan period at
around 1900 BC and the first Brahmi and Kharoshthi inscriptions at roughly 500 BC makes the
Indus origin of Brahmi highly unlikely. Yet on the other hand, the way Brahmi, and its relative
Kharosthi,
works is quite different from Semitic scripts, and may point to either a stimulus-diffusion or
even indigenous origin. The situation is complex and confusing, and more research should be
conducted to either prove or disprove any of the theories.
UKT: It has been suggested that Myanmar akhkara was derived from a South
Indian script, most probably Telugu. In order that you can decide for yourself
to which script is Myanmar similar -- to Brahmi or to Telugu -- I have
presented both scripts. However, please remember that I do not speak Telugu
and there might be errors in my presentation of the Telugu script.
Please note the Brahmi script was that presented on the Asoka pillars
(Fourteen
Rock Edicts), and since the language used in the edicts found in the
eastern part of the sub-continent is a type of Magadhi, probably the official
language of Asoka's court, it might be more proper to call it as Magada
script or Asoka script rather than Brahmi script. My question is, since
there has always been an overland connection between Nepal, Assam and Myanmar,
is it possible that Myanmar-script need not be derived from a South Indian
script. Myanmar script could very well be an ancient
script similar to Magadhi or the script of King Asoka -- the greatest Buddhist
king the world has ever seen. -- See The Edicts of King Asoka given
below
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Beloved-of-the-Gods, King Piyadasi, has caused this Dhamma edict to be
written.[1] Here (in my domain) no living beings are to be slaughtered or
offered in sacrifice. Nor should festivals be held, for
Beloved-of-the-Gods, King Piyadasi, sees much to object to in such
festivals, although there are some festivals that Beloved-of-the-Gods,
King Piyadasi, does approve of.
Formerly, in the kitchen of Beloved-of-the-Gods, King Piyadasi,
hundreds of thousands of animals were killed every day to make curry. But
now with the writing of this Dhamma edict only three creatures, two
peacocks and a deer are killed, and the deer not always. And in time, not
even these three creatures will be killed |
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Brahmi is a "syllabic alphabet", meaning that each sign can be either a simple
consonant or a syllable with the consonant and the inherent vowel /a/. Other syllabic alphabets
outside of South Asia include
Old Persian and
Meroïtic.
However, unlike these two system, Brahmi (and all subsequent Brahmi-derived scripts) indicates
the same consonant with a different vowel by drawing extra strokes, called matras, attached
to the character. Ligatures are used to indicate consonant clusters.
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In the following section the aksharas of both basic Kharosthi and basic Brahmi script
are presented. There are many variations to the basic letter
form, but Lawrence Lo had simplified them, and had presented at the most canonical shape.
UKT: I have split up the original charts for ease of comparison and have
included Myanmar and Telegu characters. As in the case
of all presenting all Brahmi-derived scripts the vowel and consonant aksharas
are presented in two groups. I have followed the usual practice of presenting
the consonants: as regular consonants (varg) and semivowels and others (non-varg)
groups.
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Vowel aksharas
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Consonant aksharas
In keeping with the tradition the consonant aksharas are divided into two groups:
1 Varg -- the group-able made up of regular consonants -- rows r1 to r5
2. non-Varg -- ungroupable made up of semivowels, etc. -- rows r6 and r7
The following tables are redrawn in accordance with the traditional way of
presenting Myanmar aksharas. Note the inclusion of {a.} which is considered both
as a vowel and a consonant.
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Example in Kharosthi and Brahmi, of strokes added to indicate different vowels following the consonant
{ka.} and {la.}
Kharosthi:
Brahmi: 
Related links:
•
Languages and Scripts of India
•
One of earliest Buddhist manuscripts acquired by University of Washington,
with picture of the Buddhist text written in Gandhari.
•
Early Buddhist Manuscripts
Project, with a lot of stuff about Kharosthi.
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Few lines about Brahmi Script
http://brahmi.sourceforge.net/
Brahmi script appeared in India most certainly by the 5th century BC, but the fact that just
like the Greek alphabet, it has many local variants, which suggests that its origin lies further
back in time. It is in this script that the great Indian king Asoka (UKT: Asoka
was the person most responsible for the spread of Buddhism.) inscribed his laws onto
monumental columns.
The earliest real documents written in Brahmi date back to the 3rd century BC, and already then
there existed several varieties of it. Brahmi quickly became the official script of religious
texts and cults, and therefore spread over all India. At that very time another script, Kharosthi,
was spreading in the country, but Brahmi finally prevailed.
The Brahmi script was the ancestor of all Indian writing systems, including the Devanagari.
In addition, many Asian scripts, such as Burmese, Thai, Tibetan, and even Japanese to a very small
extent (vowel order), were also derived from Indian script. Thus the Brahmi script was the Indian
equivalent of the Greek script that gave arise to a host of different systems.
For more information on Brahmi Script visit
http://www.ancientscripts.com/brahmi.html
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