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Kharosthi: Notable Features

The Kharosthi script was invented in the 3rd century BC, possibly derived from Aramaic. It was used in ancient Gandhara and along the Silk Road until the 7th century AD. Kharosthi was an abugida writing system where consonants had inherent vowels that could be changed with diacritics. It was used to write Gandhari, Sanskrit, and Pali and was deciphered in the 19th century using bilingual inscriptions.

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129 views

Kharosthi: Notable Features

The Kharosthi script was invented in the 3rd century BC, possibly derived from Aramaic. It was used in ancient Gandhara and along the Silk Road until the 7th century AD. Kharosthi was an abugida writing system where consonants had inherent vowels that could be changed with diacritics. It was used to write Gandhari, Sanskrit, and Pali and was deciphered in the 19th century using bilingual inscriptions.

Uploaded by

Joy Lahierie
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Kharosthi
The Kharosthi, or Kharoṣṭhī, script was invented sometime during the 3rd century BC, and was
possibly derived from the Aramaic script. It was used in Gandhara, an ancient kingdom in what is now the northwest of
Pakistan, and the Jalalabad district of Afghanistan. Kharosthi texts have also been found along the Silk Road in Bactria,
Kushan, Sogdia, and in parts of China.

By the 4th century AD the script was no longer used in Gandhara, but may have been used until the 7th centuries in places
such as Khotan / Hotan ( 和田 ), in what is now Xinjiang in the northeast of China.

Kharosthi has no known descendants, although it is possible that the Old Turkic (Orkhon) script may have developed from
Kharoshthi.

Kharoshti was deciphered during the 19th century by James Prinsep, Christian Lassen, C.L. Grotefend and Edwin Norris.
Bilingual inscriptions in Gandhari and Greek on coins helped with the decipherment. Since then further material has been
found and the script is now better understood.

Notable features
Type of writing system: Abugida / Syllabic Alphabet - each letter has an inherent vowel /a/. Other vowels are indicated
using diacritics.
Writing direction: right to left in horizontal lines.

Used to write
Gandhari, of Gāndhārī, a Prakrit language used in inscriptions in the Kharosthi script between the 3rd century BC and the
4th century AD, and possibly until the 7th century AD.

Sanskrit (संस्कृ तम्), a classical language of India, which is still used as a religious and ceremonial language, and as a
spoken language to some extent.

Pali (पालि), the classical language of Theravada Buddhism that was first used in Sri Lanka during the 1st century BC.

Kharosthi script
Consonants
Sample text

Links
Information about Kharosthi and Gandhara
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kharosthi
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gāndhārī_language
https://www.ancient.eu/Kharosthi_Script/
http://www.ancientindia.co.uk/writing/explore/b_kharosthi.html
http://depts.washington.edu/ebmp/software.html
http://std.dkuug.dk/jtc1/sc2/wg2/docs/n2524.pdf
http://depts.washington.edu/ebmp/downloads/Glass_2000.pdf
https://depts.washington.edu/silkroad/texts/niyadocts.html

ALPHABETUM - a Unicode font specifically designed for ancient scripts, including classical & medieval Latin, ancient
Greek, Etruscan, Oscan, Umbrian, Faliscan, Messapic, Picene, Iberian, Celtiberian, Gothic, Runic, Old & Middle English,
Hebrew, Sanskrit, Old Nordic, Ogham, Kharosthi, Glagolitic, Old Cyrillic, Phoenician, Avestan, Ugaritic, Linear B, Anatolian
scripts, Coptic, Cypriot, Brahmi, Old Persian cuneiform: http://guindo.pntic.mec.es/~jmag0042/alphabet.html

Some of the writing systems used to write Sanskrit


Bhaiksuki, Brāhmi, Devanāgari, Galik, Grantha, Gupta, Kadamba, Kharosthi, Nandinagari, Sharda, Siddham, Thai, Tibetan

Abugidas / Syllabic alphabets


Ahom, Aima, Arleng, Badagu, Badlit, Basahan, Balinese, Balti-A, Balti-B, Batak, Baybayin, Bengali, Bhaiksuki, Bhujimol,
Bilang-bilang, Bima, Blackfoot, Brahmi, Buhid, Burmese, Carrier, Chakma, Cham, Cree, Dehong Dai, Devanagari, Dham Lipi,
Dhankari / Sirmauri, Ditema, Dives Akuru, Dogra, Ethiopic, Evēla Akuru, Fraser, Gond, Goykanadi, Grantha, Gujarati, Gunjala
Gondi, Gupta, Gurmukhi, Halbi Lipi, Hanifi, Hanuno'o, Hočąk, Ibalnan, Inuktitut, Jaunsari Takri, Javanese, Kaithi, Kadamba,
Kamarupi, Kannada, Kawi, Kerinci, Kharosthi, Khema, Khe Prih, Khmer, Khojki, Khudabadi, Kirat Rai, Kōchi, Kulitan, Kurukh
Banna, Lampung, Lanna, Lao, Lepcha, Limbu, Lontara/Makasar, Lota Ende, Magar Akkha, Mahajani, Malayalam, Manpuri /
Meitei (Modern), Manpuri (Old), Marchen, Meroïtic, Masarm Gondi, Modi, Mon, Mongolian Horizontal Square Script,
Multani, Nandinagari, Newa, New Tai Lue, Ojibwe, Odia, Pahawh Hmong, Pallava, Phags-pa, Purva Licchavi, Qiang / Rma,
Ranjana, Rejang (Kaganga), Sasak, Savara, Satera Jontal, Shan, Sharda, Siddham, Sinhala, Sorang Sompeng, Sourashtra,
Soyombo, Sukhothai, Sundanese, Syloti Nagri, Tagbanwa, Takri, Tamil, Tanchangya (Ka-Pat), Tani, Thaana, Telugu, Thai,
Tibetan, Tigalari, Tikamuli, Tocharian, Tolong Siki, Vatteluttu, Warang Citi

Other writing systems

Page last modified: 15.03.23

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