Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox Writing system Template:Contains special characters Template:Alphabet Template:Sidebar with collapsible groups
Kharosthi script (Template:Langx), also known as the Gandhari script (Template:Langx),<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> was an ancient script originally developed in the Gandhara Region of modern-day Pakistan,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> between the 5th and 3rd century BCE.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>"When these alphabets were first deciphered, scholars gave them different names such as 'Indian-Pali' for Brahmi and 'Arian-Pali' for Kharosthi, but these terms are no longer in use." in Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Sfn used primarily by the people of Gandhara alongside various parts of South Asia and Central Asia.<ref name="CUP">Template:Cite journal</ref> it remained in use until it died out in its homeland around the 5th century CE.<ref name="CUP"/>
It was also in use in Bactria, the Kushan Empire, Sogdia, and along the Silk Road. There is some evidence it may have survived until the 7th century in Khotan and Niya, both cities in East Turkestan.
HistoryEdit
The name Kharosthi may derive from the Hebrew kharosheth, a Semitic word for writing,<ref name=brahmi_cuneiform/> or from Old Iranian *xšaθra-pištra, which means "royal writing".<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> The script was earlier also known as Indo-Bactrian script, Kabul script and Arian-Pali.<ref>"When these alphabets were first deciphered, scholars gave them different names such as 'Indian-Pali' for Brahmi and 'Arian-Pali' for Kharosthi, but these terms are no longer in use." in Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Kharosthi. Great Russian Encyclopedia.</ref>
Scholars are not in agreement as to whether the Kharosthi script evolved gradually, or was the deliberate work of a single inventor. An analysis of the script forms shows a clear dependency on the Aramaic alphabet but with extensive modifications. Kharosthi seems to be derived from a form of Aramaic used in administrative work during the reign of Darius the Great, rather than the monumental cuneiform used for public inscriptions.<ref name=brahmi_cuneiform/> One theory suggests that the Aramaic script arrived with the Achaemenid conquest of the Indus Valley in 500 BCE and evolved over the next 200+ years to reach its final form by the 3rd century BCE where it appears in some of the Edicts of Ashoka. However, no intermediate forms have yet been found to confirm this evolutionary model, and rock and coin inscriptions from the 3rd century BCE onward show a unified and standard form. An inscription in Aramaic dating back to the 4th century BCE was found in Sirkap, testifying to the presence of the Aramaic script in present-day Pakistan. According to Sir John Marshall, this seems to confirm that Kharoshthi was later developed from Aramaic.<ref>A Guide to Taxila, John Marshall, 1918</ref>
While the Brahmi script remained in use for centuries, Kharosthi seems to have been abandoned after the 2nd–3rd century AD. Because of the substantial differences between the Semitic-derived Kharosthi script and its successors, knowledge of Kharosthi may have declined rapidly once the script was supplanted by Brahmi-derived scripts, until its re-discovery by Western scholars in the 19th century.<ref name=brahmi_cuneiform/>
The Kharosthi script was deciphered separately almost concomitantly by James Prinsep (in 1835, published in the Journal of the Asiatic society of Bengal, India)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> and by Carl Ludwig Grotefend (in 1836, published in Blätter für Münzkunde, Germany),<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> with Grotefend "evidently not aware" of Prinsep's article, followed by Christian Lassen (1838).Template:Sfn They all used the bilingual coins of the Indo-Greek Kingdom (obverse in Greek, reverse in Pali, using the Kharosthi script). This in turn led to the reading of the Edicts of Ashoka, some of which were written in the Kharosthi script (the Major Rock Edicts at Mansehra and Shahbazgarhi).<ref name=brahmi_cuneiform>Template:Cite journal</ref>
The study of the Kharosthi script was recently invigorated by the discovery of the Gandhāran Buddhist texts, a set of birch bark manuscripts written in Kharosthi, discovered near the Afghan city of Hadda just west of the Khyber Pass in Pakistan. The manuscripts were donated to the British Library in 1994. The entire set of British Library manuscripts are dated to the 1st century CE, although other collections from different institutions contain Kharosthi manuscripts from 1st century BCE to 3rd century CE,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>University of Washington. "The Early Buddhist Manuscripts Project": "...These manuscripts date from the first century BCE to the third century CE, and as such are the oldest surviving Buddhist manuscripts as well as the oldest manuscripts from South Asia..." Retrieved 18 September 2021.</ref> making them the oldest Buddhist manuscripts yet discovered.
AlphabetEdit
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Kharosthi is mostly written right to left. Some variations in both the number and order of syllables occur in extant texts.Template:Citation needed
The Kharosthi alphabet is also known as the arapacana alphabet, and follows the order.
- a ra pa ca na
- la da ba ḍa ṣa
- va ta ya ṣṭa
- ka sa ma ga stha
- ja śva dha śa kha
- kṣa sta jñā rtha (or ha)
- bha cha sma hva tsa
- gha ṭha ṇa pha ska
- ysa śca ṭa ḍha
This alphabet was used in Gandharan Buddhism as a mnemonic for the Pañcaviṃśatisāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra, a series of verses on the nature of phenomena.
ConsonantsEdit
A bar above a consonant Template:Angbr can be used to indicate various modified pronunciations depending on the consonant, such as nasalization or aspiration. It is used with k, ṣ, g, c, j, n, m, ś, ṣ, s, and h.
The cauda Template:Angbr changes how consonants are pronounced in various ways, particularly fricativization. It is used with g, j, ḍ, t, d, p, y, v, ś, and s.
The dot below Template:Angbr is used with m and h, but its precise phonetic function is unknown.
Vowels and syllablesEdit
Kharosthi includes only one standalone vowel character, which is used for initial vowels in words.Template:Cn Other initial vowels use the a character modified by diacritics. Each syllable includes the short /a/ sound by defaultTemplate:Citation needed, with other vowels being indicated by diacritic marks.
Long vowels are marked with the diacritic Template:Angbr. An anusvara Template:Angbr indicates nasalization of the vowel or a nasal segment following the vowel. A visarga Template:Angbr indicates the unvoiced syllable-final /h/. It can also be used as a vowel length marker. A further diacritic, the double ring below Template:Angbr appears with vowels -a and -u in some Central Asian documents, but its precise phonetic function is unknown.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Salomon has established that the vowel order is /a e i o u/, akin to Semitic scripts, rather than the usual vowel order for Indic scripts /a i u e o/.
PunctuationEdit
Nine Kharosthi punctuation marks have been identified:<ref name="L203314R2"/>
| Template:Letter | Template:Letter | Template:Letter | Template:Letter | Template:Letter | Template:Letter | Template:Letter | Template:Letter | Template:Letter |
NumeralsEdit
Kharosthi included a set of numerals that are reminiscent of Roman numerals and Psalter Pahlavi Numerals.Template:Citation needed The system is based on an additive and a multiplicative principle, but does not have the subtractive feature used in the Roman numeral system.<ref>Graham Flegg, Numbers: Their History and Meaning, Courier Dover Publications, 2002, Template:ISBN, p. 67f.</ref>
| Template:Letter | Template:Letter | Template:Letter | Template:Letter | Template:Letter | Template:Letter | Template:Letter | Template:Letter |
The numerals, like the letters, are written from right to left. There is no zero and no separate signs for the digits 5–9. Numbers are written additively, so, for example, the number 1996 would be written as Template:Script.
UnicodeEdit
{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}}
Kharosthi was added to the Unicode Standard in March 2005 with the release of version 4.1.
The Unicode block for Kharosthi is U+10A00–U+10A5F:
Template:Unicode chart Kharoshthi
GalleryEdit
- Kharoshti script on a wooden plate, National Museum, New Delhi.jpg
Kharosthi script on a wooden plate in the National Museum of India in New Delhi
- Kharoshti script on a wooden plate, National Museum, New Delhi 01.jpg
Kharosthi script on a wooden plate in the National Museum of India in New Delhi
- Kharoshti script on a wooden plate, National Museum, New Delhi 02.jpg
Kharosthi script on a wooden plate in the National Museum of India in New Delhi
- Kharosthi script on wood, Niya, 3rd century AD - National Musem, New Delhi - IMG 2216.JPG
Kharosthi script on wood from Niya, 3rd century CE
- Niya BLH170 OR821114231424 W.jpg
Double-wedged wooden tablet in Gandhari written in Kharosthi script, 2nd to 4th century CE
- 佉卢文木牍.jpg
Wooden tablet inscribed with Kharosthi characters (2nd–3rd century CE). Excavated at the Niya ruins in Xinjiang, China. Collection of the Xinjiang Museum.
- Loulan kharosthi document.jpg
Wooden Kharosthi document found at Loulan, China by Aurel Stein
- Fragmentary Buddhist text - Gandhara birchbark scrolls (1st C), part 31 - BL Or. 14915.jpg
Fragmentary Kharosthi Buddhist text on birchbark (Part of a group of early manuscripts from Gandhara), first half of 1st century CE. Collection of the British Library in London
- MenanderCoin.jpg
Silver bilingual tetradrachm of Menander I (155-130 BCE). Obverse: Greek legend, ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΣΩΤΗΡΟΣ ΜΕΝΑΝΔΡΟΥ (BASILEOS SOTEROS MENANDROU), literally, "Of Saviour King Menander". Reverse: Kharosthi legend: MAHARAJA TRATARASA MENADRASA "Saviour King Menander". Athena advancing right, with thunderbolt and shield. Taxila mint mark.
- Coin of Menander Dikaiou.jpg
Coin of Menander II Dikaiou Obverse: Menander wearing a diadem. Greek legend: ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΔΙΚΑΙΟΥ ΜΕΝΑΝΔΡΟΥ "King Menander the Just". Reverse: Winged figure bearing diadem and palm, with halo, probably Nike. The Kharoshthi legend reads MAHARAJASA DHARMIKASA MENADRASA "Great King, Menander, follower of the Dharma, Menander".
- Hashtnagar Pedestal Rajar Bodhisattva Gandhara 384 exhib British Museum.jpg
The Indo-Greek Hashtnagar Pedestal symbolizes bodhisattva and ancient Kharosthi script. Found near Rajar in Gandhara, Pakistan. Exhibited at the British Museum in London.
- Mathura Lion Capital Detail.jpg
Mathura lion capital with addorsed lions and Prakrit inscriptions in Kharoshthi script
- Han dynasty Kharoshthi inscription.jpg
Fragments of stone well railings with a Buddhist inscription written in Kharoshthi script (late Han period to the Three Kingdoms era). Discovered at Luoyang, China in 1924.
- Ashoka edict shahbaz-garhi1.png
Portion of Emperor Ashoka's Rock Edicts at Shahbaz Garhi
- Ashoka edict shahbaz-garhi2.png
Portion of Emperor Ashoka's Rock Edicts at Shahbaz Garhi
- Document on Wooden Tablet written in Kharosthi Script (cropped).jpg
Document on Wooden Stick written in Kharoshthi script, 3rd-4th century CE.
See alsoEdit
Further readingEdit
ReferencesEdit
Further readingEdit
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External linksEdit
- Gandhari.org Catalog and Corpus of all known Kharoṣṭhī (Gāndhārī) texts
- Indoskript 2.0, a paleographic database of Brahmi and Kharosthi
- A Preliminary Study of Kharoṣṭhī Manuscript Paleography by Andrew Glass, University of Washington (2000)