Editing Brahmi script (section)

===Southern Brahmi===
Ashokan inscriptions are found all over India and a few regional variants have been observed. The [[Bhattiprolu alphabet]], with earliest inscriptions dating from a few decades of Ashoka's reign, is believed to have evolved from a southern variant of the Brahmi alphabet. The language used in these inscriptions, nearly all of which have been found upon Buddhist relics, is exclusively Prakrit, though [[Kannada script|Kannada]] and Telugu proper names have been identified in some inscriptions. Twenty-three letters have been identified. The letters ''ga'' and ''sa'' are similar to Mauryan Brahmi, while ''bha'' and ''da'' resemble those of modern [[Kannada script|Kannada]] and [[Telugu script]].

[[Tamil-Brahmi]] is a variant of the Brahmi alphabet that was in use in South India by about the 3rd century BCE, particularly in Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Inscriptions attest their use in parts of Sri Lanka in the same period. The language used in around 70 Southern Brahmi inscriptions discovered in the 20th century have been identified as a Prakrit language.<ref name="mahadevan">{{cite book|author=Iravatham Mahadevan|title=Early Tamil Epigraphy|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DZBkAAAAMAAJ|year=2003|publisher=Harvard University Department of Sanskrit and Indian Studies|isbn=978-0-674-01227-1|pages=91–94|access-date=2018-10-27|archive-date=2019-12-11|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191211084615/https://books.google.com/books?id=DZBkAAAAMAAJ|url-status=live}}; {{cite book|author=Iravatham Mahadevan|title=Tamil-Brahmi Inscriptions|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MuMZAAAAIAAJ|year=1970|publisher=State Department of Archaeology, Government of Tamil Nadu|pages=1–12|access-date=2018-10-27|archive-date=2021-11-04|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211104042608/https://books.google.com/books?id=MuMZAAAAIAAJ|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="spuler1975">{{cite book|author=Bertold Spuler|title=Handbook of Oriental Studies|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Kx4uqyts2t4C&pg=PA44|year=1975|publisher=Brill Academic|isbn=90-04-04190-7|page=44|access-date=2018-10-27|archive-date=2021-11-04|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211104042608/https://books.google.com/books?id=Kx4uqyts2t4C&pg=PA44|url-status=live}}</ref>

In English, the most widely available set of reproductions of Brahmi texts found in Sri Lanka is ''Epigraphia Zeylanica''; in volume&nbsp;1 (1976), many of the inscriptions are dated to the 3rd–2nd century BCE.<ref>Epigraphia Zeylanica: 1904–1912, Volume&nbsp;1.  Government of Sri Lanka, 1976.  http://www.royalasiaticsociety.lk/inscriptions/?q=node/12 {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160826230648/http://www.royalasiaticsociety.lk/inscriptions/?q=node%2F12 |date=2016-08-26}}</ref>

Unlike the edicts of Ashoka, however, the majority of the inscriptions from this early period in Sri Lanka are found above caves. The language of Sri Lanka Brahmi inscriptions has been mostly been Prakrit though some [[Tamil-Brahmi]] inscriptions have also been found, such as the [[Annaicoddai seal]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Raghupathy |first=Ponnambalam |title=Early settlements in Jaffna, an archaeological survey |url=http://www.noolaham.org/wiki/index.php?title=Early_Settlements_in_Jaffna&uselang=en |publisher=Raghupathy |year=1987 |location=Madras |access-date=2015-07-19 |archive-date=2012-06-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120611034232/http://www.noolaham.org/wiki/index.php?title=Early_Settlements_in_Jaffna |url-status=live}}</ref> The earliest widely accepted examples of writing in Brahmi are found in [[Anuradhapura]], [[Sri Lanka]].<ref name="Coningham 1996" />