Editing Brahmi script (section)

==Descendants==
{{Main|Brahmic scripts}}
[[File:Delhi-Topra pillar Brahmi and Nagari.jpg|thumb|1800 years separate these two inscriptions: Brahmi script of the 3rd century BCE ([[Edict of Ashoka]]), and its derivative, 16th century CE [[Devanagari]] script (1524 CE), on the [[Ashokan Edicts in Delhi|Delhi-Topra pillar]].]]
Over the course of a millennium, Brahmi developed into numerous regional scripts. Over time, these regional scripts became associated with the local languages. A Northern Brahmi gave rise to the [[Gupta script]] during the [[Gupta Empire]], sometimes also called "Late Brahmi" (used during the 5th century), which in turn diversified into a number of cursives during the Middle Ages, including the [[Siddhaṃ script]] (6th century) and [[Śāradā script]] (9th century).

Southern Brahmi gave rise to the [[Grantha alphabet]] (6th century), the [[Vatteluttu alphabet]] (8th century), and due to the [[Hinduism in Southeast Asia|contact of Hinduism with Southeast Asia]] during the early centuries CE, also gave rise to the [[Baybayin]] in the [[Philippines]], the [[Javanese script]] in [[Indonesia]], the [[Khmer alphabet]] in [[Cambodia]], and the [[Old Mon script]] in [[Burma]].

Also in the Brahmic family of scripts are several [[Central Asia]]n scripts such as [[Tibetan alphabet|Tibetan]], [[Tocharian alphabet|Tocharian]] (also called slanting Brahmi), and the one used to write the [[Saka language]].

The Brahmi script also evolved into the [[Nagari script]], which in turn evolved into [[Devanagari]] and [[Nandinagari]]. Both were used to write [[Sanskrit]], until the latter was merged into the former. The resulting script is widely adopted across India to write Sanskrit, [[Marathi language|Marathi]], [[Hindi]] and its dialects, and [[Konkani language|Konkani]].

The arrangement of Brahmi was adopted as the modern order of Japanese [[kana]], though the letters themselves are unrelated.<ref>{{cite book|first=Janet S. (Shibamoto)|last=Smith|chapter=Japanese Writing|editor=Daniels, Peter T. |editor2=Bright, William|title=The World's Writing Systems|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|pages=[https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780195079937/page/209 209–17]|year=1996|isbn=0-19-507993-0|title-link=The World's Writing Systems}}</ref>
{{clear}}
{{Brahmi-Gupta-Devanagari}}

===Possible tangential relationships===

Some authors have theorized that some of the basic letters of [[hangul]] may have been influenced by the [['Phags-pa script]] of the [[Mongol Empire]], itself a derivative of the [[Tibetan alphabet]], a Brahmi script (see [[Origin of Hangul]]).{{sfn|Ledyard|1994|p=336–349}}<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Daniels|first1=Peter T.|title=On Writing Syllables: Three Episodes of Script Transfer|journal=Studies in the Linguistic Sciences|date=Spring 2000|volume=30|issue=1|pages=73–86|url=https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/bitstream/handle/2142/9639/SLS2000v30.1-09Daniels.pdf?sequence=2|access-date=2014-06-11|archive-date=2021-10-08|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211008230542/https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/bitstream/handle/2142/9639/SLS2000v30.1-09Daniels.pdf?sequence=2|url-status=live}}</ref> However, one of the authors, Gari Ledyard, on whose work much of this theorized connection rests, cautions against giving 'Phags-pa much credit in the development of Hangul:

{{blockquote|I have devoted much space and discussion to the role of the Mongol ʼPhags-pa alphabet in the origin of the Korean alphabet, but it should be clear to any reader that in the total picture, that role was quite limited. [...] The origin of the Korean alphabet is, in fact, not a simple matter at all. Those who say it is "based" in ʼPhags-pa are partly right; those who say it is "based" on abstract drawings of articulatory organs are partly right.... Nothing would disturb me more, after this study is published, than to discover in a work on the history of writing a statement like the following: "According to recent investigations, the Korean alphabet was derived from the Mongol ʼPhags-pa script" ... ʼPhags-pa contributed none of the things that make this script perhaps the most remarkable in the world.<ref>Gari Keith Ledyard (1966). ''The Korean language reform of 1446: the origin, background, and early history of the Korean alphabet'', University of California, pp. 367–368, 370, 376.</ref>}}