Kharosthi#Numerals

File:Brahmic script travel from India.png

The name Kharosthi may derive from the Hebrew kharosheth, a Semitic word for writing, or from Old Iranian *xšaθra-pištra, which means "royal writing".{{cite journal |last1=Bailey |first1=H. W. |title=A Half-Century of Irano-Indian Studies |journal=Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland |date=1972 |volume=104 |issue=2 |pages=99–110 |doi=10.1017/S0035869X00157466 |jstor=25203366 |s2cid=163349913 }} The script was earlier also known as Indo-Bactrian script, Kabul script and Arian-Pali."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 {{cite book |last1=Upāsaka |first1=Sī Esa |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=P19jAAAAMAAJ |title=History of palæography of Mauryan Brāhmī script |last2=Mahāvihāra |first2=Nava Nālandā |date=2002 |publisher=Nava Nālanda Mahāvihāra |isbn=9788188242047 |page=6 |language=en}}[https://bigenc.ru/linguistics/text/2126248 Kharosthi]. Great Russian Encyclopedia.

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. 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.[https://archive.org/details/cu31924024121125 A Guide to Taxila, John Marshall, 1918]

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.

The Kharosthi script was deciphered separately almost concomitantly by James Prinsep (in 1835, published in the Journal of the Asiatic society of Bengal, India){{cite book |title=Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal Vol IV 1835 |pages=327–348 |url=https://archive.org/details/JournalOfTheAsiaticSocietyOfBengalVolIv1835/page/n391/mode/2up |language=English}} and by Carl Ludwig Grotefend (in 1836, published in Blätter für Münzkunde, Germany),{{cite book |last1=Grote |first1=Hermann |title=Blätter für Münzkunde. Hannoversche numismatische Zeitschrift. Hrsg. von H. Grote |date=1836 |publisher=Hahn |pages=309–314 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hVtfAAAAcAAJ |language=de}} with Grotefend "evidently not aware" of Prinsep's article, followed by Christian Lassen (1838).{{sfn|Salomon|1998|pp=210–212}} 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).{{cite journal |last1=Dias |first1=Malini |last2=Miriyagalla |first2=Das |title=Brahmi Script in Relation to Mesopotamian Cuneiform |journal=Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Sri Lanka |date=2007 |volume=53 |pages=91–108 |jstor=23731201 }}

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,{{cite book |last1=Richard |first1=Salomon |title=Buddhist Literature of Ancient Gandhara: An Introduction with Selected Translations |date=2018 |publisher=Simon and Schuster |isbn=978-1-61429-185-5 |page=1 |quote=…Subsequent studies have confirmed that these and other similar materials that were discovered in the following years date from between the first century BCE and the third century CE… }}University of Washington. [https://asian.washington.edu/early-buddhist-manuscripts-project "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. making them the oldest Buddhist manuscripts yet discovered.

{{More citations needed|date=June 2019}}

File:Dhrama Dipi inscription in the Shahbazgarhi First Edict in the Kharosthi script.jpg ({{langx|pra|𐨢𐨌𐨨𐨡𐨁𐨤𐨁|dhrāma dipu|label=Prakrit}}) in Edict No. 1 of the Major Rock Edict of Ashoka (circa 250 BCE).{{cite book |title=Inscriptions of Asoka. New Edition by E. Hultzsch |date=1925 |pages=56–57 |url=https://archive.org/stream/InscriptionsOfAsoka.NewEditionByE.Hultzsch/HultzschCorpusAsokaSearchable#page/n197/mode/2up}}]]

Kharosthi is mostly written right to left. Some variations in both the number and order of syllables occur in extant texts.{{Citation needed|date=March 2019|reason=see highlighted by Professor Richard Salomon of the University of Washington, but need to be more specific than that}}

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.

A bar above a consonant {{angbr|{{Script|Khar|𐨸}}}} 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 {{angbr|{{Script|Khar|𐨹}}}} 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 {{angbr|{{Script|Khar|𐨺}}}} is used with m and h, but its precise phonetic function is unknown.

File:Artemidoros coin obverse with transliteration.jpg king Artemidoros Aniketos, reading Maues, King of kings and son of Artemidorus, ({{langx|pgd|{{Script|Khar|𐨪𐨗𐨟𐨁𐨪𐨗𐨯𐨨𐨆𐨀𐨯𐨤𐨂𐨟𐨯𐨕𐨪𐨿𐨟𐨅𐨨𐨁𐨡𐨆𐨪𐨯

}}|Rajatirajasa Moasa putasa cha Artemidorasa}}).

{{cite journal |last1=Bopearachchi |first1=Osmund |title=Was Indo-Greek Artemidoros the son of Indo-Sctythian Maues? |journal=Numismatika Kronika |date=September 2008 |issue=27 |pages=25-36 |access-date=18 August 2024|url=https://www.academia.edu/14260604/Was_Indo-Greek_Artemidoros_the_son_of_Indo-Scythian_Maues}}]]

Kharosthi includes only one standalone vowel character, which is used for initial vowels in words.{{cn|date=March 2019}} Other initial vowels use the a character modified by diacritics. Each syllable includes the short /a/ sound by default{{Citation needed|date=March 2019}}, with other vowels being indicated by diacritic marks.

Long vowels are marked with the diacritic {{angbr|{{Script|Khar|𐨌}}}}. An anusvara {{angbr|{{Script|Khar|𐨎}}}} indicates nasalization of the vowel or a nasal segment following the vowel. A visarga {{angbr|{{Script|Khar|𐨏}}}} indicates the unvoiced syllable-final /h/. It can also be used as a vowel length marker. A further diacritic, the double ring below {{angbr|{{Script|Khar|𐨍}}}} appears with vowels -a and -u in some Central Asian documents, but its precise phonetic function is unknown.{{cite web|url=https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2002/02364-doublering.pdf|title=L2/02-364: Proposal to add one combining diacritic to the UCS|date=2003-09-29|first1=Andrew|last1=Glass|first2=Stefan|last2=Baums|first3=Richard|last3=Salomon}}

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/.

{{notelist|group=kvowels}}

Nine Kharosthi punctuation marks have been identified:

Kharosthi included a set of numerals that are reminiscent of Roman numerals and Psalter Pahlavi Numerals.{{citation needed|date=July 2018}} The system is based on an additive and a multiplicative principle, but does not have the subtractive feature used in the Roman numeral system.Graham Flegg, Numbers: Their History and Meaning, Courier Dover Publications, 2002, {{ISBN|978-0-486-42165-0}}, p. 67f.

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 {{Script|Khar|𐩇𐩃𐩃𐩀𐩆𐩅𐩅𐩅𐩅𐩄𐩃𐩁}}.

{{fs interlinear|indent=2|italics1=no

|𐩅𐩅𐩅𐩅𐩄𐩃𐩁 𐩃𐩃𐩀𐩆 𐩇

| (2+4+10+20+20+20+20) + 100x(1+4+4) + 1000

|}}

{{Main|Kharoshthi (Unicode block)}}

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:

{{Unicode chart Kharoshthi}}

widths="160">

File: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

File: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

File: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

File:Kharosthi script on wood, Niya, 3rd century AD - National Musem, New Delhi - IMG 2216.JPG|Kharosthi script on wood from Niya, 3rd century CE

File:Niya BLH170 OR821114231424 W.jpg|Double-wedged wooden tablet in Gandhari written in Kharosthi script, 2nd to 4th century CE

File: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.

File:Loulan kharosthi document.jpg|Wooden Kharosthi document found at Loulan, China by Aurel Stein

File: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

File: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.

File:KingGurgamoyaKhotan1stCenturyCE.jpg|Coin of King Gurgamoya of Khotan (1st century CE). Obverse: Kharoshthi legend "Of the great king of kings, king of Khotan, Gurgamoya. Reverse: Chinese legend: "Twenty-four grain copper coin".

File: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".

File: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.

File:Mathura Lion Capital Detail.jpg|Mathura lion capital with addorsed lions and Prakrit inscriptions in Kharoshthi script

File: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.

File:Ashoka edict shahbaz-garhi1.png|Portion of Emperor Ashoka's Rock Edicts at Shahbaz Garhi

File:Ashoka edict shahbaz-garhi2.png|Portion of Emperor Ashoka's Rock Edicts at Shahbaz Garhi

File:Document on Wooden Tablet written in Kharosthi Script (cropped).jpg|Document on Wooden Stick written in Kharoshthi script, 3rd-4th century CE.

• Brahmi
• History of Afghanistan
• History of Pakistan
• Pre-Islamic scripts in Afghanistan

{{Commons category|Kharoshthi}}

• [https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_r2ctAAAAYAAJ Kaschgar und die Kharoṣṭhī (1903)]

{{Reflist}}

File:ISO 639 Icon pra.svg

• {{Cite book |last=Dani |first=Ahmad Hassan |title=Kharoshthi Primer |year=1979 |series=Lahore Museum Publication Series |volume=16 |location=Lahore Museum |oclc=10695864}}
• {{cite book | title=The World's Writing Systems | year=1996 | editor1-first=Peter T. | editor1-last=Daniels | editor1-link=Peter T. Daniels | editor2-last=Bright | editor2-first=William | editor2-link=William Bright | publisher=Oxford University Press, Inc | isbn=978-0195079937 | pages=[https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780195079937/page/373 373–383] | url-access=registration | url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780195079937/page/373 }}
• {{Cite book |last=Falk |first=Harry |title=Schrift im alten Indien: Ein Forschungsbericht mit Anmerkungen |publisher=Gunter Narr |year=1993 |isbn=978-3-8233-4271-7 |series=Script Oralia |volume=56 |location=Tübingen |lang=de}}
• {{Cite book |last=Fussman |first=Gérard |title=Annuaire du Collège de France 1988–1989 |pages=507–514 |chapter=Les premiers systèmes d'écriture en Inde |lang=fr}}
• {{Cite book |last=von Hinüber |first=Oscar |title=Der Beginn der Schrift und frühe Schriftlichkeit in Indien |publisher=Franz Steiner |year=1990 |isbn=978-3-515-05627-4 |lang=de}}
• {{Cite book |title=Kharoshthi Manuscripts from Gandhara |publisher=Higher Education Commission of Pakistan |year=2009 |editor-last=Nasim Khan |editor-first=M. |edition=2nd}}
• {{Cite journal |last=Nasim Khan |first=M. |year=2004 |title=Kharoshthi Manuscripts from Gandhara |journal=Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences |volume=XII |issue=1–2 |pages=9–15}}
• {{Cite journal |last=Nasim Khan |first=M. |date=July 1999 |title=Two Dated Kharoshthi Inscriptions from Gandhara |journal=Journal of Asian Civilizations |volume=XXII |issue=1 |pages=99–103}}
• {{Cite journal |last=Nasim Khan |first=M. |date=September 1997 |title=Kharoshthi Inscription from Swabi – Gandhara |journal=The Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences |volume=V |issue=2 |pages=49–52}}
• {{Cite journal |last=Nasim Khan |first=M. |date=March 1997 |title=An Inscribed Relic-Casket from Dir |journal=The Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences |volume=V |issue=1 |pages=21–33}}
• {{Cite book |last=Nasim Khan |first=M |title=Atthariyyat |year=1997 |volume=I |location=Peshawar |pages=131–150 |chapter=Ashokan Inscriptions: A Palaeographical Study}}
• {{Cite journal |last=Norman |first=Kenneth R. |date=1992 |title=The development of writing in India and its effect upon the Pāli canon |journal=Wiener Zeitschrift für die Kunde Südasiens |volume=36 |pages=239–249 |jstor=24010823}}
• {{Cite journal |last=Salomon |first=Richard |date=1990 |title=New Evidence for a Gāndhārī Origin of the Arapacana Syllabary |journal=Journal of the American Oriental Society |volume=110 |issue=2 |pages=255–273 |doi=10.2307/604529 |jstor=604529}}
• {{Cite journal |last=Salomon |first=Richard |date=1 April 1993 |title=An additional note on Aracapana |journal=The Journal of the American Oriental Society |volume=113 |issue=2 |pages=275–277 |doi=10.2307/603034 |jstor=603034 |id={{Gale|A14474853}}}}
• {{Cite book |last=Salomon |first=Richard |title=Indian Epigraphy: A Guide to the Study of Inscriptions in Sanskrit, Prakrit, and the other Indo-Aryan Languages |date=1998 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-535666-3}}
• {{Cite book |last=Salomon |first=Richard |title=Architetti, Capomastri, Artigiani: L'organizzazione Dei Cantieri E Della Produzione Artistica Nell'Asia Ellenistica : Studi Offerti a Domenico Faccenna Nel Suo Ottantesimo Compleanno |date=2006 |publisher=Istituto italiano per l'Africa e l'Oriente |isbn=978-88-85320-36-9 |editor-last=Faccenna |editor-first=Domenico |pages=181–224 |chapter=Kharoṣṭhī syllables used as location markers in Gāndhāran stūpa architecture}}
• {{Cite journal |last=Salomon |first=Richard |date=1995 |title=On the Origin of the Early Indian Scripts |journal=Journal of the American Oriental Society |volume=115 |issue=2 |pages=271–279 |doi=10.2307/604670 |jstor=604670 |id={{ProQuest|217141859}}}}

• [https://gandhari.org Gandhari.org] Catalog and Corpus of all known Kharoṣṭhī (Gāndhārī) texts
• [http://www.indoskript.org Indoskript 2.0], a paleographic database of Brahmi and Kharosthi
• [https://gandhari.org/tmp/glass_2000.pdf A Preliminary Study of Kharoṣṭhī Manuscript Paleography] by Andrew Glass, University of Washington (2000)

{{list of writing systems}}

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