Brahmi Script:

Origins in the Indus Valley

Louis L. Merriam

louis.merriam@gmail.com
Sidwell Friends School
Washington, DC 20016

Oct 30, 2022

Working draft: Please do not cite without permission.

 Origin of the Brahmi Script

The Brahmi script was one of the most influential writing systems in the

world. Developed in the Iron Age, it was India’s first alphabetic writing system

and was the parent to nearly every South Asian script that followed it (Patel et al.,

2007). While the origins of Brahmi have been debated for well over a century

(Bühler, 1898), this issue is far from settled. One proposal is that Brahmi

emerged from the Aramaic script of the Achaemenid Empire (Salomon, 1998).

According to this theory, when the Achaemenids invaded India in 535 BCE

(Curtis & Tallis, 2005), they introduced their writing system, which then evolved

into Brahmi and was altered to match Prakrit sounds (Salomon, 1998). A

competing proposal holds that Brahmi emerged from the Indus script, a Bronze

Age writing system used by inhabitants of the Indus River Valley Civilization

(Salomon, 1998). While there are shortcomings with both proposals, this paper

will provide new insights relating to the timeline of events, comparisons of

symbols, and archaeological evidence indicating that Brahmi most likely emerged

from the Indus script.

The Aramaic script, like Brahmi, was the parent of a number of important

writing systems that followed, influencing the Hebrew, Mongolian, Manchu, and

Arabic scripts (Daniels & Bright, 1996). The script itself descended from the

Phoenician alphabet (Daniels & Bright, 1996), which in turn emerged from the

Egyptian Hieroglyphs (Fischer, 2004). The script spread around the Middle East

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 Origin of the Brahmi Script

during the Assyrian empire, and was adopted by the Achaemenid empire

(Aramaic Alphabet | Britannica, n.d.), which invaded India in the year 535 BCE

under the reign of Cyrus the Great (Curtis & Tallis, 2005). However, it was only

under Darius the Great who reigned between 522-486 BCE (Curtis & Tallis,

2005) that the Achaemenids truly established a foothold in India, conquering the

Sindh Valley, in what is now Pakistan. The Persians had an enormous influence

on Indian culture, and Achaemenid sites like Taxila would play a vital role in

Indian history (Fleming, n.d.). However, the idea that the Achaemenids

influenced Brahmi is problematic for a multitude of reasons discussed below.

Evaluating the Aramaic Origin Hypothesis

There are several challenges to the Aramaic Origin Hypothesis. The first

concerns the timeline of events relating to the Achaemenid invasion of India and

the emergence of the Brahmi script. According to the Aramaic hypothesis, the

Achaemenids, who invaded Northwest India in 535 BCE (Curtis & Tallis, 2005),

introduced their writing system to the kingdoms of Northern India. However, there

is no archaeological evidence of writing in Northern India until the campaigns of

King Ashoka at around 268-232 BCE (Salomon, 1998). Although not necessarily

a reliable source, the Greek ambassador Meganthesis clearly stated that there

was no writing system within the Mauryan state just 25 years before Ashoka’s

reign and that all tasks were performed from memory (Ancient India As

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 Origin of the Brahmi Script

Described by Megasthenes and Arrian, n.d.). This would then indicate that

Ashoka’s court itself was inspired by Aramaic and designed the Brahmi script

around 250 BCE. However, while writing was, for the most part, nonexistent in

Northern India from the collapse of the Indus Civilization until approximately 250

BCE, early Brahmi writings appeared in Southern India from around 500 BCE on

pottery sherds. For example, in the city of Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka, inscriptions

dating from at least the fifth century BCE have been found (Coningham et al.,

1996), and other sites, like Poruntal in Tamil Nadu, have also yielded important

finds dating from between 520-490 BCE (Rajan & V. P. Yatheeskumar, n.d.).

Though there is some debate over the precise dating of these finds, and varying

political interests have interfered with this research, it can be agreed that Tamil

Brahmi existed from at least 500 BCE (Rajan & V. P. Yatheeskumar, n.d.).

Therefore, how could Southern India have had writing centuries before

Northern India, when Northern India was supposed to be the region that was

introduced to Aramaic first? A second major problem with this hypothesis

concerns fundamental differences between the two scripts. For example, Brahmi

has 40 letters while the Aramaic alphabet has only 22 (Balasubramanian, 2015);

Brahmi contains vowels while Aramaic has none; Brahmi is an Abugida (a script

where diacritics alter the consonant to add a vowel sound) while Aramaic is an

Abjad (no vowels, just consonants). Lastly, if Brahmi did come from Aramaic, one

would expect to see more resemblance between the characters of the two

scripts. But instead, Brahmi bears very little similarity with Aramaic symbols

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 Origin of the Brahmi Script

(Balasubramanian, 2015). Brahmi and Aramaic do share a few noteworthy

similarities, so it is conceivable that Brahmi is a very distant relative of Aramaic.

But the theory states that Aramaic was the direct ancestor, and as I have shown

above, this assertion is without merit.

The Indus script is much more of a mystery than Aramaic. While multiple

theories have been proposed, it is most likely that the people of the Indus Valley

Civilization spoke a Dravidian language (Parpola, 2009) with many words that

would be adopted into Sanskrit. The writing was also probably Logo-Syllabic due

to the work of Asko Parpola (Parpola, 2009), meaning that each character had a

symbolic or syllabic value. Despite these advances, the script remains

undeciphered and much of a mystery to historians.

Most of the writing from this period comes from the famous seals of the

Indus River Valley Civilization; however, by the late Harappan period between

1900 BCE and 1500 BCE, writing had vanished from seals and only remained on

pottery (B. B. Lal, 1960). By the collapse of the Indus River Valley Civilization

around 1500 BCE, the Indus script had gone completely extinct. For a long

period, writing had practically disappeared as a whole from the subcontinent with

the exception of a handful of markings found in various South Indian burial sites.

These Megalithic Graffiti Symbols were observed to have a strong

correspondence with the Indus script (B. B. Lal, 1960).

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 Origin of the Brahmi Script

Hypothesis: The Brahmi script came from the Megalithic Graffiti Symbols

which in turn came from the Indus script.

I have already stated that inscriptions in Brahmi have been found in

Southern India and Sri Lanka as far back as 600-500 BCE (Coningham et al.,

1996); this variant of Southern Brahmi has been given the name Damili or Tamil

Brahmi (Salomon, 1998). During this period it appears that Graffiti symbols are

used interchangeably with what is an early form of the Tamil Brahmi. An example

would be the Anaikoddai Seal, which possesses both scripts:

As previously mentioned, the Graffiti symbols were related to the Indus script. It

seems that eventually, the Megalithic Graffiti Symbols evolved into Tamil Brahmi.

An inscription found at the Late Harappan site of Bet Dwarka, discovered by S.

R. Rao (Rao, 1987), may provide some evidence in support of this:

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 Origin of the Brahmi Script

As others have pointed out, the symbol on the right of the Dwarka inscription

resembles the Tamil Brahmi M(a) letter. This shows that the later Indus script was

beginning to evolve more towards Tamil Brahmi. Furthermore, the symbol seems

to be an evolved version of the common Indus sign , which has been decoded

as ‘fish’ by Asko Parpola (Parpola, 2009). The Dravidic word for fish is Meen

(Parpola, 2009), while the Sanskrit word for fish is Matsya, likely being a loan

word from the Indus or Bactria. In either case, both words start with ‘M’ like the

Tamil M(a) letter. In the same way the Egyptian hieroglyphs eventually evolved

into an alphabet, something similar likely happened to the Indus script. Meen

over time became M(a).

Following this logic, we can compare already deciphered Indus signs with

Brahmi to find similar values as others like Dr. Ramkumar Unnipillai

Santhakumari have attempted (Santhakumari, 2020). is a common Indus sign,

likely meaning spear as deciphered by Irvantham Mahadevan and Asko Parpola

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 Origin of the Brahmi Script

(Parpola, 1997). Spears play an important role in Tamil culture, they are wielded

by the god Kartikeya and are associated with chiefs and kings. It also appears

that the spear was one of the key weapons of the relatively peaceful Indus

Civilization. Several seals depict warriors with spears and a figurine shows a man

thrusting or throwing a javelin. The word for spear is ‘vel’ or ‘vellan’ in Dravidian.

The Brahmi letter​ (va) bears similarity to the Indus sign. Another example

would be with the boat sign ; in Proto-Dravidian, the word for boat is either Ota

or Otam. This sign also resembles the Brahmi symbol (ta). The Indus

character probably means person or man. In Dravidian, this would most likely

be āl/ān, the sign resembles the Brahmi letter (ā). Lastly, this common Indus

sign, , probably means pot/container. This was probably called Panai or bān,

though this could be debated, as there are many other ways to say pot, such as

kalam, kal, or akal; these signs also likely meant measurement, as well as

meaning priest, as suggested by Irvantham Mahadevan. Either case, the Tamil

Brahmi letter for P(a) looks much alike:

A feature worth mentioning is the fact that many letters in Ashokan Brahmi

have altered versions with an added aspirate. For example, the symbol (ta)

has an altered version of (tha). Most of these symbols do not seem to be

entirely new characters but rather changed versions of existing ones as proposed

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 Origin of the Brahmi Script

by Georg Bühler. Since these aspirate versions do not exist in Tamil Brahmi it is

likely they were developed later to match Prakrit aspirate sounds.

Pictorial value Indus Sign Tamil Brahmi Ashokan Brahmi Aramaic

Fish
(This link has
also been
proposed by Dr.
Ramkumar
Unnipillai
Santhakumari.)

Meen Ma M
M(a)

Boat

O’tam/O’ta/Od
T(a) Ta T

Spear/throw/ None
sharp
(This can be
debated as this
reading only
appears in
Tamil and
Malayalam.)

Vel/Vical V(a) Va

Man

Ā’l/Ā’n Ā Ā A

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 Origin of the Brahmi Script

Vessel

Ban/panai P(a) Pa P

The following are other potential connections:

Pictorial value Indus Sign Tamil Brahmi Ashokan Brahmi Aramaic

Hoe/spade/pickax
e

Guntal G(a) Ga G
Carrying yoke as
proposed by Asko
Parpola

Karai, kā, karal, K(a) Ka K

kav

Pregnant/womb

cūl/kōl C(a) Ca Q

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 Origin of the Brahmi Script

To None
shoot/propel/thrus
t/discharge

Ey/Eri E E

Hammer/mallet

Sutti S(a) S
Sa

Legs/stem
(Another potential
meaning is thigh
which reads as tud.
The meaning kick is
also possible which
reads as toz.)

Tāl T(a) Ta T

Fishhook none none

(Another potential
reading is koy which
means to reap.
Kodavali (sickle) and
kond (bent) are also
possible.)

Kal Kha

Cow’s Head and None

possessive suffix
as proposed by
Asko Parpola.

Ātu Ū Ū

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 Origin of the Brahmi Script

Mortar/pestle
(Note that the Sanskrit
word for mortar is
Ulukhala.)

Ulukai/Ulukala L(a) La L

Dog None

Ńal Ñ(a) Ña

Hill

Dip Dh(a) Dha D

Ear of paddy/corn
(Possibly Suggi which
means harvest or śig
which means to
sprout.)

Śer S(a) S(a) S

One

Or R(a) Ra R

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 Origin of the Brahmi Script

In conclusion, the Indus script was, in fact, the most likely forefather of

Brahmi, not the Aramaic script. Over time, the Indus script was limited to pottery

sherds following the collapse of the civilization, and slowly, as migrants of the

civilization traveled southwards, they brought their writing system with them.

Eventually, these Megalithic Graffiti Symbols would become early Tamil Brahmi

as the syllabic sounds of the Indus script were shortened to be single sounds. By

600 BCE, Southern India flourished under the Sangam age and Brahmi had

grown to be widespread. Finally, with the campaigns of the Nanda and Mauryan

Empires (250 BCE), writing was introduced to Northern India, where additional

modifications were made, such as getting rid of some of the diacritics. As you

can see, overwhelming evidence indicates a link between Brahmi and the Indus

script.

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 Origin of the Brahmi Script

Bibliography

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Indika of Arrian. (n.d.). INDIAN CULTURE. Retrieved October 29, 2022, from

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an-being-translation-fragments-indika

Aramaic alphabet | Britannica. (n.d.). Retrieved October 29, 2022, from

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Aramaic-alphabet

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http://archive.org/details/onoriginofindian00bhuoft

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Anuradhapura and the Early Use of the Brahmi Script. Cambridge Archaeological

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 Origin of the Brahmi Script

https://www.academia.edu/14582108/Where_was_Achaemenid_India

Parpola, A. (1997). Dravidian and the Indus script: On the interpretation of some pivotal signs.

Studia Orientalia Electronica, 82, 167–192.

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 Origin of the Brahmi Script

All Indus Signs-Corpus of Indus Seals and Inscriptions

Brahmi and Aramaic letters-Omniglot

Tamil Brahmi-Varied sources online provide images of Tamil inscriptions, Virtual

Vinodh.

Etymologies were found using starlingdb.org Dravidian etymology, A Dravidian

Etymological Dictionary by T. Burrow & M. B. Emeneau, and online dictionaries of

Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam, and Telugu.

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