How the ancient Brahmi script became modern Kannada Premium

Brahmi is the mother script for nearly all Indian scripts, including Kannada, which is both a language and a script. The old Brahmi scripts evolved into the Hale Kannada script, which, in turn, evolved into the modern Kannada script. Hale Kannada is the ancestor of both modern Kannada and Telugu.

Raamesh Gowri Raghavan first encountered the Brahmi script back in the 1990s. “These were Ashokan inscriptions,” says the Mumbai-based writer, epigraphist, digital marketer and scientist. Wanting to read the inscriptions, he taught himself to read Brahmi, India’s oldest deciphered script.

“The Brahmi script is the originator of all Indian scripts except Kharosthi, which was used in the region known as Gandhara,” says Raamesh, who will be conducting an online course on reading and writing Brahmi in association with INTACH Bengaluru between July 22 and 25.  

“Since it is for the Bengaluru chapter of INTACH, this course will focus mainly on South India, addressing the evolution of the Brahmi script from its beginnings to its current status in the region,” he says.

By the end of the course, participants will be able to read and write Brahmi and also understand how the Kannada script developed from it, adds Raamesh, who serves as the director of the School of Languages at the India Study Centre (INSTUCEN) Trust.

The earliest known Brahmi inscriptions are from the edicts of Ashoka, the third Mauryan emperor of Magadha who ruled most of the sub-continent between 268 and 232 BCE. The emperor, who converted to Buddhism, left a vast corpus behind in Brahmi, documenting his perspectives on dhamma, ideas of governance, and efforts to spread Buddhism.

“The Ashoka edicts are the most uncontroversially-dated inscriptions on which Brahmi is found,” says Raamesh. Traces of the script have been discovered not just in the Gangetic plains but also in excavated sites in Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Sri Lanka, mostly on pottery shards. “Sometimes, it is very tantalising to believe that it could have originated in south India, earlier than Ashoka. But that is very controversial,” says Raamesh, adding that there is no way to date this script firmly.

The origins of Brahmi are equally indeterminate. There are at least four competing theories to explain where the script came from. The first is that it evolved from the yet-to-be-deciphered script of the Indus Valley Civilisation. “We cannot prove or disprove this theory unless we know that script better,” states Raamesh.