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Lipi (script)

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This article is about ancient Indian scripts and art of writing. For modern lyricist, see Lipi Katiha.
Brahmi (top) and Kharosthi scripts are mentioned as Lipi in ancient Indian texts.[1]

Lipi (Sanskrit: लिपि) literally means "writing, letters, alphabet", and contextually refers to scripts, the art or manner of writing, or in modified form such as lipī (लिपी) to painting, decorating or anointing a surface to express something.[2][3]

The term Lipi appears in multiple texts of Hinduism and Buddhism, some of which have been dated to the 1st millennium BCE. Section 3.2.21 of Panini's Astadhyayi, composed before mid 4th century BCE, for example, mentions Lipi in the context of a writing script.[3][4] However, Panini does not describe or name the Sanskrit script. The Arthashastra, in section 1.2–5, asserts that lipi was a part of the education system in ancient India.[5]

According to Buddhist texts such as Lalitavistara Sūtra, young Siddhartha – the future Buddha – mastered philology and scripts at a school from Brahmin Lipikara and Deva Vidyasinha.[6][7] These texts list the Lipi in existence in ancient India, before the birth of Buddha, and the list contains sixty four scripts.[1] This list of sixty four ancient Indian scripts is found in the Chinese translation of an Indian Buddhist text, and this translation has been dated to 308 CE.[8]

Terminology

Ashoka pillar edicts evidence the use of Lipi in ancient India. The 3rd-century BCE pillar inscription asks people of his and future generations to seek Dharma, use persuasion in religion, stop all killing, and be compassionate to all life forms.[9]

The term is found in post-Vedic[10] Sanskrit texts of Hinduism, as well as in regional languages such as the Pali texts of Buddhism.[11][12] Lipi means "script, writing, alphabet" both in Sanskrit and Pali.[13] A Lipika or Lipikara means scribe or one who writes,[14] while the derivative Lipijnana means the "science or art of writing".[2][15]

A related term "Lip" (Sanskrit: लिप्) appears in verse 4.4.23 of the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, verse 5.10.10 Chandogya Upanishad, verse 2 in Isha Upanishad and verse 5.11 in Katha Upanishad.[16][17] It means "smear, stain".[18] These are the early Upanishads and a part of Vedic literature of Hinduism.[17]

According to section 4.119 of the Unadisutras as now received, Lipi is derived from the root Lip.[19] The Unadisutras themselves certainly existed before the time of Pāṇini,[20][21] instances of later interpolations have been raised by Max Müller, although Müller does not discuss whether the sutra related to Lipi was interpolated.[20] E. Hultzsch, an epigraphist in the colonial British Empire, in his 1925 study on Inscriptions of Asoka, considered the Lip derivation untenable because two Kharosthi-version rock edict inscriptions from 3rd century BCE use dipi instead of lipi, which suggests borrowing and diffusion of lipi from an Old Persian prototype dipi.[19] Salomon in 1995 remarked "The external testimony from literary and other sources on the use of writing in pre-Ashokan India is vague and inconclusive. Alleged evidence of pre-Mauryan writing has in the past been found by various scholars in such sources as later Vedic literature, the Pali canon, the early Sanskrit grammatical treatises of Pāṇini's and his successors, and the works of European classical historians. But all of these references are subject in varying degrees to chronological or interpretive problems." [22]

Chronology

Some Indian traditions credit Brahma with inventing Lipi, the scripts for writing.[23] Scholars such as Lallanji Gopal suggest some ancient Lipi such as the Brahmi script as used in the Indian texts, may have originated in Jainism.[24]

According to Harry Falk, scripts and the idea of writing can be traced to the Indus Valley civilization in the 3rd millennium BCE, but the term Lipi in 1st millennium BCE Indian literature may be a loan word from the Achaemenid region, as a variant of Sumerian dub, turned to dipi or dipī.[25] Sanskrit Lipi, states Falk, likely arose from a combination of foreign influences and indigenous inventions.[25] One evidence in favor of this view is that the form dipi was used in some of the Kharosthi-script edicts of Ashoka (3rd century BCE) in northwest India (in closest contact to Achaemenid culture) in parallel to lipi in other regions. As dipi was used in Old Persian Achaemenid inscriptions, Hultzsch suggested in 1925 that this proposal is "irresistible."[19] As with the origin of the Brahmi script, Falk finds a divide between Western scholarly opinion, which has tended to lean toward the idea of Old Persian borrowing (first proposed by Westergaard in 1861), and Indian authors, who often prefer the traditional lip derivation along with an early pre-Achaeminid date for Paṇini. Falk though interprets Paṇini's lipikara as a reference to Aramaic scribes and notes that even a very early 500 BCE date for Paṇini is within the period of Achaemenid dominion.[26]

Kenneth Norman – a professor and the President of the Pali Text Society, suggests Lipi in ancient India evolved over the long period of time like other cultures, that it is unlikely that a Lipi was devised as a single complete writing system at one and the same time in the Maurya era. Norman suggests that it is even less likely that Brāhmī was invented during Ashoka's rule, starting from nothing, for the specific purpose of writing his inscriptions and understood all over South Asia.[27] Reviewing the recent archaeological discoveries relating to writing scripts in South Asia particularly Buddhism, Norman writes, "Support for this idea of pre-Ashoka development [of writing scripts] has been given very recently by the discovery of sherds at Anuradhapura in Sri Lanka, inscribed with small numbers of characters which seem to be Brahmi. These sherds have been dated, by both Carbon 14 and Thero-luminescence dating, to pre-Ashokan times, perhaps as much as much as two centuries before Ashoka".[28]

Jack Goody – a professor of Social Anthropology, similarly suggests that ancient India likely had a "very old culture of writing" along with its oral tradition of composing and transmitting knowledge, because the Vedic literature is too vast, consistent and complex to have been entirely created, memorized, accurately preserved and spread without a written system.[29][30] Walter Ong – a professor of Literature and Religious History, and John Hartley – a professor of Cultural Science, concur with Goody and share the same concerns about the theory that there may not have been any writing scripts during the Vedic age, given the quantity and quality of the Vedic literature.[31]

Falk disagrees with Goody, and suggests that it is a Western presumption and inability to imagine remarkably early scientific achievements such as Panini's grammar (5th to 4th century BCE), and the creation, preservation and wide distribution of the large corpus of the Brahmanic Vedic literature and the Buddhist canonical literature, without any writing scripts.[32] Johannes Bronkhorst – a professor of Sanskrit and Indian Studies, acknowledges that Falk is widely regarded as the definitive study on this subject, but disagrees and states, "Falk goes too far. It is fair to expect that we believe that Vedic memorisation — though without parallel in any other human society — has been able to preserve very long texts for many centuries without losing a syllable. (...) However, the oral composition of a work as complex as Pāṇini’s grammar is not only without parallel in other human cultures, it is without parallel in India itself. (...) It just will not do to state that our difficulty in conceiving any such thing is our problem".[33]

Richard Salomon, in a 1995 review, states that the lack of securely datable specimens of writing from pre-3rd century BCE period, coupled with chronological and interpretive problems of more ancient Indian texts, has made dating Lipi and who influenced whom a controversial problem.[34]

Ancient Indian scripts

While historical evidence of scripts is found in the Indus Valley civilization relics, these remain undeciphered.[35] There has been a lack of similar historical evidence from the 2nd and early 1st millennium BCE, until the time of Ashoka where the 3rd-century BCE pillar edicts evidence the Brahmi script.[36] Late 20th-century archaeological studies combined with carbon dating techniques at Ujjain and other sites suggest that Brahmi script existed on the ancient Indian subcontinent as early as 450 BCE.[37]

Sri Lankan texts and inscriptions suggest that written script were in extensive use in ancient India, and had arrived in Sri Lanka by about 3rd century BCE.[38] While scholars agree that developed writing scripts existed and were in use by the second half of the 1st millennium BCE, the chronology and the origins of Lipi in ancient India remain a controversial, difficult and unresolved scholarly topic.[39]

Indian and Chinese texts

The tenth chapter of the Lalitavistara, named Lipisala samdarshana parivarta, lists the following 64 scripts as what Siddhartha (future Buddha) learnt as a child from his gurus in Vedic schools, a list that is found in both Indian Buddhist texts and its Chinese translations:[1][7][6][note 1]


Tibetan texts

Lipi with rounded shapes is mentioned in 7th century Tibetan texts.[40]

The Magadhalipi mentioned in the Lalitavistara is discussed in the 7th-century Tibetan texts, in two forms: dBu-can (script with matra or the framing horizontal line drawn above each letter of the alphabet), and dBu-med (script without matra). The former is derived from the more ancient Lantsha script, while the latter derived from the Vartula script.[41] According to Cristina Scherrer-Schaub, Vartula means "rounded shape" and likely refers to the rounded letters of alphabet that were invented for various ancient Indian scripts. Scherrer-Schaub adds that the list of sixty four scripts in the Buddhist text likely contains scripts that are fictional, with Devalipi and Nagalipi as examples.[40]

Jain texts

A smaller list of eighteen ancient Indian Lipi is found in the Prakrit texts of Jainism, such as the Pannavana Sutra (2nd century BCE) and the Samavayanga Sutra (3rd century BCE).[23][8] This list shares some names found in the Buddhist lists of ancient Indian scripts, but includes new names. The Jaina script list includes Brahmi at number 1, Kharoshthi at number 4, but includes Javanaliya and others not found in the Buddhist lists.[8] Scholars such as Buhler state that the Jaina list of ancient Indian scripts is likely older than the Buddhist list, but still belonging to the second half of the 1st millennium BCE wherein Javanaliya probably is the same as one of the many Sanskrit scripts called Yavanani, which was derived from the Greek (Yavana) alphabet.[8]

Devalipi and Devanagari

Given the similarity in the name, Devanagari may have roots in Devalipi, but states Walter Maurer, that there is no verifiable evidence to prove that this is so.[42] According to Richard Salomon, the Brahmi script evolved to become both the north Indian scripts such as Devanagari, Punjabi, Gujarati and Bengali, as well as the south Indian scripts such as Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam.[43]

Notes

  1. ^ The names of scripts in this list varies by manuscript and Buddhist text, states Richard Salomon.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Richard Salomon (1998). Indian Epigraphy: A Guide to the Study of Inscriptions in Sanskrit, Prakrit, and the other Indo-Aryan Languages. Oxford University Press. pp. 8–10 with footnotes. ISBN 978-0-19-535666-3.
  2. ^ a b Monier Monier-Williams (1899). Sanskrit-English Dictionary. Oxford University Press. pp. 902–903.
  3. ^ a b Richard Salomon (1998). Indian Epigraphy: A Guide to the Study of Inscriptions in Sanskrit, Prakrit, and the other Indo-Aryan Languages. Oxford University Press. p. 11. ISBN 978-0-19-535666-3.
  4. ^ Juhyung Rhi (2009). "On the Peripheries of Civilizations: The Evolution of a Visual Tradition in Gandhāra". Journal of Central Eurasian Studies. 1: 5, 1–13.
  5. ^ Takao Hayashi (2008). Gavin Flood (ed.). The Blackwell Companion to Hinduism. John Wiley & Sons. p. 365. ISBN 978-0-470-99868-7.
  6. ^ a b Lopon Nado (1982), The Development of Language in Bhutan, The Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies, Volume 5, Number 2, page 95, Quote: "Under different teachers, such as the Brahmin Lipikara and Deva Vidyasinha, he mastered Indian philology and scripts. According to Lalitavistara, there were as many as sixty four scripts in India."
  7. ^ a b Georg Bühler (1898). On the Origin of the Indian Brahma Alphabet. K.J. Trübner. pp. 6, 14–15, 23, 29., Quote: "(...) a passage of the Lalitavistara which describes the first visit of prince Siddhartha, the future Buddha, to the writing school..." (page 6); "In the account of prince Siddhartha's first visit to the writing school, extracted by Professor Terrien de la Couperie from the Chinese translation of the Lalitavistara of 308 AD, there occurs besides the mention of the sixty four alphabets, known also from the printed Sanskrit text, the utterance of the master Visvamitra,...."
  8. ^ a b c d Richard Salomon (1998). Indian Epigraphy: A Guide to the Study of Inscriptions in Sanskrit, Prakrit, and the other Indo-Aryan Languages. Oxford University Press. p. 9. ISBN 978-0-19-535666-3.
  9. ^ James Prinsep (1837). "Interpretation of the most ancient of inscriptions on the pillar called lat of Feroz Shah, near Delhi, and of the Allahabad, Radhia and Mattiah pillar, or lat inscriptions which agree therewith". Journal of the Asiatic Society. 6 (2): 600–609.
  10. ^ Stella Kramrisch; Raymond Burnier (1976). The Hindu Temple. Motilal Banarsidass. pp. 11 with footnote 22. ISBN 978-81-208-0223-0.
  11. ^ Monier Monier-Williams (1899). Sanskrit-English Dictionary. Oxford University Press. p. 901.
  12. ^ T. W. Rhys Davids; William Stede (1905). The Pali-English Dictionary. Asian Educational Services. pp. 576, 583–584. ISBN 978-81-206-1273-0.
  13. ^ T. W. Rhys Davids; William Stede (1905). The Pali-English Dictionary. Asian Educational Services. p. 584. ISBN 978-81-206-1273-0.
  14. ^ Richard Salomon (1998). Indian Epigraphy: A Guide to the Study of Inscriptions in Sanskrit, Prakrit, and the other Indo-Aryan Languages. Oxford University Press. p. 65. ISBN 978-0-19-535666-3.
  15. ^ Sheldon Pollock (2006). The Language of the Gods in the World of Men: Sanskrit, Culture, and Power in Premodern India. University of California Press. p. 187. ISBN 978-0-520-93202-9.
  16. ^ GA Jacob (1963), Upanishad Vakya Kosha - A Concordance of the Principal Upanishads and Bhagavad Gita, Motilal Banarsidass, page 802
  17. ^ a b Patrick Olivelle (1998). The Early Upanishads: Annotated Text and Translation. Oxford University Press. pp. ix, 7–10, 126–127, 236–237, 398–399, 406–407. ISBN 978-0-19-535242-9.
  18. ^ Monier Monier Williams, Lip, Sanskrit-English Dictionary with Etymology, Oxford University Press, page 902
  19. ^ a b c Hultzsch, E. (1925). Corpus Inscriptionum Indicarum v. 1: Inscriptions of Asoka. Oxford: Clarendon Press. p. xlii.
  20. ^ a b Friedrich Max Müller (1859). A History of Ancient Sanskrit Literature. Williams and Norgate. pp. 245–249.;
    Braj B. Kachru; Yamuna Kachru; S. N. Sridhar (2008). Language in South Asia. Cambridge University Press. pp. 202–203. ISBN 978-1-139-46550-2.
  21. ^ Maurice Winternitz (1963). History of Indian Literature. Motilal Banarsidass. p. 476. ISBN 978-81-208-0056-4., Quote: "Such a list [rules of Unadisutras] existed from before the time of Panini, since he twice refers to it".
  22. ^ Salomon, Richard, On The Origin Of The Early Indian Scripts: A Review Article. Journal of the American Oriental Society 115.2 (1995), 271–279
  23. ^ a b Jao Tsung-i (1964), CHINESE SOURCES ON BRĀHMĪ AND KHAROṢṬHĪ, Annals of the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, Vol. 45, No. 1/4 (1964), pages 39–47
  24. ^ Lallanji Gopal (1978), DID BRĀHMĪ SCRIPT ORIGINATE WITH THE JAINS?, Annals of the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, Vol. 58/59, pages 711–726
  25. ^ a b Harry Falk (2009). "Foreign Terms In Sanskrit Pertaining To Writing". Brill Academic: pp. 207–218. doi:10.1163/ej.9789004174467.i-396.66. ISBN 978-9047427926. {{cite journal}}: |pages= has extra text (help); Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  26. ^ Falk, Harry (1993). Schrift im alten Indien: ein Forschungsbericht mit Anmerkungen (in German). Gunter Narr Verlag. pp. 258–9.
  27. ^ Oskar von Hinüber (1989). Der Beginn der Schrift und frühe Schriftlichkeit in Indien. Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Literatur. pp. 241–245. OCLC 22195130.
  28. ^ Kenneth Roy Norman (2005). Buddhist Forum Volume V: Philological Approach to Buddhism. Routledge. pp. 67, 56–57, 65–73. ISBN 978-1-135-75154-8.
  29. ^ Jack Goody (1987). The Interface Between the Written and the Oral. Cambridge University Press. pp. 110–124. ISBN 978-0-521-33794-6.
  30. ^ Jack Goody (2010). Myth, Ritual and the Oral. Cambridge University Press. pp. 42–47, 65–81. ISBN 978-1-139-49303-1.
  31. ^ Walter J. Ong; John Hartley (2012). Orality and Literacy: The Technologizing of the Word. Routledge. pp. 64–69. ISBN 978-0-415-53837-4.
  32. ^ Annette Wilke; Oliver Moebus (2011). Sound and Communication: An Aesthetic Cultural History of Sanskrit Hinduism. Walter de Gruyter. pp. 182–183. ISBN 978-3-11-024003-0.
  33. ^ Johannes Bronkhorst (2002), Literacy and Rationality in Ancient India, Asiatische Studien / Études Asiatiques, 56(4), pages 803-804, 797-831
  34. ^ Salomon, Richard (1995). "Review: On the Origin of the Early Indian Scripts". Journal of the American Oriental Society. 115 (2): 271–279. doi:10.2307/604670. {{cite journal}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  35. ^ F. R. Allchin; George Erdosy (1995). The Archaeology of Early Historic South Asia: The Emergence of Cities and States. Cambridge University Press. pp. 62–63. ISBN 978-0-521-37695-2.
  36. ^ Sheldon Pollock (2006). The Language of the Gods in the World of Men: Sanskrit, Culture, and Power in Premodern India. University of California Press. p. 10. ISBN 978-0-520-93202-9.
  37. ^ F. R. Allchin; George Erdosy (1995). The Archaeology of Early Historic South Asia: The Emergence of Cities and States. Cambridge University Press. pp. 135–136, 147–148, 174–182, 209–215. ISBN 978-0-521-37695-2.
  38. ^ The Origin of the Art of Writing in India and the Sri Lankan Experience Ariya Lagamuwa (2009), Rajarata University of Sri Lanka, page 2, Quote: "The drushtivada of Jains mentioned that Brahmi alphabet has 46 basic characters. Hiuen Tsiang states that the Brahmi alphabet remains intact over the generations and it has 47 characters. (...) According to their historical evidences, it is clear that the Indian alphabets including Brahmi have been widespread during the 3rd century BC".
  39. ^ Salomon, Richard; von Hinüber, Oskar; Falk, Harry (1995). "On the Origin of the Early Indian Scripts". Journal of the American Oriental Society. 115 (2): 271–279. doi:10.2307/604670.
  40. ^ a b Cristina Scherrer-Schaub (2012). Proceedings of the Tenth Seminar of the IATS, 2003. Volume 14: Old Tibetan Studies. BRILL. pp. 221–222 with footnote 18. ISBN 90-04-15517-1.
  41. ^ Alaka Chattopadhyaya (1999). Atisa and Tibet: Life and Works of Dipamkara Srijnana in Relation to the History and Religion of Tibet with Tibetan Sources. Motilal Banarsidass. pp. 200–201, 451–452. ISBN 978-81-208-0928-4.
  42. ^ Walter H Maurer (1976). "On the Name Devanāgarī". Journal of the American Oriental Society. 96 (1): 101–104. doi:10.2307/599893.
  43. ^ Richard Salomon (1998). Indian Epigraphy: A Guide to the Study of Inscriptions in Sanskrit, Prakrit, and the other Indo-Aryan Languages. Oxford University Press. pp. 33, 31–39. ISBN 978-0-19-535666-3.
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