The Gupta script was descended from the Ashokan Brāhmī script, and is a crucial link between Brahmi and most other Brahmic scripts, a family of alphasyllabaries or abugidas. This means that while only consonantal phonemes have distinct symbols, vowels are marked by diacritics, with /a/ being the implied pronunciation when the diacritic is not present. In fact, the Gupta script works in exactly the same manner as its predecessor and successors, and only the shapes and forms of the graphemes and diacritics are different.
Through the 4th century, letters began to take more cursive and symmetric forms, as a result of the desire to write more quickly and aesthetically. This also meant that the script became more differentiated throughout the Empire, with regional variations which have been broadly classified into three, four or five categories;[7][8] however, a definitive classification is lacking, because even in a single inscription, there may be variation in how a particular symbol is written. In this sense, the term Gupta script should be taken to mean any form of writing derived from the Gupta period, even though there may be a lack of uniformity in the scripts.
Evolution from Brahmi to Gupta, and to Devanagari[9]
The surviving inscriptions of the Gupta script are mostly found on iron or stone pillars, and on gold coins from the Gupta Dynasty. One of the most important was the Prayagraj (Allahabad) Prasasti. Composed by Harishena, the court poet and minister of Samudragupta, it describes Samudragupta's reign, beginning from his accession to the throne as the second king of the Gupta Dynasty and including his conquest of other kings. It is inscribed on the Allahabad pillar of Ashoka.
Alphabet
The Gupta alphabet is composed of 37 letters: 32 consonants with the inherent ending "a" and 5 independent vowels. In addition diacritics are attached to the consonants in order to change the sound of the final vowel (from the inherent "a" to other sounds such as i, u, e, o, au ...). Consonants can also be combined into compounds, also called conjunct consonants (for example sa+ya are combined vertically to give "sya").[10][11][12]
The Unicode standard considers the Gupta script to be a stylistic variation of Brahmi, and thus Gupta texts are encoded using Brahmi Unicode characters.
Brahmi[1][2] Official Unicode Consortium code chart (PDF)
Kushan Empire signet in Gupta Brahmi script, showing Septimius Severus and Julia Domna. The seal reads Damputrasya Dhanguptasya ("[Seal of] Dhangupta son of Dama). 3rd century CE.
Coin of Vikramaditya (Chandragupta II) with the name of the king in Gupta Brahmi script 380–415 CE.
Coin of Alchon Huns ruler Mihirakula. Obv: Bust of king, with legend in Gupta script ()[14](Ja)yatu Mihirakula ("Let there be victory to Mihirakula"). Rev: Dotted border around Fire altar flanked by attendants.[15][16][17]
The study of Gupta coins began with the discovery of a hoard of gold coins in 1783. Many other such hoards have since been discovered, the most important being the Bayana (situated in Bharatpur district of Rajasthan) hoard, discovered in 1946, which contained more than 2000 gold coins issued by the Gupta Kings.[18] Many of the Gupta Empire's coins bear inscriptions of legends or mark historic events. In fact, it was one of the first Indian Empires to do so, probably as a result of its unprecedented prosperity.[7] Almost every Gupta king issued coins, beginning with its first king, Chandragupta I.
The scripts on the coin are also of a different nature compared to scripts on pillars, due to conservatism regarding the coins that were to be accepted as currency, which would have prevented regional variations in the script from manifesting on the coinage.[7] Moreover, space was more limited especially on their silver coins, and thus many of the symbols are truncated or stunted. An example is the symbol for /ta/ and /na/, which were often simplified to vertical strokes.
^Das Buch der Schrift: Enthaltend die Schriftzeichen und Alphabete aller ... (in German). K.K. Hof- und Staatsdruckerei. 1880. p. 126.
^The "h" () is an early variant of the Gupta script.
^Verma, Thakur Prasad (2018). The Imperial Maukharis: History of Imperial Maukharis of Kanauj and Harshavardhana (in Hindi). Notion Press. p. 264. ISBN9781643248813.
^Sircar, D. C. (2008). Studies in Indian Coins. Motilal Banarsidass. p. 376. ISBN9788120829732.
^Tandon, Pankaj (2013). Notes on the Evolution of Alchon Coins Journal of the Oriental Numismatic Society, No. 216, Summer. Oriental Numismatic Society. pp. 24–34. also Coinindia Alchon Coins (for an exact description of this coin type)
^Puri, Baij Nath (1987). Buddhism in Central Asia. Motilal Banarsidass. p. 187 Note 32. ISBN9788120803725.
^Fleet, John Faithfull (1960). Inscriptions Of The Early Gupta Kings And Their Successors. pp. 150-158.
Further reading
Carl Faulmann (1835–1894), Das Buch der Schrift, Druck und Verlag der Kaiserlichen Hof-und Staatsdruckerei, 1880
External links
(in Spanish) The Gupta Alphabet
AncientScripts.com entry on the Gupta Script
Ye, Shao-Yong. (2009). An eastern variety of the post-Gupta script: Akṣara List of the Manuscripts of the Mūlamadhyamakakārikā and Buddhapālita’s Commentary (ca. 550–650 CE). Research Institute of Sanskrit Manuscripts & Buddhist Literature, Peking University.
February 16, 2023
gupta, script, late, brahmi, script, redirects, here, brahmi, script, brahmi, script, sometimes, referred, gupta, brahmi, script, late, brahmi, script, used, writing, sanskrit, associated, with, gupta, empire, indian, subcontinent, which, period, material, pro. Late Brahmi script redirects here For the Brahmi script see Brahmi script The Gupta script sometimes referred to as Gupta Brahmi script or Late Brahmi script 6 was used for writing Sanskrit and is associated with the Gupta Empire of the Indian subcontinent which was a period of material prosperity and great religious and scientific developments The Gupta script was descended from Brahmi and gave rise to the Nagari Sarada and Siddhaṃ scripts These scripts in turn gave rise to many of the most important scripts of India including Devanagari the most common script used for writing Sanskrit since the 19th century the Gurmukhi script for Punjabi the Bengali Assamese script and the Tibetan script Gupta script Late Brahmi script The Gopika Cave Inscription of Anantavarman in the Sanskrit language and using the Gupta script Barabar Caves in Jehanabad Bihar 5th or 6th century CE Script typeAbugidaTime periodc 4th 6th century CE 1 Directionleft to right LanguagesSanskritRelated scriptsParent systemsProto Sinaitic alphabet a Phoenician alphabet a Aramaic alphabet a BrahmiGupta script Late Brahmi script Child systemsSarada Siddhaṃ 2 3 Tibetan 4 5 Sister systemsPallava Kadamba a The Semitic origin of the Brahmic scripts is not universally agreed upon This article contains phonetic transcriptions in the International Phonetic Alphabet IPA For an introductory guide on IPA symbols see Help IPA For the distinction between and see IPA Brackets and transcription delimiters Contents 1 Origins and classification 2 Inscriptions 3 Alphabet 3 1 Independent vowels 3 2 Consonants 3 3 In Unicode 4 Gupta numismatics 5 Gallery 6 See also 7 References 8 Further reading 9 External linksOrigins and classification EditThe Gupta script was descended from the Ashokan Brahmi script and is a crucial link between Brahmi and most other Brahmic scripts a family of alphasyllabaries or abugidas This means that while only consonantal phonemes have distinct symbols vowels are marked by diacritics with a being the implied pronunciation when the diacritic is not present In fact the Gupta script works in exactly the same manner as its predecessor and successors and only the shapes and forms of the graphemes and diacritics are different Through the 4th century letters began to take more cursive and symmetric forms as a result of the desire to write more quickly and aesthetically This also meant that the script became more differentiated throughout the Empire with regional variations which have been broadly classified into three four or five categories 7 8 however a definitive classification is lacking because even in a single inscription there may be variation in how a particular symbol is written In this sense the term Gupta script should be taken to mean any form of writing derived from the Gupta period even though there may be a lack of uniformity in the scripts Evolution from Brahmi to Gupta and to Devanagari 9 k kh g gh ṅ c ch j jh n ṭ ṭh ḍ ḍh ṇ t th d dh n p ph b bh m y r l v s ṣ s h Brahmi 𑀓 𑀔 𑀕 𑀖 𑀗 𑀘 𑀙 𑀚 𑀛 𑀜 𑀝 𑀞 𑀟 𑀠 𑀡 𑀢 𑀣 𑀤 𑀥 𑀦 𑀧 𑀨 𑀩 𑀪 𑀫 𑀬 𑀭 𑀮 𑀯 𑀰 𑀱 𑀲 𑀳Gupta Devanagari क ख ग घ ङ च छ ज झ ञ ट ठ ड ढ ण त थ द ध न प फ ब भ म य र ल व श ष स हInscriptions EditThe surviving inscriptions of the Gupta script are mostly found on iron or stone pillars and on gold coins from the Gupta Dynasty One of the most important was the Prayagraj Allahabad Prasasti Composed by Harishena the court poet and minister of Samudragupta it describes Samudragupta s reign beginning from his accession to the throne as the second king of the Gupta Dynasty and including his conquest of other kings It is inscribed on the Allahabad pillar of Ashoka Alphabet EditThe Gupta alphabet is composed of 37 letters 32 consonants with the inherent ending a and 5 independent vowels In addition diacritics are attached to the consonants in order to change the sound of the final vowel from the inherent a to other sounds such as i u e o au Consonants can also be combined into compounds also called conjunct consonants for example sa ya are combined vertically to give sya 10 11 12 Independent vowels Edit Late Brahmi vowel diacritics Gupta script vowel diacritics Allahabad standard 13 12 Usage examples 12 Letter IAST andSanskrit IPA Letter IAST andSanskrit IPA a e a aː i i i iː u u u uː e eː o oː ai ei au eu 𑀋 ṛ r 𑀌 ṝ r ː 𑀍 l l 𑀎 ḹ l ː Consonants Edit Stop Nasal Approximant FricativeVoicing Voiceless Voiced Voiceless VoicedAspiration No Yes No Yes No YesVelar ka k kha kʰ ga g gha ɡʱ ṅa ŋ ha ɦ Palatal ca c cha cʰ ja ɟ jha ɟʱ na ɲ ya j sa ɕ Retroflex ṭa ʈ ṭha ʈʰ ḍa ɖ ḍha ɖʱ ṇa ɳ ra r ṣa ʂ Dental ta t tha t ʰ da d dha d ʱ na n la l sa s Labial pa p pha pʰ ba b bha bʱ ma m va w ʋ In Unicode Edit The Unicode standard considers the Gupta script to be a stylistic variation of Brahmi and thus Gupta texts are encoded using Brahmi Unicode characters Brahmi 1 2 Official Unicode Consortium code chart PDF 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A B C D E FU 1100x 𑀃 𑀄 𑀅 𑀆 𑀇 𑀈 𑀉 𑀊 𑀋 𑀌 𑀍 𑀎 𑀏U 1101x 𑀐 𑀑 𑀒 𑀓 𑀔 𑀕 𑀖 𑀗 𑀘 𑀙 𑀚 𑀛 𑀜 𑀝 𑀞 𑀟U 1102x 𑀠 𑀡 𑀢 𑀣 𑀤 𑀥 𑀦 𑀧 𑀨 𑀩 𑀪 𑀫 𑀬 𑀭 𑀮 𑀯U 1103x 𑀰 𑀱 𑀲 𑀳 𑀴 𑀵 𑀶 𑀷 U 1104x U 1105x U 1106x 𑁦 𑁧 𑁨 𑁩 𑁪 𑁫 𑁬 𑁭 𑁮 𑁯U 1107x BNJ Notes 1 As of Unicode version 15 0 2 Grey areas indicate non assigned code pointsGupta numismatics Edit Kushan Empire signet in Gupta Brahmi script showing Septimius Severus and Julia Domna The seal reads Damputrasya Dhanguptasya Seal of Dhangupta son of Dama 3rd century CE Coin of Vikramaditya Chandragupta II with the name of the king in Gupta Brahmi script 380 415 CE Coin of Alchon Huns ruler Mihirakula Obv Bust of king with legend in Gupta script 14 Ja yatu Mihirakula Let there be victory to Mihirakula Rev Dotted border around Fire altar flanked by attendants 15 16 17 The study of Gupta coins began with the discovery of a hoard of gold coins in 1783 Many other such hoards have since been discovered the most important being the Bayana situated in Bharatpur district of Rajasthan hoard discovered in 1946 which contained more than 2000 gold coins issued by the Gupta Kings 18 Many of the Gupta Empire s coins bear inscriptions of legends or mark historic events In fact it was one of the first Indian Empires to do so probably as a result of its unprecedented prosperity 7 Almost every Gupta king issued coins beginning with its first king Chandragupta I The scripts on the coin are also of a different nature compared to scripts on pillars due to conservatism regarding the coins that were to be accepted as currency which would have prevented regional variations in the script from manifesting on the coinage 7 Moreover space was more limited especially on their silver coins and thus many of the symbols are truncated or stunted An example is the symbol for ta and na which were often simplified to vertical strokes Gallery Edit The Allahabad pillar inscription of Samudragupta with its standardised Gupta characters Brahmi and its descendent scripts The 5th or 6th century Gupta script Gopika Cave Inscription in Sanskrit about goddess Durga Gupta script decipheration table A palm leaf Sanskrit manuscript in early Gupta Brahmi script discovered in Miran northwest China 19 The name Sri Yasodharmma Lord Yashodharman in Gupta script in Line 4 of the Mandsaur stone inscription of Yashodharman Vishnuvardhana 20 See also EditBengali Assamese script Bhattiprolu script Brahmic scripts Kadamba script Lipi scripts Pallava script Telugu Kannada alphabetReferences Edit Salomon Richard 1998 Indian Epigraphy p 32 Epigraphy Indian Epigraphy Richard Salmon OUP via Internet Archive Handbook of Literacy in Akshara Orthography R Malatesha Joshi Catherine McBride 2019 p 27 Daniels P T January 2008 Writing systems of major and minor languages a href Template Cite journal html title Template Cite journal cite journal a Cite journal requires journal help Masica Colin 1993 The Indo Aryan languages p 143 Sharma Ram Brahmi Script Delhi BR Publishing Corp 2002 a b c Srivastava Anupama The Development of Imperial Gupta Brahmi Script New Delhi Ramanand 1998 Fischer Steven Roger A History of Writing UK Reaktion 2004 Evolutionary chart Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal Vol 7 1838 1 Fischer Steven Roger 2004 History of Writing Reaktion Books p 123 ISBN 9781861895882 Publishing Britannica Educational 2010 The Culture of India Britannica Educational Publishing p 82 ISBN 9781615302031 a b c Gupta Unicode PDF Das Buch der Schrift Enthaltend die Schriftzeichen und Alphabete aller in German K K Hof und Staatsdruckerei 1880 p 126 The h is an early variant of the Gupta script Verma Thakur Prasad 2018 The Imperial Maukharis History of Imperial Maukharis of Kanauj and Harshavardhana in Hindi Notion Press p 264 ISBN 9781643248813 Sircar D C 2008 Studies in Indian Coins Motilal Banarsidass p 376 ISBN 9788120829732 Tandon Pankaj 2013 Notes on the Evolution of Alchon Coins Journal of the Oriental Numismatic Society No 216 Summer Oriental Numismatic Society pp 24 34 also Coinindia Alchon Coins for an exact description of this coin type Bajpai KD Indian Numismatic Studies New Delhi Abhinav Publications 2004 Puri Baij Nath 1987 Buddhism in Central Asia Motilal Banarsidass p 187 Note 32 ISBN 9788120803725 Fleet John Faithfull 1960 Inscriptions Of The Early Gupta Kings And Their Successors pp 150 158 Further reading EditCarl Faulmann 1835 1894 Das Buch der Schrift Druck und Verlag der Kaiserlichen Hof und Staatsdruckerei 1880External links Edit in Spanish The Gupta Alphabet AncientScripts com entry on the Gupta Script Ye Shao Yong 2009 An eastern variety of the post Gupta script Akṣara List of the Manuscripts of the Mulamadhyamakakarika and Buddhapalita s Commentary ca 550 650 CE Research Institute of Sanskrit Manuscripts amp Buddhist Literature Peking University Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Gupta script amp oldid 1128130677, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
