Lipi (script)
Lipi (
The term lipi appears in multiple texts of Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism, some of which have been dated to the 1st millennium BCE. Section 3.2.21 of Pāṇini's Aṣṭādhyāyī, composed before the mid 4th century BCE, for example, mentions lipi in the context of writing.[3][4][5] 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.[6]
According to Buddhist texts such as
The canonical texts of Jainism list eighteen lipi, with many names of writing scripts that do not appear in the Buddhist list of sixty-four lipi. The Jaina list of writing scripts in ancient India, states Buhler, is likely "far older" than the Buddhist list.[9]
Terminology
Lipi means 'script, writing, alphabet' both in Sanskrit and
A term lip (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.[19][20] It means 'smear, stain'.[21] These are the early Upanishads and a part of Vedic literature of Hinduism.[20]
According to section 4.119 of the Unadisutras as now received, lipi is derived from the Sanskrit root lip.
The
Chronology
Some Indian traditions credit Brahma with inventing lipi, the scripts for writing.[29] Scholars such as Lallanji Gopal claim some ancient lipi such as the Brahmi script as used in the Indian texts, may have originated in Jainism.[30]
- "Lipi" in the Edicts of Ashoka
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.[32] Sanskrit lipi, states Falk, likely arose from a combination of foreign influences and indigenous inventions.[32] 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."[23] In his theory about the origin of the Brahmi script, Falk states that the early mention by Paṇini could mean that he was aware of writing scripts in West Asia around 500 BCE, and the Paṇini's mention of lipikara may possibly refer to non-Indian writers such as Aramaic scribes.[33]
- "Lipi" in Paṇini
Falk states that the single isolated mention of lipi by Paṇini, could mean that he was only aware of writing scripts from West Asia around 500 BCE.[33] According to Paul Griffiths, there is "no hard evidence of the use of Brahmi or Kharosthi script" in India before the Ashoka stone inscription, but the climate of India is such as that writing on other materials would not have survived for over 2,500 years. So, states Griffith, "the absence of early witnesses certainly doesn't mean there were none", but there is no "clear textual evidence of the use of writing in the Vedic corpus".[34]
- Opinions on origination
Kenneth Norman (a professor and the president of the
Jack Goody 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.[37][38] Walter Ong and John Hartley 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.[39]
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.[40] Johannes Bronkhorst (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".[41]
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.[42]
Ancient Indian scripts
While historical evidence of scripts is found in the Indus Valley civilization relics, these remain undeciphered.[43] 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.[44] 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.[45]
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.[46] 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.[47]
Indian and Chinese Buddhist texts
The tenth chapter of the Lalitavistara, named Lipisala samdarshana parivarta, lists the following 64 scripts as what Siddhartha (the Gautam Buddha) learnt as a child from his gurus in Vedic schools, a list that is found in both Indian Buddhist texts and its ancient Chinese translations:[1][7][8][note 3]
- Brāhmī
- Kharoṣṭī
- Puṣkarasāriṃ
- Aṅga-lipiṃ
- Vaṅga-lipiṃ
- Magadha-lipiṃ
- Maṅgalya-lipiṃ
- Aṅgulīya-lipiṃ
- Śakāri-lipiṃ
- Brahmavali-lipiṃ
- Pāruṣya-lipiṃ
- Drāviḍa-lipiṃ
- Kirāta-lipiṃ
- Dākṣiṇya-lipiṃ
- Ugra-lipiṃ
- Saṃkhyā-lipiṃ
- Anuloma-lipiṃ
- Avamūrdha-lipiṃ
- Darada-lipiṃ
- Khāṣya-lipiṃ
- Cīna-lipiṃ
- Lūna-lipiṃ
- Hūṇa-lipiṃ
- Madhyākṣaravistara-lipiṃ
- Puṣpa-lipiṃ
- Deva-lipiṃ
- Nāga-lipiṃ
- Yakṣa-lipiṃ
- Gandharva-lipiṃ
- Kinnara-lipiṃ
- Mahoraga-lipiṃ
- Asura-lipiṃ
- Garuḍa-lipiṃ
- Mṛgacakra-lipiṃ
- Vāyasaruta-lipiṃ
- Bhaumadeva-lipiṃ
- Antarīkṣadeva-lipiṃ
- Uttarakurudvīpa-lipiṃ
- Aparagoḍānī-lipiṃ
- Pūrvavideha-lipiṃ
- Utkṣepa-lipiṃ
- Nikṣepa-lipiṃ
- Vikṣepa-lipiṃ
- Prakṣepa-lipiṃ
- Sāgara-lipiṃ
- Vajra-lipiṃ
- Lekhapratilekha-lipiṃ
- Anudruta-lipiṃ
- Śāstrāvartāṃ
- Gaṇanāvarta-lipiṃ
- Utkṣepāvarta-lipiṃ
- Nikṣepāvarta-lipiṃ
- Pādalikhita-lipiṃ
- Dviruttarapadasaṃdhi-lipiṃ
- Yāvaddaśottarapadasaṃdhi-lipiṃ
- Madhyāhāriṇī-lipiṃ
- Sarvarutasaṃgrahaṇī-lipiṃ
- Vidyānulomāvimiśrita-lipiṃ
- Ṛṣitapastaptāṃrocamānāṃ
- Dharaṇīprekṣiṇī-lipiṃ
- Gaganaprekṣiṇī-lipiṃ
- Sarvauṣadhiniṣyandāṃ
- Sarvasārasaṃgrahaṇīṃ
- Sarvabhūtarutagrahaṇīm
- Historicity
The historical value of this list of lipis is however limited, states Salomon, by several factors.[9] Although the Buddhist text with this list is ancient because it was translated into Chinese in 308 CE, the date of its actual composition is unknown. According to Salomon, the canonical texts of Buddhism may not be authentic and have interpolations. For example, he suggests that "Huna-lipi" or the script of the Huns listed as 23rd lipi in this list suggests that this part and the present form of the Buddhist text may have been fabricated in the 4th century CE.[9] Other than Brahmi and Kharosthi lipi mentioned in this list which can be positively identified with historic inscriptions, other writing scripts consist presumably of regional derivatives of Brahmi which cannot be specifically identified. Some names such as Naga-lipi and Yaksa-lipi appear fanciful, states Salomon, which raises suspicions about historicity of this section of the Buddhist canonical text.[9] However, adds Salomon, a simpler but shorter list of 18 lipis exist in the canonical texts of Jainism, an ancient Indian religion that competed with Buddhism and Hinduism. Buhler states that the Jaina lipi list is "in all probability considerably older" than the Buddhist list of 64 writing scripts in ancient India. The Jaina list does not have names that Salomon considers fanciful.[9]
The authenticity of Lalitavistara Sutra where this list appears and other canonical texts of Theravada and Mahayana Buddhist traditions, as well as "a complete denial of the existence of a historical Buddha", has been among the long debated questions in Buddhism scholarship.[48][49] Suspicions about the historicity of Lalitavistara, states EJ Thomas, are built upon presumptions which seek to reconstruct early history to fit certain theories and assumptions about what must have come first and what must have come later.[49]
Tibetan texts
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.[51] 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.[50]
Jain texts
A smaller list of eighteen ancient Indian lipi is found in the Prakrit texts of Jainism (spelled as lipi sometimes
- Brahmi
- Javanaliya (Greek)
- Dosapuriya
- Kharosthi
- Pukkharasariya
- Bhogavaiya
- Paharaiyao
- Amtarikariya
- Akkharaputthiya
- Venaiya
- Ninhaiya
- Amka-livi
- Ganita-livi
- Gamdhavva-livi
- Ayamsa-livi
- Mahesari
- Damili
- Polimdi
Devalipi and Devanagari
Given the similarity in the name,
See also
- Related topics
- Brahmi script
- Indus script
- Kharosthi script
- Kohi script
- Tamil script
- Other similar topics
Notes
- Shahbazgarhi (or at Mansehra) reads: "(Ayam) Dhrama-dipi Devanapriyasa Raño likhapitu" ("This Dharma-Edicts was written by King Devanampriya".) Inscriptions of Asoka. New Edition by E. Hultzsch(in Sanskrit). 1925. p. 51.
- ^ For example Column IV, Line 89
- ^ The names of scripts in this list varies by manuscript and Buddhist text, states Richard Salomon.[1]
References
- ^ ISBN 978-0-19-535666-3.
- ^ a b Monier Monier-Williams (1899). Sanskrit-English Dictionary. Oxford University Press. pp. 902–903.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-19-535666-3.
- ^ 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.
- ISBN 978-1-4020-8192-7.
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- ^ 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."
- ^ 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,...."
- ^ ISBN 978-0-19-535666-3.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-19-535666-3.
- ISBN 978-81-206-1273-0.
- ISBN 978-0-19-535666-3.
- ISBN 978-0-520-93202-9.
- ISBN 978-81-206-1273-0.
- ISBN 978-8124606650, page 832, Bloomfield mentions several mentions of Lekha in Vedic texts, e.g. section 1.5.3 of the Taittiriya Samhita.
- ISBN 978-81-208-0223-0.
- ^ Monier Monier-Williams (1899). Sanskrit-English Dictionary. Oxford University Press. p. 901.
- ISBN 978-81-206-1273-0.
- ^ GA Jacob (1963), Upanishad Vakya Kosha – A Concordance of the Principal Upanishads and Bhagavad Gita, Motilal Banarsidass, page 802
- ^ ISBN 978-0-19-535242-9.
- ^ Monier Monier Williams, Lip, Sanskrit-English Dictionary with Etymology, Oxford University Press, page 902
- ^ 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.
- ^ a b c Hultzsch, E. (1925). Corpus Inscriptionum Indicarum v. 1: Inscriptions of Asoka. Oxford: Clarendon Press. p. xlii.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-139-46550-2.
- 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".
- ^ Salomon, Richard, On The Origin Of The Early Indian Scripts: A Review Article. Journal of the American Oriental Society 115.2 (1995), 271–279
- ISBN 9780199087860.
- ^ "The word dipi appears in the Old Persian inscription of Darius I at Behistan (Column IV. 39) having the meaning inscription or "written document" in Congress, Indian History (2007). Proceedings – Indian History Congress. p. 90.
- ^ 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
- ^ Lallanji Gopal (1978), DID BRĀHMĪ SCRIPT ORIGINATE WITH THE JAINS?, Annals of the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, Vol. 58/59, pages 711–726
- ^ Inscriptions of Asoka. New Edition by E. Hultzsch (in Sanskrit). 1925. pp. 56–57.
- ^ ISBN 978-9047427926.
- ^ a b Falk, Harry (1993). Schrift im alten Indien: ein Forschungsbericht mit Anmerkungen (in German). Gunter Narr Verlag. pp. 258–9.
- ISBN 9780195352207.
- OCLC 22195130.
- ISBN 978-1-135-75154-8.
- ISBN 978-0-521-33794-6.
- ISBN 978-1-139-49303-1.
- ISBN 978-0-415-53837-4.
- ISBN 978-3-11-024003-0.
- ^ Johannes Bronkhorst (2002), Literacy and Rationality in Ancient India, Asiatische Studien/Études Asiatiques, 56(4), pages 803–804, 797–831.
- JSTOR 604670.
- ISBN 978-0-521-37695-2.
- ISBN 978-0-520-93202-9.
- ISBN 978-0-521-37695-2.
- ^ The Origin of the Art of Writing in India and the Sri Lankan Experience[permanent dead link] 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".
- JSTOR 604670.
- ^ Alexander Wynne (2005), The Historical Authenticity of Early Buddhist Literature: A Critical Evaluation, Wiener Zeitschrift für die Kunde Südasiens / Vienna Journal of South Asian Studies, Vol. 49, pages 35–70
- ^ a b EJ Thomas (1940), "The Lalitavistara and Sarvastivada", Indian Historical Quarterly, volume 16, number 2, pages 239–245
- ^ ISBN 978-90-04-15517-6.
- ISBN 978-81-208-0928-4.
- ISBN 978-81-7022-731-1.
- ISBN 978-0-19-535666-3.
- JSTOR 599893.
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External links
- Lipi in ancient India (in Chinese), 佉留文字與四十二字門, 正觀雜誌 (1999)
- The Lalitavistara (The play in full), translated by the Dharmachakra Translation Committee, pages 91–92
- Candravyakarana – Deciphering an arrowhead Indian script, Albrecht Hanisch (2009), Nagoya University
- The Vartula or Vaivarta Lipi, Sita R Roy (1967)