A New Theory on the Origin and Evolution of Brahmi Alphabet

Contents: Preface. 1. Introduction. 2. Indus characters through the ages. 3. Brahmi used as a bridge to decipher Indus legends. 4. Relation between the Indus script and Semitic alphabet. 5. Antiquity of the Brahmi script. 6. Introduction and evolution of Brahmi letters. 7. Creation of vowels and later consonants. 8. Evolution chart of Brahmi letters. 9. Summary sequences. Select bibliography. Index.

"Inscriptions have been discovered from Indus culture areas, belonging to the intervening centuries between the eclipse of this culture and the appearance of Asokan edicts. The author analyses them and shows a distinct continuity of evolution of the characters from Indus to Brahmi script in the lapse of 2000 BC to 500 BC.

Phonetics of Brahmi characters have been successfully used by Professor B.B. Chakravorty as bridges to decipher Indus legends.

Similarly, Dr. S.R. Rao has used the phonetics of a majority of Semitic characters similar in shape to the Indus pictograms and obtained the picture of a relevant logical pre-Vedic language on decipherment.

The author has established that all Brahmi characters excepting three or four can be created by applying the principle of acrophony to the ancient Indo-Aryan language. The remaining letters were either created from Austric words or from other foreign languages, when trade contacts grew intensively around fourth-fifth century BC. Therefore, he concludes the source of both Brahmi and Semitic alphabets are the Indus characters themselves." (jacket)