Kamarupi script

Kamarupi script
Kamrupi script
Script type
Time period
5th-13th century
LanguagesSanskrit & Kamarupi Prakrit[1]
Related scripts
Parent systems
Child systems
Assamese alphabet[4]
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Kamarupi script[5] (Kamrupi script, ancient Assamese script)[4] was the script used in ancient Kamarupa from as early as 5th century to 13th century, from which the modern Assamese script eventually evolved.[6] In the development of the Assamese script, this phase was followed by the medieval and then by the modern Assamese scripts.[7]

Though the script development was in general agreement with the development in Bengal and Bihar,[8] it had local peculiarities.[9] The angular and calligraphic style of writing prevalent to its west is not found in this development.[10]

  1. ^ Māmaṇi Raẏachama Goswāmī (1996), Rāmāyaṇa from Gangā to Brahmaputra, p.98 The Gachtal pillar inscription composed in old Assamese script and language, rather Kamrupi dialect, referring to the yavana invasion from Bengal, with the date saka 1284
  2. ^ 'The terminology for the various premodern Brahmi-derived scripts is, however, largely unstandardized and typically made up ad hoc, due mainly to the lack of attested indigenous terms for many of them (2.1.1). D. C. Sircar broadly categorizes the stages of development into "Early," "Middle," and "Late Brahmi" periods, corresponding (in northern India) to the third through first centuries B.C., the first century B.C. through third century A.D., and the fourth through sixth centuries A.D., respectively (HEP 113), though others refer to his "Late Brahmi" as "Gupta script".' (Salomon 1998:19)
  3. ^ "Around the late sixth century, the so-called Gupta script of northern India evolved into a distinct new script for which the preferred name is Siddhamatrka." (Salomon 1998:39)
  4. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference Assamdistrictgazetteers was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ "The Assamese script of the period from the fifth to the thirteenth century may be termed as the ancient Assamese script or the Kamarupi script" (Goswami 1983, p. 23)
  6. ^ (Goswami 1983, p. 27)
  7. ^ "The Kamarupi script developed into the medieval Assamese script and the latter into the modern Assamese script" (Goswami 1983, p. 27)
  8. ^ "The detailed discussion above shows that the broad pattern of the development of writing in Assam was in line with that in Bengal-Bihar." (Bhattacharya 1969:535)
  9. ^ "The Assam inscriptions discussed above furnish the documentary evidence of how the eastern version of the north Indian writing style developed in Assam with an admixture of some local peculiarities." (Bhattacharya 1969:537)
  10. ^ "The predominantly angular style of writing of the Bengal-Assam copper plates is not to be found in the Assam copper plates; nor is the formal 'calligraphical' style so conspicuous in Bengal-Bihar for a limited period of time represented here." (Bhattacharya 1969:536)