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The Kharoshti
language was introduced into Gandhara - Afghanistan and the North-west
frontiers of India during the early part of the 5th century
BCE as a result of Achaemenian conquests eastwards4.
The language and script, it seems, became refined with time but it was
ultimately overtaken by the much older language of the region, Brahmi
and it became extinct by about the middle (c. 300-350 CE) of the
Sassanian Dynasty (which lasted c.224 to 641 CE). It certainly differed
from all other Indic scripts in that it retained the Semitic
characteristic of being written from right to left. After all it was
derived from its north Semitic parent, Aramaic, like Pahlavi was. Yet
it retained the distinct Indian ways - in the use of the consonants,
double consonants and the vowels.
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Kuninda
coin composite |
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Obverse:
Brahmi script |
Reverse:
Kharoshti script |
Sanskrit in Brahmi script slowly gave place to Prakrit in
Devnagari script.
As Brahmi
progressed into the Devnagari group of Indic languages the Kharoshti
script gradually died out about c. 305-325 CE. There was some overlap
of the scripts on coins as Satraps vied with the suzerain Kings and
usurped their Satrapy as an autonomous kingdom.
The coins showing
the Greek divinities5 - Zeus (holding a thunderbolt
and/or a sceptre), Hercules (usually holding a club and/or lion skin),
Nike (usually winged, City divinity holding cornucopia), Artemis drawing
arrow from bow, Helios (Sun), Selene (Moon) and the Indo-Iranian
divinities: Mozao Oaho or Mazdaonho (Ahura Mazda), Athasho (Fire), Bago
(Bhaga), Miiro/ Mioro (Sun/Mithra), Ardoksho (Earth), Orlango (Verethaghna),
Saorhora (Sherewar, Mao (Moon), Apto/Appo (Waters), Vado (Wind), Pharro
(Aura /Khwarena), Manaobago (Vohu Manah), Boddo (Buddha), sometimes a
humped Indian bull or an elephant or the two-humped Bactrian camel on
the reverse......etc were slowly replaced by the standing Shiva (holding
a trident or a club) in front of a bull, Parvati (consort of Shiva)
seated on a lion, Lakshmi (representing wealth) seated or standing on a
lotus, Peacock motif…..etc. The coins were minted mainly in Balkh, Merv,
Herat, Pushkalavati (near modern Kabul), Takhshashilla (modern Taxila),
Baamiyan, Jammu….etc.
Kharoshti script and
changes of regimes in Gandhara and and surrounding regions
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Kharosti
Alphabet |
Graeco-Bactrian Period:
(c.
250-174 BCE)3
The history begins
circa 250 BCE when the Indo-Greeks in Bactria revolted against their
Seleucid masters and formed an autonomous empire free from the
suzerainty of an overlord. It was led by Diodotus I (c.
250-230 BCE) with his son, Diodotus II
(c. 250-230 BCE) usurped the Eastern Satraps, Sughda and
Margiana from the Suzerain King Seleucus I Nikator (ruled c.313-281
BCE), who was himself assassinated. The Graeco-Bactrians had only
the Greek legend on both sides of their coins. The Kharoshti
script on coins was not in use during this period, which ended in 174
BCE.
Indo-Greek
(Yonas,
word for Ionians) Period: (c.174 BCE-10 CE)
3
Commencing with
Apollodotus I (c.174-165 BCE) and ending with Strato II
(ruled with Strato III c. 25 BCE -10 CE in North Afghanistan) coins were
minted with the Greek legend on the obverse and the
Kharoshti script on the reverse.
Demetrius
(at first
associated with his father c.205-190 BCE and then by himself c.190-166
BCE) ruling further east and in Arachosia (South Afghanistan) also
minted bilingual coins, with Kharoshti on the Reverse (MAHARAJaSa
APaRaJITaSa DEMETRIYaSa) and Greek on the Obverse
(Invincible King Demetrius). This could have occurred only if
Kharoshti was then a common spoken language among a large population in
these regions. The script on the coins was Kharoshti throughout the
Indo-Greek period.
Indo-Scythian Period:
(c.10 CE-130 CE) 3
The Indo-Scythians
were a branch of the Sakas from central Asia. Overlapping the
Indo-Greeks they had initially settled in the west Afghan plateau of
Drangiana, calling it ‘Sakastan’. About 10 CE the Indo-Scythian
King Rajuvula, a minor Satrap in Mathura defeated and dethroned Strato
III. Around 80 CE they moved eastwards to overtake South Afghanistan.
In
previous times the
Indo-Scythian
king
Maues
had already occupied Gandhara and
Taxila
(improperly dated around
80 BCE),
but his kingdom disintegrated upon his death and the Indo-Greeks had
prospered again for a while, as suggested by the coinage of kings
Apollodotus II
(c.110-80 BCE) and
Hippostratos
(c.90-60 BCE), until the Saka King
Azes I
permanently established Indo-Scythian rule in the northwest in
60 BCE.
They
too minted coins with the Greek legend on the obverse and
the Kharoshti script on the reverse of their coins.
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Kharosti
Script |
The Yueh-chi / Yuehzhi
(Kushans
from western China) Period: (c.135-350 BCE)
3
The
Yueh-chi were a nomadic confederation of five tribes that originally
lived near the border of China. They came from the Tarim Basin region,
which is a part of what is now Gansu and Xinjiang provinces. They
encountered severe problems with the Hsiung-nu (White Huns; later called
Hephthalites) in the years 176-160 B.C. After suffering two major
defeats by the Huns, the Yueh-chi decided to move west and then south.
Their decision to migrate affected the course of history. When they
moved south, some Turkic tribes went with them. The Turkic people had
also encountered problems with the Huns. They moved into an area north
of the Oxus in what is now Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan and displaced a
branch of the Scythians called the Sakas. By about 135 B.C., the Yue-chi
and their Turkic allies had reached Bactria, a region that included
parts of North West Afghanistan and Tajikistan. Greek dynasties of the
Seleucids and Greco-Bactrians had ruled it for a long time. The Yueh-chi
were able to eventually gain control of Bactria. They had driven out the
last nomadic Indo-Greek king, Heliocles I (c. 135-110
BCE).
The later Kushans
called themselves the Kushano-Sassanians 230-271 CE and
Kushanshahs 271-350 CE. Depending on the affiliation to the
Sassanians or Kushans their coins had only the Pahlavi or Greek script.
They thrived roughly up to the middle of the Sassanian rule (about 350
CE). The Nahapana Satraps of the Sassanian era, who ruled
in India as far south as Kutch, Gujarat and Saurashtra, however, had
coins minted with trilingual scripts - Greek, Brahmi and Kharoshti.
There was also a
short rule of the Indo-Parthians in a limited region (c. 78-124
CE). Both groups minted coins with the Greek legend on
the obverse and the Kharoshti script on the reverse of
their coins. This second wave of ‘Indo-Parthians’ moved
eastwards into the Kabul Valley and present Pakistan c. 20 CE led by
‘Gondophores’ taking over from the Kushan King, Kujula
Kadophises. Gondophores has been mentioned in the
manuscripts “Actae Thomae” as the ‘King, Guduphara’ who had met Saint
Thomas, the Apostle on his journey to South India. Christianity had been
established in India 500 years before the early Christian Portuguese
missionaries c.1522 came with their dreams of the colonializing of
India. The missionaries were surprised at seeing huts and buildings with
a cross atop in the Malabar coastal region of the present State of
Kerala. The region was recaptured from the Indo-Parthians by the
Kushans, possibly by Soter Megas c.45-90 CE. The
Kharoshti script was no longer seen on any of the coins. It was
replaced by the Brahmi script, which was now written and read from left
to right (although, it seems from an isolated document that the earliest
Brahmi script 3rd Century BCE was written from right to
left). He was succeeded by Kadophises II 120 CE.
By the time of
Kanishka I, the greatest of the Kushan kings (the exact dates
of his 23-27 years of rule are under dispute) his kingdom included
Kashmir, Khotan and Kashgar
and
Yarkand
The last three were Chinese dependencies in the
Tarim Basin,
modern
Xinjiang.
His vast
kingdom extended from Bukhara in the west to Sarnath in India, with
Peshawar as the Capital) the coins in the Brahmi script showed the
images and/or inscriptions of Boddo (Buddha), (Oisho) Shiva holding a
trident near a bull (Nandi), Mihira/Miira (Mithra), Athro (Atar),
Varahran (Verethragna), Mao (Moon), Appo (Water), Aodo (Vata). The
appearance of the Avestan divinities was attributed to the fact that the
Sassanian King, Hormazd II (303-309 CE) had earlier married the daughter
of a Kushan king in Gandhara.
Thereafter, Ardochso
(Lakshmi), the consort of Vishnu remained a standard diety and was
absorbed into the first Gupta Empire of Chandra Gupta
(305-325 CE). His grandfather, Shrigupta (c 270-290 CE)
ruling as ‘Maharaja’ of a small principality was the real founder of the
Gupta Dynasty. Then, all traces of the Iranian influence have been
found absent from the coins.
With regular revolts
against the suzerain King there was some overlap of dynasties as
kingdoms were lost and regained for short periods. Some tribal States -
the Audumbara and the Kuninda (c. 150-100 BCE), used Kharoshti on one
side of their coins and Brahmi on the other side. Indeed, the
Audumbara tribal kings Dharagosa and Rudravarma
were credited as being the first to introduce the Brahmi script on one
side with the Kharoshti script on the other side of their coins. The
neighbouring States soon followed. Most Kuninda coins have been found
in hoards north of a line between Ambala and Saharanpur. There were
also some even with trilingual inscriptions - Greek, Brahmi and
Kharoshti. The Kuninda Kings followed the practice.
The land of Kuninda
(also called Kulinda) stretched along the foothills of the Himalayas
eastwards from the borders of Audumbara (c. 150-100 BCE) temporarily
independent of the Punjab area in the Pathankot region of the Beas river
valley to the borders of Nepal. See the photos of 1) a
magnificent specimen of a ‘Kuninda coin’ minted by Raja
Amoghabhuti (late 2nd century BCE) of the small tribal State
of Kuninda and of the two pages showing 2) the Kharoshti and 3) Brahmi
scripts to better understand the coin. Obverse:3 Deer
facing female divinity, holding flowers. There are 2 snake-like symbols
above the deer. The Brahmi legend reads from left to right: ‘Rajna
Kunindasa Amoghabhutisa Maharajasa’. Reverse:3
Shows a Buddhist Stupa in the centre flanked by a tree on the right and
ancillary symbols - tamga and swastika on the left. The Kharoshti
script reads from right to left: ‘Rana Kunidasa Amoghabhutisa
Maharajasa’.
Apart from
archaeological clay tablets and articles found in the diggings and (more
than 1000 known) inscriptions, numismatists have also contributed
significantly to a better understanding of ancient genealogy, to the
correction of improper dating attributed to events gone past and to
calculating the era. Birch-bark (called bhoja-patra) was
a primary writing material along with palm-leaf in India. Its use
diminished in the Moghal period when paper replaced it as a writing
material, but it still has a sacred status in India today. Birch bark
was mentioned as a writing material by the Greek historian, Q. Curtius
(c. 115 BCE), noting its wide use by the Hindus during Alexander’s
invasion. Early extant manuscripts date back to the 2nd and 3rd
centuries, written in the Kharoshti script. Fragments survive from a
range of time periods, and the material is described throughout Indian
literature.
Recently, an ancient
Buddhist settlement, belonging to second and third century CE, has been
discovered in Badgam district of Central Kashmir2. The
tiles unearthed from the site area are in various shapes. They bear
swastika motifs and the Kharoshti script, which was popular in Kashmir
in the early centuries of the Common Era and ceased its popularity in
circa fourth century. The presence of the Kharoshti numerals and
swastika motif revealed the date of the site to be between second and
third century CE. Measuring 36 cm x 40 cm, the Kharoshti numerical on
the tiles were clearly stamped to maintain the order of tiles in the
layout.
Palm leaf
manuscripts1
were probably in use as early as the 2nd century, but no extant leaves
survive earlier than the 10th century. Because palm-leaf is still used
today in India for certain religious writings, much is known about the
manufacture and treatment of the material. In 1998 an early manuscript
of about the 5th century written in the Kharoshti script was found in
the Bhaamiyan cave region
near the
Afghanistan city of
Hadda.
Microscopic examination revealed the pages were, in fact, laminated
layers of very thin Birch-bark.
Birch-bark (bhoja-patra)1
manuscripts were literally the ancient database of Buddhism in India.
In the 1930’s, the Musee Guimet in Paris had acquired bundles of
birch-bark found at Baamiyan in Afghanistan. The inner bark of the birch
tree was used for writing. After being peeled off the tree, the bark was
dried. Oil was then applied over it and it was polished. Layers were
joined together by a natural gum. Finally, it was cut to a suitable size
and kept in between wooden covers. The ink used for writing on birch
bark was ‘Indian black’, a carbon ink. It was prepared by burning almond
shells to charcoal, which was then boiled with cow’s urine. This ink had
a special brilliance and was indelible.
References:
1. ExpressIndia
-Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd., 1999
2. Mitchiner,
Michael, The ancient and Classical World (600 BC-AD 650), Oriental Coins
and their values, Hawkins Publications, London, 1978.
3. Plant, Richard
J., Greek, Semitic, Asiatic coins and how to read them, Scorpion
Publishers, Amherst, New York, 1979.
4. Sylloge Nummorum
Graecorum, Graeco-Bactrian and Indo-Greek Coins, The collection of the
American Numismatic Society, New York 1998. |
