Notable examples of such medieval scripts, developed by the 7th or 8th century, include Nagari, Siddham and Sharada. Northern Brahmi gave rise to the Gupta script during the Gupta period, which in turn diversified into a number of cursives during the medieval period.
The most reliable of these were short Brahmi inscriptions dated to the 4th century BC and published by Coningham et al. Brahmi is clearly attested from the 3rd century BC during the reign of Ashoka, who used the script for imperial edicts, but there are some claims of earlier epigraphy found on pottery in South India and Sri Lanka. 18 CE (derived from Brahmi numerals)īrahmic scripts descended from the Brahmi script. BCEĪdlam (slight influence from Arabic) 1989 CE Caucasian Albanian (origin uncertain) c.Cherokee (syllabary letter forms only) c.