The educated people of the Indian subcontinent are very much interested to know the origin of the Brahmi and Kharoshti scripts of early India. They are also curious about the feasibility of the decipherment of the Indus script. Attempts have been made in this monograph to fulfill these needs. The monograph is divided in four chapters. Chapter 1 discusses about the difficulties in deciphering the Indus script and also the progress made in recent decades about fixing the origin of Brahmi and Kharoshti (including the various varieties of the two last mentioned scripts). The first successful attempt at deciphering Brahmi and partly of Kharoshti is elaborately discussed in Chapter II. The next chapter III probes into the feasibility of deciphering the Indus script and its relation with Brahmi and the origin of the latter. Chapter IV determines the correct spelling of the name, the origin and the areas of the use of the Kharoshti script. Thirty plates tellingly illustrate the points discussed in chapters III and IV. There is also a useful index. The monograph is expected to be considered as a significant contribution in the field of indological studies.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR B.N. Mukherjee
B.N. Mukherjee, formerly the Carmichael Professor of Ancient Indian History and Culture, University of Calcutta, and also an ex-National Fellow in History, is an internationally acclaimed authority on early Indian and Central Asian history and culture. He is connected with several academic bodies and has held responsible positions. He has published fifty books and contributed more than 750 articles in different learned journals in India and abroad. In 1983 he made a major breakthrough in palaeographical research by successfully deciphering the so-called Shell Script of ancient India. In 1989 he discovered a new variety of the Kharoshti script (Eastern Kharoshti) and also an early script consisting of Kharoshti and Brahmi letters, probably called in the Lalitavistara as Vimisrita-lipi (Mixed script). In 1992 he was honoured with the award of Padmashri by the Government of India in recognition of his outstanding expertise in numismatics. A Fellow of the Society of Antiquary (London), an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland (London), an Honorary Life Member of the Hellenic Numismatic Society (Athens), an Honorary Fellow of Asiatic Society (Calcutta) and an Honorary Fellow of the International Centre for the Study of Bengal Art (Dhaka), Prof. Mukherjee has been honoured in India and abroad. He has traveled widely, delivering lectures and presiding over numerous seminars and conferences. He was the General President of the sixty first session of the Indian History Congress (2000-2001) and the eighth session of the All India Art History Congress (2003).
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