At 6:29:33 AM on Thursday, July 10, 2003, A.S.Sundar wrote:
> Indian History or World History does not have any evidence
> to prove that there was a language called `Devanagari' and
> it was spoken by any people, for a significantly long
> period.Then, the question that baffles is `How did this
> script develop?'Can any IE scholar throw some light on
> this riddle?
According to Richard G. Salomon, 'Brahmi and Kharoshthi' (in
_The World's Writing Systems_, Peter T. Daniels & William
Bright, eds., Oxford, 1996), and William Bright, 'The
Devanagari Script' (ibid.), the Devanagari script derives
from the Brahmi script of the Ashokan inscriptions. There
are two theories on the origin of the Brahmi script. One
views it as a derivative of a Semitic prototype, possibly
Aramaic; the other views it as indigenous to India and
possibly connected with the Indus valley script. Salomon
very briefly summarizes the evidence and says that although
it is not conclusive, it much more strongly supports the
theory of Semitic origin.
Brian