/brahmi

Brahmi Keyboard Layout for Mac OS X

Brahmi

Brahmi Keyboard Layout for Mac OS X

What is Brahmi Script?

Brahmi script is the oldest attested writing system of Ancient India, apart from the yet-undeciphered Indus script. Brahmi is an abugida, i.e. each consonant has an individual inherent sound, such as ๐‘€“ /ka/. It makes use of diacritic marks to modify a consonant with a vowel, such as ๐‘€“๐‘€บ /ki/, ๐‘€“๐‘€ผ /ku/, and ๐‘€“๐‘‚ /ke/. Some hypotheses state that Brahmi is derived from Aramaic and Greek alphabets as a result of language contact through commerce with Middle Eastern merchants and Indo-Greek communities in Bactria. Brahmi is the ancestor of many scripts used in todayโ€™s South, Central, and Southeast Asia, such as Devanagari, Thai, Burmese, and Khmer.

For illustrative examples of Brahmi script, please visit this ebook "Brahmi: Rediscovering the Lost Script" by Ankita Roy.

Introduction

This manual and keyboard layout are designed to help you make use of the Brahmi keyboard layout (v1.0). This keyboard layout is developed to facilitate typing of Brahmi texts including vowel diacritics (saras), conjunct consonants (saแนƒyoga), and Brahmi numbers. It works with Mac OS X 10.10 onwards and is made available for downloads from Prachya Boonkwanโ€™s Github. The keyboard layout was designed by Prachya Boonkwan as a hobby using Ukelele Keyboard Layout Designer (available on App Store) and is distributed under the MIT License. The keyboard icon represents the consonant ๐‘€ฒ /s/, which is short for Sanskrit.

Note that the keyboard layout is based on Unicode character encoding. It cannot be installed on older operating systems that do not support Unicode and will not work with non-Unicode applications that rely on 8-bit character set. This manual is typeset using the Unicode-enabled font Google Noto Sans Brahmi and Segoe UI Historic.

Instruction for Installation

Brahmi Keyboard Layout is packaged in a disk image file with the DMG extension. Follow the instruction below to install the keyboard layout.

  1. Double click the file to open the disk image. A window for the disk image will show up.

  2. Double click the Keyboard Installer app.

  3. Go back to the window of the disk image. Drag the file Brahmi.keylayout to the app window.

  4. Select a method of installation: (1) install for the current user, or (2) install for all users. Click on the corresponding icon to install the keyboard layout.

  5. When finished, the keyboard installer app will close down automatically.

  6. Unmount the disk image.

  7. Add this keyboard layout to the system. Go to System Preferences > Keyboard.

  8. In the Input Sources pane, push the + button. Under the Others language, click Brahmi and push the Add button.

  9. Log out and relog in to refresh the memory.

Keyboard Mapping

Consonants

Most consonants are mapped to their equivalent Sanskrit romanization on the keyboard layout. However, eight consonants are displaced due to linguistic dissimilarity between Sanskrit and English, i.e. ๐‘€— /แน…/, ๐‘€œ /รฑ/, ๐‘€ /แนญ/, ๐‘€ž /แนญh/, ๐‘€Ÿ /แธ/, ๐‘€  /แธh/, ๐‘€ฐ /ล›/, and ๐‘€ฑ /แนฃ/. Consonant aspiration is regularly marked by pressing the shift key.

๐‘€“ /k/ ๐‘€” /kh/ ๐‘€• /g/ ๐‘€– /gh/ ๐‘€— /แน…/
[K] Shift+[K] [G] Shift+[G] [']
๐‘€˜ /c/ ๐‘€™ /ch/ ๐‘€š /j/ ๐‘€› /jh/ ๐‘€œ /รฑ/
[C] Shift+[C] [J] Shift+[J] Shift+[Y]
๐‘€ /แนญ/ ๐‘€ž /แนญh/ ๐‘€Ÿ /แธ/ ๐‘€  /แธh/ ๐‘€ก /แน‡/
[Z] Shift+[Z] [X] Shift+[X] Shift+[N]
๐‘€ข /t/ ๐‘€ฃ /th/ ๐‘€ค /d/ ๐‘€ฅ /dh/ ๐‘€ฆ /n/
[T] Shift+[T] [D] Shift+[D] [N]
๐‘€ง /p/ ๐‘€จ /ph/ ๐‘€ฉ /b/ ๐‘€ช /bh/ ๐‘€ซ /m/
[P] Shift+[P] [B] Shift+[B] [M]
๐‘€ฌ /y/ ๐‘€ญ /r/ ๐‘€ฎ /l/ ๐‘€ฏ /v/
[Y] [R] [L] [V]
๐‘€ฐ /ล›/ ๐‘€ฑ /แนฃ/ ๐‘€ฒ /s/ ๐‘€ณ /h/ ๐‘€ด /ษญ/
[W] Shift+[W] [S] [H] Shift+[L]

Virฤma: Conjunct consonants can be achieved using the subconjoiner (virฤma) on the keystroke [F]. For example, one can easily achieve the conjunct ๐‘€ฆ๐‘†๐‘€คโ€‚/nd/ by keying [N] + virฤma [F] + [D].

Vowels

Almost all vowels are placed on the keyboard layout with respect to their equivalent Sanskrit romanization. However, the vocalic r and l are positioned at the keys [[] and []], respectively.

/a/ ๐‘€ธโ€‚/ฤ/ ๐‘€… /ส”a/ ๐‘€† /ส”ฤ/
Shift+[A] Alt+[A] Shift+Alt+[A]
๐‘€บโ€‚/i/ ๐‘€ปโ€‚/ฤซ/ ๐‘€‡ /ส”i/ ๐‘€ˆ /ส”ฤซ/
[I] Shift+[I] Alt+[I] Shift+Alt+[I]
๐‘€ผโ€‚/u/ ๐‘€ฝโ€‚/ลซ/ ๐‘€‰ /ส”u/ ๐‘€Š /ส”ลซ/
[U] Shift+[U] Alt+[U] Shift+Alt+[U]
๐‘€พโ€‚/แน›/ ๐‘€ฟโ€‚/แน/ ๐‘€‹ /แน›/ ๐‘€Œ /แน/
[[] Shift+[[] Alt+[[] Shift+Alt+[[]
๐‘€โ€‚/แธท/ ๐‘โ€‚/แธน/ ๐‘€ /แธท/ ๐‘€Ž /แธน/
[]] Shift+[]] Alt+[]] Shift+Alt+[]]
๐‘‚โ€‚/e/ ๐‘ƒโ€‚/ai/ ๐‘€ /ส”e/ ๐‘€ /ส”ai/
[E] Shift+[E] Alt+[E] Shift+Alt+[E]
๐‘„โ€‚/o/ ๐‘…โ€‚/au/ ๐‘€‘ /ส”o/ ๐‘€’ /ส”au/
[O] Shift+[O] Alt+[O] Shift+Alt+[O]
๐‘€โ€‚/aแนƒ/ ๐‘€€โ€‚/aแน/ ๐‘€‚โ€‚/aแธฅ/
Shift+[M] Alt+[M] Shift+[H]

As seen, vowel lengthening is marked by pressing the shift key. The independent form of a vowel can be achieved by pressing the Alt key. The consonant allophones can also be achieved by pressing the Shift and Alt keys.

One final remark to make here is that the short vowel /a/ does not have any glyphs. This is because each consonant has an inherent /a/ sound; therefore, one can simply type [K] to achieve the sound /ka/. Typing [K] and Shift+[A] will produce ๐‘€“๐‘€ธ /kฤ/. For the purpose of shortcut, the user can also opt for [K] and [A] to produce ๐‘€“๐‘€ธ /kฤ/.

Numbers

There are two numeral systems in Brahmi script: the digit one and the older non-digit one.

The Digit System

The digit system is based on the decimal numbers, similar to the current Hindu-Arabic numbers.

๐‘ฆ ๐‘ง ๐‘จ ๐‘ฉ ๐‘ช ๐‘ซ ๐‘ฌ ๐‘ญ ๐‘ฎ ๐‘ฏ
[0] [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9]

Note that the number zero is represented by a single middle dot. These Brahmi digits can be achieved by pressing their equivalent keystrokes in English.

The Non-Digit System

The non-digit system, on the other hand, is not based on the decimal numbers because each numeral value is represented by a distinct glyph. These non-digit number glyphs can be achieved by pressing Alt + number.

๐‘’ ๐‘“ ๐‘” ๐‘• ๐‘–
Alt+[1] Alt+[2] Alt+[3] Alt+[4] Alt+[5]
๐‘— ๐‘˜ ๐‘™ ๐‘š
Alt+[6] Alt+[7] Alt+[8] Alt+[9]

The values from 10 to 90 can be achieved by pressing a combination of Shift + Alt + (first digit).

๐‘› 10 ๐‘œ 20 ๐‘ 30 ๐‘ž 40
Shift+Alt+[1] Shift+Alt+[2] Shift+Alt+[3] Shift+Alt+[4]
๐‘Ÿ 50 ๐‘  60 ๐‘ก 70 ๐‘ข 80
Shift+Alt+[5] Shift+Alt+[6] Shift+Alt+[7] Shift+Alt+[8]
๐‘ฃ 90 ๐‘ค 100 ๐‘ฅ 1,000
Shift+Alt+[9] Alt+[ - ] Alt+[ = ]

The non-digit system is preserved in the keyboard layout only for the purpose of ancient text transcription. Its use is rather discouraged because it under-represents the decimal system.

Punctuation Marks

There are seven punctuation marks in Brahmi script. Each of them is graded according to the levels of segmentation.

๐‘‡ [ . ] End of clause (single แธanda)
๐‘ˆ Shift+[ . ] End of verse (double แธanda)
๐‘‰ [ ; ] Comma
๐‘Š Shift+[ ; ] Colon
๐‘‹ [ / ] Dash
๐‘Œ Shift+[ / ] End of section
๐‘ [ ` ] End of chapter

Orthographical System

Combination of Consonants and Vowels

When a consonant is combined with a dependent vowel, the vowel becomes a diacritic mark attached to the consonant. The shape of the vowel diacritic mark depends on the shape of the consonant and the attachment position of the vowel (top or bottom).

Consonant Shapes

In Brahmi script, we characterize the shape of a consonant by its top and bottom parts. Each part is either straight, round, flat, or angled. For example, the following characters have distinct shapes of the top part.

๐‘€“ /k/ ๐‘€ฃ /th/ ๐‘€œ /รฑ/ ๐‘€• /g/
straight round flat angled

On the other hand, the following characters have different shapes of the bottom part.

๐‘€” /kh/ ๐‘€ง /p/ ๐‘€ฉ /b/ ๐‘€ข /t/
straight round flat angled

There is only one exception for the character ๐‘€ช /bh/, presumably derived from the capital Pi (ฮ ) in Ancient Greek. In this case, we consider the top part as flat, and the bottom part as straight. This is because the vowels will be attached to the right-hand-side pillar.

Vowel Attachment

We characterize any vowel diacritic mark by its attachment position: top-left, top-right, bottom-right, top, and outside. The following chart classifies each vowel diacritic into five attachment positions as follows.

Top-left ๐‘‚ ๐‘ƒ
/e/ /ai/
Top-right ๐‘€ธ ๐‘€บ ๐‘€ป
/ฤ/ /i/ /ฤซ/
Bottom-right ๐‘€ผ ๐‘€ฝ
/u/ /ลซ/
Top ๐‘„ ๐‘…
/o/ /au/
Outside ๐‘€พ ๐‘€ฟ ๐‘€ ๐‘ ๐‘€ ๐‘€€ ๐‘€‚
/แน›/ /แน/ /แธท/ /แธน/ /aแนƒ/ /aแน/ /aแธฅ/

The vowels in the first four categories are attached to a consonant, while those in the last category (outside) are written separately. When attached to a consonant, a vowel may change its orientation with respect to the following rotation rules to comply with the shape of the consonant.

Rotation Rules

Once we identify the shape of a consonant and the attachment position of a vowel diacritic mark, we can now determine the shape of the latter by the following rotation rules.

Rule 1: If the shape of the attached part is straight or angled, the vowel can be directly attached to that part.

๐‘€“ /k/ + ๐‘‚ /e/ = ๐‘€“๐‘‚ /ke/ ๐‘€• /g/ + ๐‘‚ /e/ = ๐‘€•๐‘‚ /ge/
๐‘€“ /k/ + ๐‘€ธ /ฤ/ = ๐‘€“๐‘€ธ /kฤ/ ๐‘€• /g/ + ๐‘€ธ /ฤ/ = ๐‘€•๐‘€ธ /gฤ/
๐‘€“ /k/ + ๐‘€ผ /u/ = ๐‘€“๐‘€ผ /ku/ ๐‘€• /g/ + ๐‘€ผ /u/ = ๐‘€•๐‘€ผ /gu/
๐‘€“ /k/ + ๐‘„ /o/ = ๐‘€“๐‘„ /ko/ ๐‘€• /g/ + ๐‘„ /o/ = ๐‘€•๐‘„ /go/
๐‘€“ /k/ + ๐‘€ /aแนƒ/ = ๐‘€“๐‘€ /kaแนƒ/ ๐‘€• /g/ + ๐‘€ /aแนƒ/ = ๐‘€•๐‘€ /gaแนƒ/

Rule 2: In the case where the shape of the attached part is round, consider rules 2.1 and 2.2.

Rule 2.1: If the attachment position is top-left, top-right, top, or outside, we sometimes move the vowel slightly towards the center to avoid overlapping.

๐‘€ฃ /th/ + ๐‘‚ /e/ = ๐‘€ฃ๐‘‚ /the/ ๐‘€” /kh/ + ๐‘‚ /e/ = ๐‘€”๐‘‚ /khe/
๐‘€ฃ /th/ + ๐‘€ธ /ฤ/ = ๐‘€ฃ๐‘€ธ /thฤ/ ๐‘€” /kh/ + ๐‘€ธ /ฤ/ = ๐‘€”๐‘€ธ /khฤ/
๐‘€ฃ /th/ + ๐‘„ /o/ = ๐‘€ฃ๐‘„ /tho/ ๐‘€” /kh/ + ๐‘„ /o/ = ๐‘€”๐‘„ /kho/
๐‘€ฃ /th/ + ๐‘€ /aแนƒ/ = ๐‘€ฃ๐‘€ /thaแนƒ/ ๐‘€ง /p/ + ๐‘€ /aแนƒ/ = ๐‘€ง๐‘€ /paแนƒ/

Rule 2.2: If the position is bottom-right, we rotate the vowel before attaching.

๐‘€ฃ /th/ + ๐‘€ผ /u/ = ๐‘€ฃ๐‘€ผ /thu/ ๐‘€ง /p/ + ๐‘€ผ /u/ = ๐‘€ง๐‘€ผ /pu/

Rule 3: In the case where the shape of the attached part is flat, consider rules 3.1 and 3.2.

Rule 3.1: If the position is top-left, top-right, or top, we sometimes move the vowel slightly towards the center to avoid overlapping.

๐‘€œ /รฑ/ + ๐‘‚ /e/ = ๐‘€œ๐‘‚ /รฑe/ ๐‘€— /แน…/ + ๐‘‚ /e/ = ๐‘€—๐‘‚ /แน…e/
๐‘€œ /รฑ/ + ๐‘€ธ /ฤ/ = ๐‘€œ๐‘€ธ /รฑฤ/ ๐‘€— /แน…/ + ๐‘€ธ /ฤ/ = ๐‘€—๐‘€ธ /แน…ฤ/
๐‘€œ /รฑ/ + ๐‘„ /o/ = ๐‘€œ๐‘„ /รฑo/ ๐‘€— /แน…/ + ๐‘„ /o/ = ๐‘€—๐‘„ /แน…o/
๐‘€œ /รฑ/ + ๐‘€ /aแนƒ/ = ๐‘€œ๐‘€ /รฑaแนƒ/ ๐‘€— /แน…/ + ๐‘€ /aแนƒ/ = ๐‘€—๐‘€ /แน…aแนƒ/

Rule 3.2: If the position is bottom-right, we rotate the vowel before attaching.

๐‘€ฆ /n/ + ๐‘€ผ /u/ = ๐‘€ฆ๐‘€ผ /nu/ ๐‘€ฉ /b/ + ๐‘€ผ /u/ = ๐‘€ฉ๐‘€ผ /bu/

The rotation rules aforementioned can be summarized as follows.

Shape Part Action
straight any Attach
angled any Attach
round top Move towards center
bottom Rotate
flat top Move towards center
bottom Rotate

Remarks on Vowel Attachment

Remark 1

As aforementioned, the character ๐‘€ช /bh/ is an exceptional case for vowel attachment. Since the vowels will be attached to the right-hand-side pillar, we obtain the following attachment scheme.

top-left top-right bottom-right top outside
๐‘€ช ๐‘€ช๐‘€ธ ๐‘€ช๐‘€ผ ๐‘€ช๐‘„ ๐‘€ช๐‘€
/bhe/ /bhฤ/ /bhu/ /bho/ /bhaแนƒ/

Remark 2

The candrabindu ๐‘€€ /aแน/ becomes very similar to the anusvara ๐‘€ /aแนƒ/ when combined with a consonant, e.g. ๐‘€“๐‘€€ /kaแน/ vs. ๐‘€“๐‘€ /kaแนƒ/. The candrabindu is articulated as a nasalized sound /an/ in Modern Hindi while the anusvara still preserves the original pronunciation /aแนƒ/. In the case of the character ๐‘€ช /bh/, the candrabindu is moved towards the center ๐‘€ช๐‘€€ /bhaแน/ while the anusvara is placed above the character ๐‘€ช๐‘€ /bhaแนƒ/.

Conjunct Consonants

Two consonants can be combined to form a conjunct consonant using the virฤma sign (๐‘†), which cancels the inherent /a/ sound. For example, ๐‘€ฒ /sa/ + virฤma + ๐‘€ข /ta/ + virฤma + ๐‘€ญ /ra/ = ๐‘€ฒ๐‘†๐‘€ข๐‘†๐‘€ญ /stra/; therefore ๐‘€ฐ๐‘€ธ๐‘€ฒ๐‘†๐‘€ข๐‘†๐‘€ญ๐‘€ธ is articulated as /ล›ฤstrฤ/. In the earliest attestation of Brahmi script (the Edicts of King Aล›oka, circa 500 BC), conjunct consonants were written consecutively. But this practice evolved to stacking up a conjunct consonant for orthographical compactness in the following Gupta Dynasty era (circa 200 BC). The font Google Noto Sans Brahmi supports the Aล›okaโ€™s version, while Microsoftโ€™s font Segoe UI Historic supports the Gupta Dynasty version.

Word Boundaries and Sentence Boundaries

The earliest attestation of Brahmi script (the Edicts of King Aล›oka) portrays an extensive use of space as the word delimiter. It is assumed that this practice was influenced by Ancient Greekโ€™s orthography in which space is used for the word delimiter. Generally, phrase and sentence boundaries are implicitly marked with (1) enclitic conjunction ๐‘€˜ /ca/ โ€˜andโ€™, (2) direct-speech particle ๐‘€‡๐‘€ข๐‘€บ /iti/ โ€˜thusโ€™, and (3) subordinate conjunction ๐‘€ข๐‘€บ /ti/ โ€˜becauseโ€™. In proses and poetry, the single แธanda (๐‘‡) was used for clause delimiters, while the double แธanda (๐‘ˆ), as verse delimiters. For example, famous Sanskrit poem Ambฤ (Mother) is rendered as follows.

๐‘€…๐‘€ซ๐‘†๐‘€ฉ๐‘€ธโ€‚๐‘€ฒ๐‘€ข๐‘€ข๐‘€โ€‚๐‘€ฎ๐‘€ธ๐‘€ฎ๐‘€ฌ๐‘€ข๐‘€บโ€‚๐‘‡
๐‘€…๐‘€ซ๐‘†๐‘€ฉ๐‘€ธโ€‚๐‘€ฒ๐‘€ข๐‘€ข๐‘€โ€‚๐‘€ง๐‘€ธ๐‘€ฎ๐‘€ฌ๐‘€ข๐‘€บโ€‚๐‘‡
๐‘€…๐‘€ซ๐‘†๐‘€ฉ๐‘€ธโ€‚๐‘€ฒ๐‘€ข๐‘€ข๐‘€โ€‚๐‘€ฏ๐‘‚๐‘€ค๐‘€ฌ๐‘€ข๐‘€บโ€‚๐‘‡
๐‘€…๐‘€ซ๐‘†๐‘€ฉ๐‘€ธโ€‚๐‘€ฒ๐‘€ข๐‘€ข๐‘€โ€‚๐‘€ข๐‘„๐‘€ฑ๐‘€ฌ๐‘€ข๐‘€บโ€‚๐‘ˆ 

๐‘€…๐‘€ซ๐‘†๐‘€ฉ๐‘€ธโ€‚๐‘€ฆ๐‘€บ๐‘€ข๐‘†๐‘€ฌ๐‘€โ€‚๐‘€ฒ๐‘†๐‘€ญ๐‘€ธ๐‘€ง๐‘€ฌ๐‘€ข๐‘€บโ€‚๐‘‡
๐‘€…๐‘€ซ๐‘†๐‘€ฉ๐‘€ธโ€‚๐‘€ฆ๐‘€บ๐‘€ข๐‘†๐‘€ฌ๐‘€โ€‚๐‘€ช๐‘„๐‘€š๐‘€ฌ๐‘€ข๐‘€บโ€‚๐‘‡
๐‘€…๐‘€ซ๐‘†๐‘€ฉ๐‘€ธโ€‚๐‘€•๐‘€ป๐‘€ข๐‘€โ€‚๐‘€ฐ๐‘†๐‘€ญ๐‘€ธ๐‘€ฏ๐‘€ฌ๐‘€ข๐‘€บโ€‚๐‘‡
๐‘€…๐‘€ซ๐‘†๐‘€ฉ๐‘€ธโ€‚๐‘€ซ๐‘€ธ๐‘€ซ๐‘€“๐‘€ฒ๐‘€ญ๐‘†๐‘€ฏ๐‘€ฒ๐‘†๐‘€ฏ๐‘€ซ๐‘†โ€‚๐‘ˆ

Example Texts in Brahmi Script

Karla Caves (160 BC)

More information in Wikipedia

๐‘€ฅ๐‘‚๐‘€ฆ๐‘€ผ๐‘€“๐‘€ธ๐‘€“๐‘€๐‘€ธโ€‚๐‘€ฌ๐‘€ฏ๐‘€ฆ๐‘€ฒ
Dhenukฤkaแนญฤ Yavanasa
๐‘€ฌ๐‘€ฒ๐‘€ฏ๐‘€ฅ๐‘€ฆ๐‘€ธ๐‘€ฆ๐‘€
Yasava dhanฤnaแนƒ
๐‘€ฃ๐‘€ช๐‘„๐‘„ ๐‘€ค๐‘€ธ๐‘€ฆ๐‘€
thabho dฤnaแนƒ

Translation: โ€œ(This) pillar (is) the gift of the Yavana Yasavadhana from Denukakata.โ€ โ€” Epigraphia Indica Vol.18 p.328 Inscription No.10

Sohgaura copper plate inscription (circa 300 BC)

More information in Wikipedia

๐‘€ฒ๐‘€ธ๐‘€ฏ๐‘€ข๐‘€บ๐‘€ฌ๐‘€ธ๐‘€ฆ๐‘€โ€‚๐‘€ซ๐‘€ณ๐‘€ธ๐‘€ซ๐‘€ธ๐‘€ข๐‘†๐‘€ข๐‘€ธ๐‘€ฆ๐‘€โ€‚๐‘€ฒ๐‘€ธ๐‘€ฒ๐‘€ฆ๐‘‚โ€‚๐‘€ซ๐‘€ธ๐‘€ฆ๐‘€ฏ๐‘€ธ๐‘€ฒ๐‘€ป๐‘€ข๐‘€บ๐‘€“
Sฤvatiyฤnam Mahฤmattฤnam sฤsane Mฤnavฤsฤซtika
๐‘€Ÿ๐‘€ฒ๐‘€บ๐‘€ฎ๐‘€บ๐‘€ซ๐‘€ธ๐‘€ข๐‘‚โ€‚๐‘€‰๐‘€ฒ๐‘†๐‘€ฒ๐‘€•๐‘€ธ๐‘€ซ๐‘‚โ€‚๐‘€ฏโ€‚๐‘€๐‘€ข๐‘‚โ€‚๐‘€ค๐‘€ผ๐‘€ฏ๐‘‚โ€‚๐‘€“๐‘„๐‘€๐‘†๐‘€ž๐‘€ธ๐‘€•๐‘€ธ๐‘€ฎ๐‘€ธ๐‘€ฆ๐‘€บ
แธasilimate Ussagฤme va ete duve koแนญแนญhฤgฤlฤni
๐‘€ข๐‘€บ๐‘€ฆ๐‘€ธ๐‘€ฌ๐‘€ฏ๐‘€ธ๐‘€ฆ๐‘€บโ€‚๐‘€ซ๐‘€๐‘€ž๐‘€ผ๐‘€ฎ๐‘†๐‘€ฎ๐‘„๐‘€˜โ€‚๐‘€™๐‘€๐‘€ซ๐‘€ธโ€‚๐‘€ค๐‘€ธ๐‘€ซโ€‚๐‘€ช๐‘€ธ๐‘€ฎ๐‘€“๐‘€ธ๐‘€ฆ๐‘€บ๐‘€ฏ
tina-yavฤni maแนƒthulloca-chammฤ-dฤma-bhฤlakฤniva
๐‘€ฎ๐‘€โ€‚๐‘€“๐‘€ฌ๐‘€บ๐‘€ฌ๐‘€ข๐‘€บโ€‚๐‘€ธ๐‘€ข๐‘€บ๐‘€ฌ๐‘€ธ๐‘€ฌ๐‘€บ๐‘€“๐‘€ธ๐‘€ฌโ€‚๐‘€ฆ๐‘„โ€‚๐‘€•๐‘€ธ๐‘€ณ๐‘€บ๐‘€ข๐‘€ฏ๐‘†๐‘€ฏ๐‘€ธ๐‘€ฌ
laแนƒ kayiyati atiyฤyikฤya no gahitavvฤya

Translation: โ€œAt the junction called Manawasi, these two storehouses are prepared, for the sheltering of loads of commodities, of Tiyavani, Mathura and Chanchu.โ€ โ€”โ€‰Translated by Sircar Fleet (1942) Selected Inscriptions Vol 1 OCR p.85.

Aล›oka Pillar in Lumbini (circa 300 BC)

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๐‘€ค๐‘‚๐‘€ฏ๐‘€ธ๐‘€ฆ๐‘€๐‘€ง๐‘€บ๐‘€ฌ๐‘‚๐‘€ฆ ๐‘€ง๐‘€บ๐‘€ฌ๐‘€ค๐‘€ฒ๐‘€บ๐‘€ฆ ๐‘€ฎ๐‘€ธ๐‘€š๐‘€บ๐‘€ฆ๐‘€ฏ๐‘€ป๐‘€ฒ๐‘€ข๐‘€บ๐‘€ฏ๐‘€ฒ๐‘€ธ๐‘€ช๐‘€บ๐‘€ฒ๐‘€บ๐‘€ข๐‘‚๐‘€ฆ
Devฤnaแนƒpiyena Piyadasina lฤjina vฤซsati-vasฤbhisitena
๐‘€…๐‘€ข๐‘€ฆ๐‘€†๐‘€•๐‘€ธ๐‘€˜ ๐‘€ซ๐‘€ณ๐‘€ป๐‘€ฌ๐‘€บ๐‘€ข๐‘‚ ๐‘€ณ๐‘€บ๐‘€ค๐‘€ฉ๐‘€ผ๐‘€ฅ๐‘‚๐‘€š๐‘€ธ๐‘€ข ๐‘€ฒ๐‘€“๐‘†๐‘€ฌ๐‘€ซ๐‘€ผ๐‘€ฆ๐‘€บ๐‘€ข๐‘€บ
atana ฤgฤca mahฤซyite hida Budhe jฤte Sakyamuni ti
๐‘€ฒ๐‘€บ๐‘€ฎ๐‘€ธ๐‘€ฏ๐‘€บ๐‘€•๐‘€ฅ๐‘€ช๐‘€บ๐‘€˜๐‘€ธ๐‘€“๐‘€ธ๐‘€ณ๐‘€ธ๐‘€ง๐‘€บ๐‘€ข ๐‘€ฒ๐‘€บ๐‘€ฎ๐‘€ธ๐‘€ฃ๐‘€ช๐‘‚๐‘€˜ ๐‘€‰๐‘€ฒ๐‘€ง๐‘€ธ๐‘€ง๐‘€บ๐‘€ข๐‘‚
silฤ vigaแธabhฤซ cฤ kฤlฤpita silฤ-thabhe ca usapฤpite
๐‘€ณ๐‘€บ๐‘€ค๐‘€ช๐‘€•๐‘€ฏ๐‘€๐‘€š๐‘€ธ๐‘€ข๐‘€ข๐‘€บ ๐‘€ฎ๐‘€ผ๐‘€๐‘€ซ๐‘€บ๐‘€ฆ๐‘€บ๐‘€•๐‘€ธ๐‘€ซ๐‘‚ ๐‘€‰๐‘€ฉ๐‘€ฎ๐‘€บ๐‘€“๐‘‚๐‘€“๐‘€๐‘‚
hida Bhagavaแนƒ jฤte ti Luแนƒmini-gฤme ubalike kaแนญe
๐‘€…๐‘€ž๐‘€ช๐‘€ธ๐‘€•๐‘€บ๐‘€ฌ๐‘‚๐‘€˜
aแนญha-bhฤgiye ca

Translation: โ€œWhen King Devandmpriya Priyadarsin had been anointed twenty years, he came himself and worshipped (this spot) because the Buddha Shakyamuni was born here. (He) both caused to be made a stone bearing a horse (?) and caused a stone pillar to be set up, (in order to show) that the Blessed One was born here. (He) made the village of Lummini free of taxes, and paying (only) an eighth share (of the produce).โ€ โ€” Translated in Hultzsch, E. (1925). Inscriptions of Asoka pp. 164-165.

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