Brāhmī script is one of the oldest known writing systems in the Indian subcontinent, dating back to the c. 3rd century BCE. It was used to write various languages of ancient India, including Sanskrit, Prakrit (vernacular languages), and some inscriptions in Dravidian languages. The script remained undeciphered until the 19th century when James Prinsep, a British scholar and archaeologist, successfully deciphered it by comparing inscriptions in Brāhmī with known inscriptions in other scripts. Over time, Brāhmī script evolved into several regional scripts, and some of them eventually gave rise to modern Indian scripts. By the c. 5th century CE, the use of Brāhmī declined in favour of other scripts like Devanagari, Tamil script, Bengali script, etc.

Once you study this course, you will be able to understand the following:

• to teach students how to recognize and read Brahmi characters, including consonants, vowels, and various diacritics used to represent different sounds and syllables.

• to learn about the historical context of Brahmi script, its origin, and its evolution over time;

• to delve into linguistic aspects, helping students understand the phonetics and phonology of Brahmi;

• to emphasize on the importance of preserving and conserving ancient manuscripts and inscriptions.