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Q62 (IAS/1997) History & Culture › Ancient India › Ancient epigraphy and archaeology Answer Verified

Which one of the following scripts of ancient India was written from right to left?

Result
Your answer: —  ·  Correct: D
Explanation

The Kharoṣṭhī (Kharosthi) script, used in the Gandhāra/northwest region of ancient India, is historically attested as a right-to-left script—unlike the Brahmi family, which is written left-to-right. Scholarly descriptions and reference summaries list Kharosthi’s direction explicitly as right-to-left, reflecting its adaptation from Semitic/Aramaic models [1]. Contemporary epigraphic sources also note that while most Asokan and other Prakrit inscriptions across India were in Brahmi, inscriptions in the northwest were frequently rendered in Kharosthi, showing its regional use and directional distinction [2]. Therefore among the options, Kharosthi is the script written from right to left.

Sources

  1. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kharosthi
  2. [2] THEMES IN INDIAN HISTORY PART I, History CLASS XII (NCERT 2025 ed.) > Chapter 2: Kings, Farmers and Towns > Languages and scripts > p. 32
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