Page:Asoka - the Buddhist Emperor of India.djvu/142

140 the parent of the Devanâgarî and most of the existing Indian alphabets, appears in the‘ Asoka inscriptions and the nearly contemporary records at Bhattiprolu and in Ceylon in so many varieties that it must have been already in use for several centuries, although no extant example can be cited which is certainly earlier than Asoka. Bûhler seems to have been right in deriving this script from Mesopotamia, and the date of its introduction into India may have been about 700 or 800, or earlier.

The story of the origins of the early civilization of India has been very imperfectly investigated and still remains to be written. We can perceive dimly the main lines of communication by sea and land along which the elements of the arts and sciences travelled to India from Egypt and the continent of Asia, but our actual knowledge of the subject is extremely fragmentary. The imposing fabric of the Achaemenian empire evidently impressed the Indian mind, and several facts indicate the existence of a strong Persian inﬂuence on the Indian civilization of the Maurya age.

The free use of pillars was the dominant feature of Achaemenian architecture and Asoka's fondness for columns is in itself an indication of Persian inﬂuence. But no indirect inference is needed to prove the Persian suggestion of his monoliths which recall the motive of the Persepolitan bell-capital surmounted by animals, frequently placed back toiback. The Sârnâth capital described above (ante, p. 136), while in a certain