First Appearance of Writing in South Asia
Further information: Brahmi script and Tamil-BrahmiThe first introduction of writing to South Asia (apart from the Bronze Age Indus Valley script which is undeciphered) is mostly identified as Ashoka's inscriptions of c. 250 BCE. Megasthenes in c. 300 BCE stated explicitly that Indians had no writing.
Until the 1990s, it was generally accepted that the Brahmi script used by Ashoka spread to Southern India during the second half of the 3rd century BCE, assuming a local form now known as Tamil-Brahmi. Beginning in the late 1990s, archaeological excavations have produced a small number of candidates of epigraphy predating Ashoka. The most promising candidate is inscribed pottery found in a grave in the Palani municipality, Tamil Nadu, dated to c. 450 BCE. If this date is correct, the conclusion would be that the introduction of writing in South India predated Ashoka by as much as two centuries.
Read more about this topic: Early Indian Epigraphy
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