𐨑𐨪𐨆𐨮𐨿𐨛𐨁

Kharosthi is an ancient script used primarily in the Gandhara region (modern northwestern Pakistan and eastern Afghanistan) from the 3rd century BCE to the 3rd century CE. The name kharoṣṭhī likely derives from the Gandhari word for 'donkey lip,' possibly a humorous description of the script's appearance, though some scholars connect it to a legendary inventor. Unlike Brahmi, which wrote from left to right and spawned dozens of descendant scripts, Kharosthi wrote from right to left — a clear sign of its Aramaic parentage.

The Aramaic script was the administrative language of the Persian Achaemenid Empire, which controlled Gandhara from the 6th to 4th centuries BCE. When Alexander the Great conquered the region in 327 BCE and Aramaic administration receded, local scribes adapted the Aramaic alphabet to write Gandhari Prakrit, the regional Indo-Aryan language. Kharosthi was born from this adaptation: an Indian language wearing an Aramaic suit, read from right to left like its Persian predecessor.

Kharosthi's greatest moment was the Gandharan Buddhist manuscripts — birch-bark scrolls dating from the 1st century BCE to the 3rd century CE, the oldest surviving Buddhist texts in any language. Discovered in Afghanistan and Pakistan, these manuscripts predate the earliest Pali and Sanskrit Buddhist manuscripts by centuries. They are written in Gandhari Prakrit in Kharosthi script, and their study has reshaped understanding of early Buddhism. The Dead Sea Scrolls of Buddhism were written in the script that lost.

Kharosthi disappeared by the 4th century CE, outcompeted by Brahmi-derived scripts as Gandhara's political and cultural importance declined. It was forgotten until 1837, when James Prinsep — the same scholar who deciphered Brahmi — identified Kharosthi on coins of the Indo-Greek kings. The script that served Alexander's successors and preserved the Buddha's earliest known words had to wait two millennia for a British numismatist to read it again.