Who deciphered Asokan Brahmi script in 1838?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 1
The correct answer is Option (1) → James Prinsep
James Prinsep, an officer in the mint of the East India Company, deciphered Asokan Brahmi in 1838. Scholars had worked backwards from Bengali and Devanagari manuscripts, comparing their letters with older specimens. Prinsep succeeded only after decades of painstaking work by several epigraphists.
Note: A same/similar question was asked in CUET (UG) in the papers below.
| 2026 | 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 |
| 13-05 S1 | 13-05 S2* 19-05 S1 | – | 05-06 S3* 13-06 S2* 14-06 S2* 21-06 S1* 02-07 S3* | – |
* A similar question.
NCERT (2025-26): “7.1 Deciphering Brahmi … From the late eighteenth century, European scholars aided by Indian pandits worked backwards from contemporary Bengali and Devanagari (the script used to write Hindi) manuscripts, comparing their letters with older specimens. Scholars who studied early inscriptions sometimes assumed these were in Sanskrit, although the earliest inscriptions were, in fact, in Prakrit. It was only after decades of painstaking investigations by several epigraphists that James Prinsep was able to decipher Asokan Brahmi in 1838.…” |