The Kharosthi Script: Ashoka's Lost Language on the Silk Road

When King Ashoka wanted his edicts of Dhamma to reach every corner of his vast Mauryan Empire, he used two scripts: Brahmi in the east and Kharosthi in the northwest. But Kharosthi didn't die with the empire—it travelled the Silk Road, adapted by Sogdian merchants, Kushan rulers, and eventually became the ancestor of the Mongolian script. In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore the strange, beautiful letters of Kharosthi, from Ashoka's rock inscriptions at Shahbazgarhi and Mansehra to the wooden tablets of the Niya ruins and the Buddhist manuscripts of the Gandharan scrolls. They uncover how a script born in the Achaemenid chancelleries of Gandhara became the writing system of choice for traders, monks, and kings across Central Asia—only to fade into silence after the Arab conquests. Along the way, they meet the decipherers, the forgeries, and the last known Kharosthi inscription from 5th-century Punjab. A story of writing, empire, and the quiet power of the written word. #Kharosthi #Ashoka #MauryanEmpire #Gandhara #SilkRoad #BrahmiScript #Shahbazgarhi #Mansehra #NiyaRuins #Sogdians #KushanEmpire #BuddhistManuscripts #Achaemenid #IndiaHistory #CentralAsia #Decipherment #History #FexingoHistory Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo