The Kharosthi script (also known as 'Indo-Bactrian' script) was a writing system originally developed in present-day northern Pakistan, sometime between the 4th and 3rd century BCE. Kharosthi was employed to represent a form of Prakrit (Middle Indic), an Indo-Aryan language. It had a wide but irregular distribution along northern Pakistan, eastern Afghanistan, northwest India, and Central Asia.
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Definition
Timeline
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c. 1500 BCE - c. 500 CEThe Gandhara Civilization flourishes in what is today the northern portion of Pakistan and Afghanistan.
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530 BCEPersia conquers the Indus Valley.
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268 BCE - 232 BCEReign of Ashoka the Great, third ruler of the Mauryan Empire.
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c. 250 BCEEarliest recognizable examples of Kharosthi inscriptions at Gandhara.
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c. 350 CEDemise of the Kharosthi script.
