ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Early Indian epigraphy

Okay kiddo, have you ever seen a book with words and pictures in it? That's what we call writing. Long ago, people in India also had their own way of writing things down, which we now call Indian epigraphy.

Epigraphy means writing on something that's not paper, like rocks or metal. Indians used special tools to carve their writing onto rocks or inscribe it on metal plates. They used this writing to record important events, like battles or the name of a king.

When we say "early Indian epigraphy," we're talking about the very first times people in India started writing things down. This was about 2500 years ago! At this time, people in India spoke many different languages, so there were many different types of writing. The most famous early Indian writing is called the Brahmi script.

The Brahmi script is made up of different letters that are drawn with lines and dots. Each letter stands for a different sound. It would be like if we drew a picture of a banana to represent the "b" sound, and a picture of a sun to represent the "s" sound.

As people started to write more, they also started to use writing to tell stories and share important religious texts. These writings helped shape the culture and history of India.

So, early Indian epigraphy is all about how people in India started writing things down a very long time ago, using the Brahmi script and many different languages. It helped them remember important events and record their culture and history.