Gandhari language

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Gandhārī (IPA: [ɡɐn̪d̪ʰaːriː]) was an Indo-Aryan Prakrit language attested mainly in texts dated between the 3rd century BCE and 4th century CE in the region of Gandhāra, in present-day Pakistan and Afghanistan. It appears on coins, inscriptions and texts, notably the Gandhāran Buddhist texts. Gandhārī served as an official language of the Kushan Empire and various central Asian kingdoms, including Khotan and Shanshan. The language was heavily used by the former Buddhist cultures of Central Asia and its inscriptions have been found as far away as Luoyang and Anyang in eastern China. Gandhārī is notable among the Prakrits for having some archaic phonology, for its relative isolation and independence, for being partially within the influence of the ancient Near East and Mediterranean and for its use of the Kharoṣṭhī script, as opposed to Brahmic scripts used by other Prakrits. Gandhārī is an early Middle Indo-Aryan language – a Prakrit – with unique features that distinguish it from all...

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