The Brahmi alphabet was the first of a type of alphabet called an abugida. Almost all of the abugidas used in South and Southeast Asia are ultimately derived from the Brahmi alphabet.
The inscriptions of the Emperor Ashoka, who reigned from 272 BC to 232 BC, are the earliest known incriptions in the Brahmi alphabet.
Like most abugidas, each letter has an inherent vowel of /a/. Other vowels are indicated by using diacritics, which can appear above, below, to the left, or to the right of the consonant.
External links
Entry on Brahmi (http://www.omniglot.com/writing/brahmi.htm) at Omniglot.com -- A guide to writing systems (http://www.omniglot.com/writing/)
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