Ancient Shell Script Unveiled: Connecting India to Southeast Asia

via Acta Orientalis, 21 August 2023: The article discusses the discovery of śaṅkhalipi inscriptions in India and Southeast Asia, particularly Thailand, and their historical and cultural significance in extending the known range of this script beyond the Indian subcontinent and Indonesian archipelago during the mid-to-late first millennium CE.

Inscriptions in the highly calligraphic and still undeciphered śaṅkhalipi or ‘shell script’ have been found by the hundreds in most parts of India except the far south, typically in conjunction with sites and monuments dating from around the Gupta period and succeeding centuries. To date, four specimens have also been discovered in the Indonesian archipelago, in West Java and West Kalimantan (Borneo). Another specimen of śaṅkhalipi inscription, engraved on a pillar and exceptionally ornate, was recently discovered in Thailand at the site of Si Thep, a moated early settlement in Phetchabun Province. The article reviews the historical and cultural contexts of shell-script inscriptions in India and discusses the significance of this remarkable first specimen found in mainland Southeast Asia.

Source: A Unique Śaṅkhalipi (Shell-script) Inscription from Si Thep, Thailand in: Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae Volume 76 Issue 3 (2023)