Brahmi is clearly attested from the 3rd century BCE during the reign of Ashoka, who used the script for imperial edicts.
Notable examples of such medieval scripts, developed by the 7th or 8th century, include Nagari, Siddham and Sharada.
The tabular presentation and dictionary order of the modern kana system of Japanese writing is believed to be descended from the Indic scripts, most likely through the spread of Buddhism.
The scripts spread naturally to Southeast Asia, at ports on trading routes.
[2] At these trading posts, ancient inscriptions have been found in Sanskrit, using scripts that originated in India.