Which script is predominantly used in the inscriptions of Emperor Aśoka?

Correct — D. Ashoka's inscriptions are mostly in Prakrit, and the script used across the empire is Brahmi.

Kharosthi was used in the north-west, and Greek and Aramaic at Kandahar in present-day Afghanistan. The predominant script is Brahmi → option (d).

Why the others are wrong

• (a)
  Kharosthi — Kharosthi is Ashokan too, but regional: the north-west, as in the Major Rock Edicts at Shahbazgarhi and Mansehra. It is written right to left.
• (b)
  Devanagari — Devanagari is a much later descendant of Brahmi, not a script of Ashoka's time. It took shape many centuries after the Mauryas.
• (c)
  Tamil — Tamil script also descends from Brahmi. Ashoka's edicts in the south, as at Maski in Karnataka, are written in Brahmi.

Ashoka's inscriptions, carved on rocks and pillars across his empire, are mostly in Prakrit, written in Brahmi, a script read left to right.

Brahmi is the ancestor of most later Indian scripts, Devanagari and Tamil among them. James Prinsep deciphered it in the 1830s, and the edicts became readable again.

Key facts

• Most Ashokan inscriptions are in Prakrit, written in the Brahmi script.
• Kharosthi, written right to left, was used in the north-west, as at Shahbazgarhi and Mansehra.
• Greek and Aramaic inscriptions of Ashoka were found at Kandahar, Afghanistan.
• James Prinsep deciphered Brahmi in the 1830s.

Common traps

• Picking Kharosthi because it is Ashokan too. It was regional, confined to the north-west.
• Picking Devanagari as the Indian script. It came much later, out of Brahmi.

No directly related past PYQ was found.