section_path: List of Brahmic scripts/Historical
section_name: Historical
paragraph_text: Historical
  
  The Brahmi script was already divided into regional variants at the time of the earliest surviving epigraphy around the 3rd century BC. Cursives of the Brahmi script began to diversify further from around the 5th century AD and continued to give rise to new scripts throughout the Middle Ages. The main division in antiquity was between northern and southern Brahmi. In the northern group, the Gupta script was very influential, and in the southern group the Vatteluttu and Kadamba / Pallava scripts with the spread of Buddhism sent Brahmic scripts throughout Southeast Asia.