The Institutes of Akbar 73.6

73.6

The beauty of a letter and its proportions depend much on personal taste; hence it is that nearly every people has a separate alphabet. Thus we find an Indian, Syriac, Greek, Hebrew, Coptic, Ma’qalí, Kúfí, Kashmírí, Abyssinian, Raihání, Arabic, Persian, Himyaritic, Berbery, Andalusian, Ríhání, and several other ancient systems of writing. The invention of the Hebrew characters is traced in some poems to Adam i Hafthazárí; but some mention Idrís as the inventor. Others, however, say that Idrís perfected the Ma’qalí character. According to several statements, the Kúfic character was derived by the Khalífah ’Alí from the Ma’qalí. The difference in the form of a letter in the several systems, lies in the proportion of straight and round strokes: thus the Kúfic character consists of one-sixth curvature and five-sixths straight lines; the Ma’qalí has no curved lines at all; hence the inscriptions which are found on ancient buildings are mostly in this character. In writing we have to remember that black and white look well, as these colours best prevent ambiguities in reading.