On the Origin of the Indian Brahma Alphabet c10: Addenda

On the Origin of the Indian Brāhma Alphabet c10

Language: English

Addenda

c10.1

P. 9, l. 28. Another case of a letter of defiance (*paṇṇa*) sent to a king by his adversaries is mentioned in Jātaka, No. 23, Fausböll, vol. I, p. 178 (Rhys Davids).

c10.2

P. 10, l. 12. Promissory notes (*paṇṇa*) and their redemption by payment are mentioned in the introduction to Jātaka No 40, Fausböll, vol. I, p. 227, l. 3 f., and p. 230, l. 1 ff. (Rhys Davids).

P. 11, l. 14. According to Jātaka No 388 (Fausböll, vol. III, p. 292) the future Buddha caused the judicial rules to be written in a book (*potthaka*) and recommended that, in future, cases should be decided, after reference to it. A book (*potthaka*) is mentioned also in the Uddālaka Jātaka No 487, Fausböll, vol. IV, p. 487, l. 17 f, where Uddālaka’s preparations, intended to captivate the king, are described as follows: "But he himself took with him eight or ten disputant Paṇḍits, placed a lovely book (*potthaka*) on a charming reading desk (*ādhāraka*) and sat down, surrounded by his pupils, on a prepared seat which was furnished with a support for the back". Here the book can only be a MS. of a literary work, and the reading desk is probably one of those little tripods, consisting of three laquered pieces of wood, which are commonly used by the Jaina Yatis at their *vācanās*. The whole description is merely an accessory without any importance for the story and may be an interpolation, as its rather modern look suggests.

c10.4

P. 31, l. 5. From Mr. Halhed’s Grammar of the Bengal language, p. 17 ff. (Calcutta, 1778), to which Dr. B. Liebich has drawn my attention, it appears that about the end of the last century the Bengal schoolmasters still used a set of twelve tables, including chiefly compound letters, which may be remotely connected with Hiuen Tsiang’s twelve *chang* and Huilin’s twelve *fan*. Mr. Halhed calls them the twelve *Phola*, which name according to the Jonesian transliteration would be *Phalā* and corresponds to the Sanskrit *phalaka*, ‘board, tablet’, and he states that they severally are *kya*, *kra*, *kna*, *kla*, *kva*, *kma*, *kṛ*, *kḷ*, *rka*, *ṅka*, *ska* and *siddhi*. He adds that *siddhi* is an abbreviation of *siddhir astu*¹ and that this *Phalā* consists of the sixteen vowels. Mr. Halhed also gives the contents of two other *Phalās* in full, which I copy here in transcription, as his grammar is rather rare.

c10.5

The Phalā *ṅka* includes:

c10.6

| *ṅka* | *ṅkha* | *ṅga* | *ṅgha* | *ṅṅa* | |
| *ñca* | *ñcha* | *ñja* | *ñjha* | *ñña* | |
| *ṇṭa* | *ṇṭha* | *ṇḍa* | *ṇḍha* | *ṇṇa* | |
| *nta* | *ntha* | *nda* | *ndha* | *nna* | |
| *mpa* | *mpha* | *mba* | *mbha* | *mma* | |
| *ṅya* | *ra* | *ṅla* | *ṅva* | — | |
| *ṅśa* | *ṅṣa* | *ṅsa* | *ṅha* | *ṅkṣa*, | or 34 signs, |

c10.7

and Phalā *ska*:

c10.8

| *ska* | *skha* | *dga* | *dgha* | *ṅtra* |
| *śca* | *ścha* | *bja* | *bjha* | *jña* |
| *ṣṭa* | *ṣṭha* | *bḍa* | *bḍha* | *hṇa* |
| *sta* | *stha* | *bda* | *bdha* | *hna* |
| *spa* | *spha* | *dba* | *dbha* | *hma* |
| *hya* | *ra* | *hla* | *hva* | — |
| *ṭśa* | *ṭṣa* | *ṭsa* | *ṭha* | *ṭkṣa*, |

c10.9

or again 34 signs.

c10.10

Though it is evident that the twelve *Phalā* are not identical with Hiulin's twelve *fan*, Mr. Halhed's statements show at all events that a syllabary Full certainty on the exact character of the Indian syllabaries and their history can only be obtained by an examination of the various works, called *lipiviveka*, *mātṛkāviveka*, *varṇamāla* and so forth, mentioned in the publications, connected with the Search for Sanskrit MSS., and in the Catalogues of European libraries. The kindness of Dr. Grierson, who made enquiries regarding the actual occurrence of Huilin’s twelve tables through Mr. Prother *nidhāya*, *daṇa* (*daṇṇa*) for *daṇḍa*, *china* (*chinna*) for *chinda*, with which latter Pali forms like *puṇṇarīka* for *puṇḍarīka* may be compared.

c10.11

The principles of its spelling in no way differ from those of the epigraphic Kharoṣṭhī. The long vowels are not marked, the Anusvāra does duty for all nasals in compound consonants, single non-aspirate consonants stand for not much later. I believe that, like the Bower MS., it was written in India — as the dialect and the characters suggest, in Gandhāra — and that it was carried by some Buddhist monk into Chinese Turkestan.

c10.12

P. 110. And it ought to be noted, that while no good reason is apparent why *u* should have been placed at the foot in the Kharoṣṭhī, it is patent that the sprawling [Figure:] and [Figure:] of the Brāhmī was not fit to be placed at the top of the consonants, but better suited the position at the foot, where, in letters not ending in verticals, it could be abbreviated, without the risk of confusion with *e*, *ā* and *ai*.