On the Origin of the Indian Brahma Alphabet c5.106

c5.106

[29] This *Bārākhaḍī*, which is used in all the parts of India known to me,¹ has of course always the same number of vowels, but the number of the consonants varies. In the Marāṭhā country and in Gujarāt, there are 36 instead of 34, the groups *kṣa* and *jña* being reckoned as simple radical signs and placed after *ḷa*. As usually a Maṅgala or invocation *oṃ namaḥ siddham* is prefixed to it, it is sometimes called by the Pandits the *Siddhamātṛkā* or *Siddhākṣarasamāmnāyaḥ* or "the alphabet, preceded by the word *Siddha* (success)", or jocularly *Mātṛkāpurāṇa* "the Purāṇa of the Mothers (radical signs)".