On the Origin of the Indian Brahma Alphabet c5.17

c5.17

The remaining theories coincide in the main point that the ancient Indian characters are derived from a Semitic source, and Sir A. Cunningham is no doubt right, when he says that this is the prevailing belief among Sanskritists, not only however among those of the European continent, but pretty nearly all over the Western world. This belief is probably founded not so much on special studies in Indian palaeography, which, as well as epigraphy, are mostly neglected owing to the force of unfavourable circumstances, as on the general impression that certain Indian characters strongly resemble Semitic letters and on the conviction, supported in several cases by the clearest evidence, that the Indo-Aryan civilisation includes many and various elements, borrowed from Western nations, Semites, Persians and Greeks. But I doubt that even half a dozen Sanskritists could be found, who would care to make a definite choice between the rival theories, except in so far that they might be inclined to reject M. Halévy’s ingenious, but untenable combinations, which rest on *a priori* improbable assumptions [4] and partly on errors regarding facts, and which in their final results, *e. g.* the conclusion that the Vedas were composed in the time of the Mauryas, disagree with all the lessons taught by Indo-Aryan research.¹