On the Origin of the Indian Brahma Alphabet c5.40

c5.40

which he caused to be engraved on a gold-plate. The plate he made over to his prime minister and caused the inscription to be read to the townspeople.² While in this case the text engraved is a kind of proclamation, we learn from the Kaṇha Jātaka³ that in rich families statements regarding the acquisition of property were preserved in this peculiar manner. The future Buddha, the story says, who had been born as the son af a Brahman possessing eighty millions, after the death of his parents “one day examined his treasury. Seated on a splendid couch, he caused a gold-plate to be brought and looked at the letters (*akkharāni*), incised on it by his ancestors, which stated, ‘So much wealth has been gained by such a one and so much by such another one’.”