On the Origin of the Indian Brahma Alphabet c6.39

c6.39

¹ Though the letters are perfectly distinct, Sir A. Cunningham gives erroneously *Nekama* as the reading of the Kharoṣṭhī legend of No 9. On the obverse of No 8 he reads *Rālimata*, and he takes *negamā* as the equivalent of the Greek Νόμισμα, for which explanation there is no authority (see also Ind. Ant., vol. XXI, p. 346). He correctly points out that, on plate II, Nos 21 & 22 have the inscription *Kādasa*, i. e. *Kālasa*, in Brāhma letters of the type of the Edicts, and asserts that No 13 on plate III bears the Kharoṣṭhī legend *Paṃca Nekamma*. According to the autotype the third sign is not *ne* but *a* and the fourth looks like *kra*.