On the Origin of the Indian Brahma Alphabet c7.s1.13

c7.s1.13

The difficulty with respect to the phonetic value of the Brāhma sign, which does not exactly correspond to that of [58] the *Daleth*, may perhaps be explained by the suggestion that the letter was used for than the year 725 B. C. As this sign belongs to the eighth century B. C., when the very archaic forms of the *Aleph*, *Daleth*, *Cheth*, *Theth*, *Wav* and *Qoph*, represented by the corresponding Brāhma letters, still existed,¹ it may be considered the prototype of the Indian *ha*. The aversion of the Hindus against heavy tops, of course, caused the sign to be turned round, and their liking for regularity caused the bar to be attached to the stroke which then became the base-line, and the whole letter to be set up straight. All things considered, this explanation seems [59] more probable than attempts to connect *ha* with the later more exactly agreeing sign in Col. III, b, or with the still Edicts, given in Col. V, b—d, are all cursive, and represent attempts to make the letter with a single stroke or at least with two. The third form with a dot at the junction of the two curves, is of course a development from the second with the loop. And the substitution of a dot for a loop indicates that the persons who invented it wrote with pen and ink. A man working with a stylus would not think of such a substitution, nay could hardly effect it.¹