On the Origin of the Indian Brahma Alphabet c7.s2: B. The Derivative Consonants and Initial Vowels

On the Origin of the Indian Brāhma Alphabet c7.s2

Language: English

B. The Derivative Consonants and Initial Vowels

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The contrivances, by which the derivative signs, both primary and secondary, for consonants and initial vowels have been formed, are:—

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(1) the transposition of one of the elements of a phonetically cognate borrowed sign,

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(2) the mutilation of a borrowed letter or of another derivative sign of similar phonetic value,

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(3) the addition of straight lines, curves or hooks to borrowed or derivative signs. If a hook is added the original sign suffers a slight mutilation.

Two cases of transposition have already been mentioned above under No 15, where it has been pointed out that the *sa* and the Ghasundi *ṣa* come from the Bhaṭṭiprolu *ṣ*. A second case occurs, as Professor Weber has been the first to recognise, in the dental *da* (No 4, Col. VI, a—b, f—g). The [70] two first forms, one of which occurs in Bhaṭṭiprolu as well as on a Patna seal ¹ and the other in the majority of the Edicts, are derived from the two *dha* in Col. V, by dividing the straight line and pushing the halves back to the ends of the semicircle which remained. In the third actual form (Col. VI, f) and the hypothetical one, Col. VI, g (required on account of the next following sign) the semicircle has been converted into a small square, left open on one side, and this change is due to the liking for angular forms, mentioned above p. 37.

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The cases in which a borrowed or derivative sign has been mutilated, are those of the lingual *tenuis*, *tenuis aspirata* and *media*, all of which Professor Weber has already explained correctly. The lingual *ḍa* under No 4, Col. VI, c, which occurs occasionally in Kālsī and commonly in the later inscriptions of the Nānāghāt and the other Western caves etc., is derived, by the removal of the lower end, from the Bhaṭṭiprolu *da* (Col. VI, a), which had not yet been turned from the right to the left. The angular *ḍa* (Col. VI, h) comes in like manner from an angular *da* (not yet turned to the left), of which the known inscriptions do not offer any example. The *ṭha* (No 9, Col. VI, a) is of course the dental *tha* minus the central dot, and the *ṭa* (No 9, Col. VI, b) has probably been obtained by halving the *ṭha*, as Professor Weber conjectures. To a Hindu this process probably appeared very natural. For he formed several aspirates by adding curves. Hence he may be supposed to have considered a round sign, denoting an aspirate, as equivalent to an unaspirated letter *plus* a curve of aspiration. Thus the division of the sign would be quite legitimate. In the Edicts both *ṭha* and *ṭa* are frequently made smaller than the other letters.

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Two other cases of the mutilation of borrowed letters occur in the signs for initial *I* and *U*. It has been recognised already by Mr. Prinsep that the three dots of *I* (No 16, Col. VI, a—c, lower row) indicate of *I* generally agrees with the position of the angles of *E*. To a Hindu phoneticist or grammarian the derivation of *I* from *E* would appear a matter of course, because *E* is very commonly [71] the representative of an *I* in strong forms or its *Guṇa*. Hence he expressed the latter by a lighter form of the former, just marking the corners of the triangle.

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The case of *U* (No 6, Col. VI, a) is somewhat different. It has been customary to derive the sign directly from one of the later forms of the Semitic *Waw*. Considering the facts, connected with the linguals and with initial *I*, I would propose to derive it either directly from the old Semitic *Waw*, turned topsy-turvy, or from the Brāhma *va* by a bisection of the circle at the foot of the sign and the substitution of a straight line for the irregular pendant, which remained. The several steps were, therefore, 𑀉 or 𑀉, 𑀉, 𑀉, and finally¹ 𑀉. It is probable that phonetic considerations, the observation of the frequent substitution of *u* for *va* in weak verbal and nominal forms, as in *uhyate*, *upyate*, *supyate*, *upta*, *supta*, *uṣita*, from *vah*, *vap*, *svap* and *vas*, may have led to the adoption of this proceeding. The framers of the Brāhma alphabet were, as pointed out already, Brahmans, acquainted with phonetics and with grammatical theories.

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¹ The former actual existence of the third form is proved by the Jaugada *O* (No

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The last case of mutilation, I believe, occurs in the Anusvāra (No 13, Col. VI, b) which is represented by a simple dot. This is no doubt a substitute for the small circle (Col. VI, a), which reappears very commonly in certain later epigraphic and literary alphabets. I consider the circle to be a mutilated minute *ma*, the upper angle of which was omitted,² and I believe that this conjecture is supported by the following facts. In the Edicts and all other ancient inscriptions the Anusvāra is placed rarely at the top of the letter after which it is pronounced. Usually and regularly it stands opposite the middle, but in a number of cases it is found also to the right of the foot. Now vowelless consonants always stand at the foot of the preceding sign in the oldest Sanskrit or Mixed inscriptions from the times of the [72] Kuṣana kings down to the fifth century A. D., when the *Virāma* makes first its appearance. Moreover all such vowelless consonants are made exceedingly small, even after the invention of the *Virāma*, and they are very commonly mutilated at the top.¹ These facts would fully explain the use of a small circle for a vowelless *ma* of the Aśoka type, which then became the general sign of nasalisation in the Brāhma alphabet, just as the Kharoṣṭhī *ma* was turned into the Kharoṣṭhī Anusvāra. My theory, of course, rests on the assumption that the Brāhma alphabet was used from the beginning, not for Prakrit, but for Sanskrit, and this is made more than probable by the occurrence of *ṅa* in the Mahābodhi Gayā alphabet of the masons, as well as by the arrangement of its letters on phonetic principles, see above p. 33, likewise by the numerous indications that the alphabet was elaborated by phoneticists or grammarians, * in which *O*,¹ No 6, Col. VI, f—g, has been formed out of *U*, and in the first sign (Col. VI, f), the stroke stands in its [73] original position, because the letter (Jaugaḍa form) has not been turned round. The *AI* (No 16, Col. VI, b, upper row) appears to have been derived from *E* in the same manner, but the letter has been turned from the right to the left. The sounds *u* and *o*, as well as *e* and *ai*, appear to a Hindu and to a Sanskritist closely connected, because in numberless cases *o* is the *Guṇa* or representative of *u* in strong forms, and because *e* and *ai* both appear in the strong forms of roots with *i* and in derivatives from nouns with *i* and *e*. These phonetic or grammatical affinities no doubt influenced the formation of the signs.

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Added to signs for consonants, either on the right or across the top, a straight stroke likewise denotes a change of quality viz. that the sign expresses the corresponding sound of a different class or *Varga*. The stroke has its original position in the Bhaṭṭiprolu *ḷ* (No 12, Col. VI), which has not been turned round. It appears on the left in the palatal *ña*,² because this has been turned. Its position is again the original one in the guttural *ṅa*, which in the Gayā alphabet and the Kuṣana (see above p. 31) inscriptions is [Figure:], and in which the foot of the *na* has also been modified. Finally in *ṇa* (No 14, Col. VI, b) the bar goes across the vertical. The peculiarities of the last two letters are probably due to a desire to avoid collisions with *nā*, *ne* and *O*.

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Aspiration is expressed by the addition of a curve in the Bhaṭṭiprolu *gha* (No 3, Col. VI), and the ordinary Brāhma signs for *ḍha* (No 4, Col. VI, d), *pha* (No 17, Col. VI) and *cha* (No 18, Col. VI, a—b) are derived in the same manner from *ḍa*, *pa* and *ca*. In the sign for *cha* both ends of the curve have been connected with the vertical line of *ca*. There are numerous instances, like that given in Col. VI, a, in of a circle bisected by a vertical line is in my opinion cursive.

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In the two signs for *bha* (No 2, Col. VI) and for *jha* (No 7, Col. VI) an angle or hook serves the same purpose as the curve of the other four aspirates, and in both cases the original sign is mutilated in order to make the new form less cumbersome. The *ba* has lost its base line and the *ja* its two [74] bars. It seems not improbable, as has already been suggested by others, that the angle or hook of aspiration may be a cursive development from the letter *ha*.

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In the lingual *ḷa*, derived from the round *ḍa* (No 4, Col. VI, e) a small semicircle¹ has been added to the foot of the original sign in order to indicate the change of the phonetic value. Here also, I believe, we may recognise the influence of the grammarians or phoneticists. For the sounds *ḍa* and *ḷa* are frequently interchanged in the same word. Thus we find already in the Vedas regularly a *ḷa* for a *ḍa* between two vowels, as in *īḷe* for *īḍe*. In the later Sanskrit and in the Prakrits there are numerous variants like *nāḍī* and *nāḷī*, *nāḍikera* and *nāḷikera* and so forth, where it is often difficult to decide, which is the original form. As the principle, on which the ordinary *ḷa* has been formed, differs from the more general one, applied in the case of the Bhaṭṭiprolu letter, I consider it to be of later origin.

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¹ Possibly a sign which occurs in Jaugada and in the Pillar Edicts [Figure:] *i. e.* *ḍa* with a dot a the foot, may have the same value, as it is used in words which have double forms with *ḍa* and *ḷa* or *la e. g.* *duḍī* or *dulī*, *eḍaka* or *eḷaka*, *Coḍā* and *Coḷā*