On the Origin of the Indian Brahma Alphabet c7.s2.5

c7.s2.5

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.