On the Origin of the Indian Brahma Alphabet c7.s3.10

c7.s3.10

As regards the medial *i*, the small angle to the left of the top of the consonant by which it is marked, seems to be the result of a connexion of the three dots of the initial vowel by means of two lines, see the *ki* No 16, Col. VI, d—e, lower row. As long as the Brāhma alphabet was written from the right to the left, the *i*-strokes, as well as all other vowel signs of course stood to the left of the consonant. In the Kālsī version, Ed. XIII, 2, l. 10, there are two signs, at the end of the words *anuvidhiyaṃti* and *anuvidhiyisaṃti*, where the vowel has this position. They look like *A*, because the vowel strokes have been added to the middle of the consonant. A better formed *ti* with the vowel on the left occurs in Allahābād, Ed. I (end), and a similar *hi* on the Sohgaurā copperplate, l. 4. The medial *ī* does not seem to be connected with the initial *Ī*, but to have been formed by the addition of the [77] straight stroke, denoting also in other cases the lengthening of vowels, which for convenience's sake in this case was made vertical. Cursively the angle of medial *i* is converted in Girnar into a shallow curve and medial *ī* is expressed by a curve bisected by a vertical stroke.