On the Origin of the Indian Brahma Alphabet c7.s3.4

c7.s3.4

As regards the other vowels, medial *ā* is expressed by placing to the right of the consonant the same short horizontal stroke,³ used for the differentiation of the initial *Ā* from *A*, apparently because the other portion, the short *a*, is already contained in the consonant. The remaining ones are expressed by the signs for the initial vowels or by modifications thereof, placed above or below the consonants. A very clear case is that of the medial *o* in the syllable *ko*,¹ given in two forms under No 6, Col. VI, h—i. If the *k*, *i. e.* the portion of the sign below the second bar, is removed, there remains in the eighth sign a minute initial *o* of the type in Col. VI, f, and in the ninth one of the type in Col. VI, g. Now in the Jaugaḍa version of the Rock Edicts, where the initial *O* has the top bar to the right, the same is invariably the case with the medial *o*. It, therefore, would seem that the writer was perfectly aware of the connection of the two signs. But, in Aśoka's time this [76] feeling was dying out. For in Girnār, where the initial *O* with the top-bar to the left alone is used, the medial *o* is made in both ways, and in the second part of the Delhi Pillar Edict VII, 2, l. 2 we have once the cursive medial *o* in *nigohāni*, where both strokes are placed on the same level above the consonant.