On the Origin of the Indian Brahma Alphabet c7.s3.46

c7.s3.46

Further, when they undertook it, the evolution of the 46 signs of the Brāhmī lipi from the 22 Semitic characters cannot have been accomplished very quickly. The evidence of the Bhaṭṭiprolu alphabet shows that in the case of several letters more attempts than one were made, and the alphabet of the Edicts, the ordinary Brāhmī lipi, likewise bears witness that the signs were invented gradually. As has been pointed out above, the dental *dha* yielded, by a slight transposition of one of its lines, the dental *da*, from this the lingual *ḍa* was derived by the omission of the lower vertical stroke, and from the lingual *ḍa* came, by the addition of a curve, the lingual *ḍha*, as well as, by the addition of the semicircle, the lingual *ḷa*. The series of the derivatives from *va*, from the dental *tha*, the dental *na*, the Bhaṭṭiprolu *ṣ* and from the initial *E* are similarly complicated. It is incredible that in these cases the whole series of derivatives should have been invented at one time or even in quick succession, though no doubt the Brahmans had their system of phonetics, based on spoken works, to guide them and to help them on.