On the Origin of the Indian Brahma Alphabet c7.s3.48

c7.s3.48

These considerations certainly show that the introduction of the Semitic letters must fall centuries before the period when the Brāhma alphabet was in general use, *i. e.* 500 B. C. or thereabouts. And they thus confirm the approximate date, deduced above from the age of the Semitic signs, which appear to have been the prototypes of the Indian modifications. This date, I repeat, is merely approximate and I may add, provisional. New finds of ancient Semitic or Indian inscriptions may, and very likely will, alter it. And I should not be surprised, if such discoveries forced us to put the *terminus a quo* for the introduction of the Semitic characters into India earlier than is advisable on the evidence, available at present.