On the Origin of the Indian Brahma Alphabet c8.15

c8.15

More important, however, is the second point, which is intimately connected with the details of the derivation of the Kharoṣṭhī. The originals of the Kharoṣṭhī letters are, it seems to me, to be found in the Aramaic inscriptions, incised during the rule of the earlier Akhaemenian kings. The whole *ductus* of the Kharoṣṭhī with its long verticals or slanting downstrokes is that of the Saqqārah inscription of 482 B. C. and the probably contemporaneous larger Teima inscription, which Professor Euting assigns to *circiter* 500 B. C. It is also in these inscriptions that most of the forms occur, which apparently have served as models for the corresponding letters of the Kharoṣṭhī. One or perhaps two seem to rest on forms found in the somewhat later Lesser Teima, Serapeum and Stele Vaticana inscriptions, while three are connected with older letters on the Assyrian Weights and the Seals and Gems from Babylon.