On the Origin of the Indian Brahma Alphabet c8.63

c8.63

As regards, finally, the Kharoṣṭhī vowel system, and the compound consonants (not given in the accompanying table) I can only agree with Mr. E. Thomas, Professor A. Weber and Sir A. Cunningham, that they have been elaborated with the help of the Brāhma alphabet. Among the vowel signs the medial ones have been framed first and afterwards only the initial *I*, *U*, *E*, *O* (No 1, Col. IV, a—d). They consist merely of straight strokes, which (1) in the case of *i* go across the left side of the upper or uppermost lines of the consonant, (2) in the case of *u* slant away from the left side of the foot, (3) in the case of *e* stand, slanting from the right to the left, on the top line of the consonant (mostly on the left side) and (4) in the case of *o* stand below the top line (compare *ṭho*, No 20, Col. IV, d) or slant away from the upper half of the vertical as in *O*. The position of the four medial vowels thus closely agrees with that of the corresponding signs of the Brāhma alphabet, where *i*, *e* and *o* stand at the top of the consonants and *u* at the foot. This circumstance [63] alone is sufficient to raise the suspicion that there is a direct connexion between the two systems of vowel-notation; see add. p. 124. And the suspicion becomes stronger, if some further facts are taken into consideration. In the Brāhma alphabet of the Aśoka Edicts the medial *e* and *u* are mostly expressed by straight strokes. The medial *o*, too, consists at least in one case, Delhi Sivalik Pillar Edict, VII. 2, l. 2 (*nigohāni*) of a straight bar across the top of the consonant, and has the same form frequently, on the Persian *sigloi* (see below p. 113) and in the Bhaṭṭiprolu inscriptions. Again the medial *i* of the Girnār version is expressed by a shallow curve, which in many instances is not distinguishable from the medial *ā*. Thus even the oldest Brāhma documents furnish instances, in which all the four vowels, expressed in the Kharoṣṭhī by straight strokes, have exactly the same form, and it is very probable that in the ordinary writing of every day life these cursive forms were in the case of *o* and *i* much more frequent than the Edicts show, as well as that they go back to earlier times than the third century B. C. If, finally, the fact is added, that the Kharoṣṭhī, like the Brāhmī considers the short *a* to be inherent in all consonants and does not express it by any sign, it becomes difficult to avoid the inference, drawn already by Professor Weber, that the Kharoṣṭhī system of medial vowels has been borrowed from the older alphabet.