On the Origin of the Indian Brahma Alphabet c9.12

c9.12

With the admission of another conjecture the The results of this comparison, the nearly complete identity of the principles of the two systems and the closer or remoter resemblances between the great majority of their symbols, raise, it seems to me, a strong presumption in favour of Dr. Burnell's theory, which, however, has to be modified by the admission that the hieratic signs rather than the demotic are the parents of the Indian Brāhma numerals and that the tendency to frame out of them Brāhma letters or syllables and again to differentiate these from the ordinary letters is already visible in a number of cases. And I believe that this tendency is due to the fact that the Hindus since ancient times were accustomed to express numerals by such words as *rūpa* = 1, *bhūta* = 5 and so forth.¹ In order to convert Dr. Burnell's theory into an absolute certainty, the discovery of more ancient signs of the third and earlier centuries B. C. is required as well as the discovery of historical or traditional information regarding an ancient intercourse between India and Egypt. For the present this is entirely wanting and the only way, in which one could try to account for the introduction of the Egyptian numerals into India, would be to conjecture that the early Indian navigators and merchants might have reached countries which stood under Egyptian influence or might have met on their voyages with Egyptian traders. But such a conjecture is, of course, precarious, as long as it is not supported by collateral proof.