Indian Palaeography from about B.C. 350 to about A.D. 1300 c6.s4.t2: B. — Derivative consonants and initial vowels
Indian Palaeography from about B.C. 350 to about A.D. 1300 c6.s4.t2
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B. — Derivative consonants and initial vowels
c6.s4.t2.1
The derivative signs, invented by the Hindus themselves, have been formed by means of the following contrivances:—
c6.s4.t2.2
(1) One of the elements of a phonetically cognate letter is transposed: (*a*) in *sa* and *sa*, where the cross-bar of the oldest sign has been displaced (see above, A, No. 15); (*b*) in *da*, which has been derived from *dha* (Weber) by dividing the vertical stroke, and by attaching the two pieces to the upper and lower ends of the curve, whence first the *da* of the Drāviḍī and of the Patnā seal, No. 4, col. VI, *a*, was derived, and, with the turn to the left, the ordinary form of the Brāhmī, No. 4, col. VI, *b*, and further the angular *da*, No. 4, col. VI, *f*.
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(2) A borrowed or derivative letter is mutilated in order to obtain one with a similar phonetic value: (*a*) from *da*, No. 4, col. VI, *a*, comes [15] by the removal of the lower end the half round *ḍa* of Kālsī and the later southern inscriptions, col. VI, *c*; similarly, from the angular *da*, col. VI, *g*, the ordinary angular *ḍa*, col. VI, *h*, of the Aśoka edicts (Weber); (*b*) from *tha*, No. 9, col. V, comes *ṭha*, col. VI, *a*, by the removal of the central dot; and from the latter again *ṭa*, col. VI, *b*, is derived by bisection, the round *ṭha* being considered as the product of an unaspirated letter and a curve of aspiration, which appears (see below, 5) in various other letters (Weber); (*c*) from the triangular *E*, No. 16, col. V, *c*, *d*, *e*, comes the *I* with three dots, col. VI, B, *a*, *b*, *c*, which just indicate the outlines of the older sign (Prinsep), the derivation being suggested by the fact that grammatically *e* is the guṇa-vowel of *i*, for which therefore a lighter form of *e* appeared suitable; (*d*) through a bisection of the lower portion of *va*, No. 6, col. V, *b*, and a straightening of the remaining pendant, is derived *U*, col. VI, *a* (see my Indian Studies, III², 74), the derivation being suggested by the fact that *u* commonly represents *va* in weak grammatical forms (*samprasāraṇa*); (*e*) if the later small circle (pl. IV, 38, VI) is the original form of the Anusvāra, No. 13, col. VI, *a*, *b*, and the dot a cursive substitute, the sign may be explained as a mutilated small *ma*, which has lost the angle at the top, and has been thus treated like the small vowelless consonants appearing in the inscriptions of the first centuries A. D. (see, *e. g.*, pl. III, 41, VIII); compare also the derivation of the Kharoṣṭhī Anusvāra from *ma* (see below, § 9, B, 4).
c6.s4.t2.4
(3) Short horizontal strokes, which originally, before the change in the direction of the writing, stood on the left, are used to derive the long vowels *Ā*, No. 1, col. VI, and *Ū*, No. 6, col. VI, *d*, from short *A* and *U*. On account of the peculiar shape of *I*, a dot is used instead for the formation of *Ī*, No. 16, col. VI, B, *g*.
c6.s4.t2.5
(4) Short horizontal strokes, originally added on the right, denote a change in the quality of the sounds: (*a*) in *O*, No. 6, col. VI, *f*, *g*, derived from *U*, col. VI, *a* (with the bar in the original and the later position), because grammatically *o* is the *guṇa*-vowel of *u*; (*b*) in *AI*, No. 16, col. VI, A, *b*, derived from *E*, because grammatically *ai* is the *vṛddhi*-vowel of *e*; (*c*) in the *ḷ* of the Drāviḍī, No. 12, col. VI, from the original form of *la* (*Lamed*), cols. I, II, in which case the bar still stands on the right, because the letter has not been turned; (*d*) in *ña*, No. 14, col. VI, *a*, from the original inverted *Nun*, col. IV; compare above under A, No. 14; (*e*) in *ṅa* (see my Indian Studies, III², pp. 31, 76; also page 35, below, § 16, C, 12) from *na*, No. 14, col. V, with a displacement of the lower horizontal stroke towards the right, the letter being kept in its original position; (*f*) in *ṇa*, No. 14, col. VI, *b*, from *na*, the bar protruding at both sides of the vertical in order to avoid the identity with *nā*, *ne* and *O*.
c6.s4.t2.6
(5) The aspiration is expressed by a curve in the *gh* of the Drāviḍī, No. 3, col. VI, formed out of *g*, and in the ordinary Brāhmī *dha*, No. 4, col. VI, *d*, from *ḍa*, col. VI, *c*, in *pha*, No. 17, col. VI, from *pa*, col. V, and in *cha*, No. 18, col. VI, *a*; in the last sign the curve has been attached to both ends of the vertical, and this proceeding led to the development of the cursive *cha* of col. VI, *b*. More rarely a hook is substituted for the curve, and then the original sign is mutilated; thus *bha*, No. 2, col. VI, is derived from *ba* by omitting the base-stroke, and *jha*, No. 7, col. VI, from the Drāviḍa *j*, col. V, *a*, by dropping both bars at the ends of the vertical. Both the hook and the curve are cursive substitutes for *ha*, which in the Tibetan alphabet¹ is used again in order to form *gha*, *bha*, &c.
c6.s4.t2.7
¹ *AR.* 2, plate at p. 400.
c6.s4.t2.8
(6) [**16**] The *ḷa* of the Brāhmī, No. 4, col. VI, *e*, has been derived, by the addition of a small semicircle, for which we have an open angle in Sāñci (pl. II, 41, XVIII), from the half round *ḍa* of col. VI, *c*, the derivation being very probably suggested by the phonetic affinity of *ḍa* to *ḷa*, which two letters are frequently exchanged in Vedic and classical Sanskrit and in the Prākrit dialects.