Indian Palaeography from about B.C. 350 to about A.D. 1300 c7.s4.t2: B. — Derivative signs

Indian Palaeography from about B.C. 350 to about A.D. 1300 c7.s4.t2

Language: English

B. — Derivative signs

c7.s4.t2.1

(1) Aspiration. — The aspiration is expressed by the addition of a curve or a hook, which probably represent a cursive *ha* (TAYLOR), and for which cursively a simple stroke appears; at the same time, the original *mātṛkā* is sometimes simplified. — (*a*) A curve or a hook is added to the right of the vertical of *ga* in *gha*, No. 3, col. IV, to the top of *da* in *dha*, No. 4. col. IV, *a*, and to the end of the second bar of *ṭa*, No. 20, col. IV, *c*, from which it rises upwards, in *ṭha*, No. 20, col. IV, *d* (properly *ṭho*). — (*b*) A hook, a curve, or cursively a slanting stroke, appears to the right of *ba* in *bha*, No. 2, col. IV, *a*, *b*, the head of *ba* being converted at the same time into a straight line and pushed somewhat more to the left, in order to avoid the identity with *ka*, No. 10, col. III. — (*c*) In the following aspirates appear only cursive straight strokes, added on the left in *jha*, No. 7, col. IV, and *pha*, No. 15, col. IV, and on the right in *cha*, No. 16, col. IV, *ḍha*, No. 4, col. IV, *c*, and *tha*, No. 20, col. IV, *a*, all of which letters show, however, additional peculiarities. In *cha*, the little pendant on the left of *ca* has been made horizontal and combined with the stroke of aspiration to a cross bar. In *ḍha*, the head of *ḍa* has been flattened into a straight line. *Tha* has been formed out of the ancient Aramaic *Taw*, No. 20, col. I, *a*, turned from right to left, and the stroke of aspiration continues the bar of *Taw* towards the right.

c7.s4.t2.2

(2) Linguals. — *Ṭa* has been formed out of the older *Taw*, turned from the right to the left, by the addition of a short bar, which in the Aśoka edicts usually stands on the right and lower than that on the left, as in No. 20, col. IV, *b*. In col. IV, *c*, the sign of lingualisation stands on the left, below the *ṭa* with the bar at the top. This form of *ṭa*, which appears rarely in the Aśoka edicts, must formerly have been common, as the *ṭha* has been derived from it (see above, B, 1, *a*). The *ḍa* of No. 4, col. IV, *b*, exactly resembles the common Aramaic *Daleth* in col. I, *b* (Teima) and may be identical with it. If the alphabet imported into India contained two forms for *ḍa* (col. I, *a*, *b*), both may have been borrowed, and the more cumbrous one may have been used for the expression of the fuller sound. It is, however, also possible that the *ḍa* has been formed out of the *da* of No. 4, col. III, *a*, by the addition of the bar of lingualisation, placed vertically on the right. The *ṇa*, No. 13, col. IV, *a*, is likewise derived from *na*, col. III, *a*, *b*, by the addition of a straight stroke going downwards; compare what has been said above, § 4, B, 4, regarding the use of a short stroke for denoting the change of the quality of a borrowed or derivative sign in forming the *AI*, *O*, *ña*, *ṇa* and *ṇa* of the Brāhmī.

c7.s4.t2.3

(3) The palatal *ña*, No. 13, col. IV, *b*, *c*, consists of two *na* (col. III, *a*) joined together (E. THOMAS), and illustrates the modern Indian name for *ña* and *ṇa*, which the Paṇḍits often call the big *nakāras*. The sign, which is really not necessary for a clerk's alphabet, has perhaps been framed only because it existed in the Brāhmī, the Paṇḍit's alphabet.

c7.s4.t2.4

(4) Medial vowels, absence of vowel in ligatures, and Anusvāra. — Long vowels are not marked, and a inheres, just as in the Brāhmī, in every consonant. Other vowels are marked by straight strokes. In the case of *i*, the stroke passes through the left side of the top-line or top-lines of the consonant; in *u*, it stands to the left of the foot; in *e*, it descends on the left side of the top-line; in *o*, it hangs down from this line, see *ṭho*, No. 20, col. IV, *d*; for further details see below, § 11, B. Joined to *A*, the same strokes form *I*, *U*, *E* and *O* (No. 1, col. IV, *a*—*d*). The absence of a vowel between two dissimilar consonants, except nasals, is expressed, as in the Brāhmī, by the combination of the two signs into a ligature, in which the second letter is usually connected with the lower end of the first. But *ra* stands invariably at the foot of the other consonant, whether it may have to be pronounced before or after it. Double [25] consonants, except nasals, are expressed by single ones, and non-aspirates and aspirates by the aspirates alone. Nasals immediately preceding other consonants, are always expressed by the Anusvāra, which, in the Aśoka edicts, is attached to the preceding *mātṛkā*.

c7.s4.t2.5

The non-expression of *a*, and the rules regarding the formation of the ligatures, no doubt, have been taken over from the Brāhmī, only minor modifications being introduced. And it seems probable that the use of straight strokes for *i*, *u*, *e* and *o* comes from the same source. For, already in the Brāhmī of all the Aśoka edicts, *u*, *e* and *o* are either regularly or occasionally expressed by simple strokes, and in Girnār *i* is represented by a shallow curve, often hardly distinguishable from a straight stroke; moreover, *i*, *e* and *o* stand in Brāhmī, just as in the Kharoṣṭhī, at the top of the consonants, and *u* at the foot. A connection of the two systems of medial vowel-signs is therefore undeniable, and that of the Brāhmī must be regarded as the original one, since its signs, as has been shown above, § 4, C, 1, evidently have been derived from the initial vowels.

c7.s4.t2.6

The notation of *I*, *U*, *E* and *O* by combinations of *A* with the medial vowel-signs is peculiar to the Kharoṣṭhī, and is attributable to a desire to simplify the alphabet. Among the later Indian alphabets, the modern Devanāgarī offers an analogy with its ओ and औ, and the Gujarātī with its એ *E*, ઐ *AI*, ઓ *O*, and ઔ *AU*. Several among the foreign alphabets derived from the Brāhmī, as *e. g.* the Tibetan, show the principle of the Kharoṣṭhī fully developed.

c7.s4.t2.7

The Anusvāra, which is used, as in the Brāhmī, for all vowelless nasals, is derived from *ma* (E. Thomas). In *maṁ*, No. 12, col. IV, it still has the full form of *ma*, but usually it undergoes cursive alterations; see below, § 11, B, 5.