Indian Palaeography from about B.C. 350 to about A.D. 1300 c7.s4.t2.2

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.