Indian Palaeography from about B.C. 350 to about A.D. 1300 c7.s8: § 13. — How it was deciphered
Indian Palaeography from about B.C. 350 to about A.D. 1300 c7.s8
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§ 13. — How it was deciphered
c7.s8.1
The first scholar who read, in 1836, an inscription in the oldest Brāhma characters, the legend on the coins of the Indo-Grecian king Agathocles, was CH. LASSEN.² But the whole alphabet was deciphered by J. PRINSEP in 1837-38.³ His table⁴ is, with the exception of the signs for *U* and *O*, quite correct, as far as it goes. Since his time, six missing signs have been found, among which, *Ī*, *Ū*, *śa*, *ṣa* and *ḷa* have been given in plate II. of this manual, while *n*, discovered by GRIERSON in Gayā, is figured in my Indian Studies, III², pp. 31, 76, and on page 35 below. The existence of *AU* in the third century B. C. is assured by the Gayā alphabet of Aśoka's masons.⁵ *Ū* and *śa* have been first recognised by CUNNINGHAM.⁶ One form of *ṣa* has been first pointed out by SENART,⁷ and another by HOERNLE.⁸ I have found *ḷa* in the Sāñci votive inscriptions.⁹ Regarding *Ī*, compare below, § 16, C, 4.
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² C.ASR. 1, XII.
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³ C.ASR. 1, VIII—XI; J.ASB. 6, 460 ff.
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⁴ J.ASB. 6, 223; P.IA. 2, 40 (pl. 39).
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⁵ B.IS. III^2, 31.
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⁶ C.IA(CII. 1), pl. 27.
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⁷ S.IP. 1, 35.
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⁸ J.ASB. 53, 74.
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⁹ EI. 2, 362.