Indian Palaeography from about B.C. 350 to about A.D. 1300 c7.s8.1

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.