Indian Palaeography from about B.C. 350 to about A.D. 1300 c8.s2.t1.27

c8.s2.t1.27

(9) A number of cursive forms in ligatures, thus: — (*a*) The prefixed *ña* which often loses the hook on the right and looks like *ṇa* (compare also plate V, 19, V, VII. (*b*) The prefixed *na*, which especially before *ta*, *tha*, *dha* and *na* (see the *nta* of *anumantavyaḥ*, plate VII, 42, V) consists of a horizontal or bent stroke and looks like *ta*.¹⁶ (*c*) The subscript *ka*, which occasionally, as in *ṣka* (plate VII, 46, VIII), is looped on the left (compare *IA.* 11, 305). (*d*) The subscript *ca* of *ñca* (plate VII, 41, VIII, IX), which since the 6th century remains open on the right and bears the hook of *ña* on its base. (*e*) The subscript *ṇa*, which already since early times is merely indicated by a loop (see *rṇṇa*, plate VII, 41, IV). (*f*) The subscript *tha*, which, as in other southern alphabets (compare, *e. g.*, plate VII, 45, XX), is changed to a double curve open on the right (plate VII, 45, IV; plate VIII, 49, I).