Indian Palaeography from about B.C. 350 to about A.D. 1300 c8.s6.t1.9

c8.s6.t1.9

The signs for the Dravidian liquids, too, may be considered as developments of northern signs. The upper portion of the *ḷa* (plate VIII, 43, 44, XVI) looks like a small cursive northern *la*, to which a long vertical, descending downwards, has been added on the right. The *ṟa* (plate VIII, 47, 48, XVI) may consist of a small slanting northern *ra* and a hook added to the top. And the *ḻa* (plate VIII, 45, 46, XVI) is perhaps derived from a northern *ḷa* (plate IV, 40, II), the end of the horizontal line being looped and connected with the little pendent stroke below; compare also the looped *ḷa* (read erroneously *ḍha*) in the Amarāvatī inscription, J.RAS. 1891, plate at p. 142.