Elements of South-Indian Palæography, from the Fourth to the Seventeenth Century A.D. c11.24

c11.24

The other letters do not need any remark, for the gradual changes in form are evident; but it is necessary to notice a remarkable additional letter which was very early added to express a sound not marked in the Indian prototype, viz., ⊕ for the short ĕ. The presence of this sign in Kawi is the more remarkable, as it was, till quite recent times, not marked in the Prakrit or Dravidian alphabets, all which languages possess this sound. This letter occurs, however, in the earliest Kawi inscriptions, or from the 8th century A. D.; and is, evidently, a modification of the mark for the short i, and is not, therefore, of Indian origin. For, if it were, a modification of the mark for ē would have been used, as is now done in the Dravidian languages.