Elements of South-Indian Palæography, from the Fourth to the Seventeenth Century A.D. c5.s3.24

c5.s3.24

What was this source? There is quite as much reason for supposing a Semitic original in this case, as in that of the S. Açoka character, resemblances to some of the Phœnician and Aramaic letters being equally apparent in both². Of all the probable primitive alphabets with which a comparison of the Vaṭṭĕḻuttu is possible, it appears to me that the Sassanian of the inscriptions presents most points of resemblance³. The number of letters also in both, narrowly agree. At present the difficulty is to find certain and dated examples of the Aramaic characters used in the early centuries B. C. and also similar specimens of the Vaṭṭĕḻuttu; there is also the difficulty of deciding which of the many derivatives from the Phœnician alphabet, but of which it is possible this S. Indian alphabet may have been formed, was actually used for this purpose.