Elements of South-Indian Palæography, from the Fourth to the Seventeenth Century A.D. c6.s4.3

c6.s4.3

The earliest certain specimen[^2) is of 841 A. D., and it is easy to see that these figures are a slight modification of those in the Vengi and Pallava inscriptions, such as would occur in the course of some four hundred years which is the difference of date between the two. After this period the progress of change is rapid, and by the 14th century it had gone so far that the figures used are wholly unlike those which are their original source. This fact is remarkable as, except in the case of a few letters, the Kawi character underwent but little change in form for a long while. In later times the modification has been very rapid.