Indian Palaeography c12.s7.1

c12.s7.1

Bühler (pp. 14–15) seems to suggest that the addition of the medial vowels to the consonants is based on the same principle as that of the conjuncts, and for his proof he quotes the examples of the medial signs *o* and *u*, especially Pl. III*a* (Kalasi R.E. I–X), where the full form of *u* is subjoined. But this principle is not borne out by other examples. In fact the signs for the medial vowels are based on the three basic initial vowels: *a*, *i*, and *u*, and from these basic forms other signs are developed, just as in the case of the initial vowels, obviously by the Sanskrit grammarians.