Indian Palaeography c18.s2.15

c18.s2.15

¹ It must, however, be pointed out that this foot-mark in the Aśokan inscriptions is generally seen with the initial *a* (optionally) and with those consonants which have the medial *a* implicit in them. From this factual observation some (including Rapson) have taken this slant to stand for medial *ā*. But in view of the evidence from the hand-written documents this is hardly justified (see *Kharoshṭhī Inscriptions*, pt. iii, p. 299). Secondly, an altogether different stroke is used for lengthening the vowels in these documents. If this slant was adopted in the Aśokan inscriptions, it is difficult to understand why it was given up.