Indian Palaeography c18.s4.t1.6.2

c18.s4.t1.6.2

Sometimes the fish-hook assumes the form of a lower curve. The foot-mark is sometimes seen. Fundamentally there is no difference in the actual form, and the variation is due to the manner of drawing a given shape. *Chha* has the upper curve on a vertical which is cut by a cross bar. We find another letter formed from this *chha*. In this case the cross bar is missing. Bühler read this form as *chha*, while Hultzsch and Konow in their readings took it for the conjunct *ksha*. Though the latter reading is justified by the context, it is not warranted by the form. In this form we must recognize a new sound coming closer to *chha*, which probably stood in this region for *ksha*. Hence I transliterate it as *chh’a*.¹ *Ja* is a vertical at an incline, with an oblique stroke to the left of the vertical at its upper side. This oblique stroke is sometimes curved. The long vertical also shows a foot-mark. C. C. Dasgupta¹ gives another variety of *ja* with a horizontal line added to the lower end of the vertical. This type is indistinctly seen in Mansehra R.E. V, line 19, R.E. VIII, line 35, and R.E. XII, line 1, but a careful observation shows that this horizontal stroke is nothing but the engraver's attempt at giving the foot-mark. We have no example of *jha* in the Aśokan inscriptions. *Ña* appears to be derived from *ja* or from the possible form of *jha*. In this case the strokes above the stem of *ja* are both bent.