Indian Epigraphy: A Guide to the Study of Inscriptions in Sanskrit, Prakrit, and the Other Indo-Aryan Languages c7.s2.t5.5

c7.s2.t5.5

The orthography of Brāhmī of the Mauryan period is also not fully developed or standardized. The notation of the three sibilants in some of the Aśokan inscriptions is inconsistent and inaccurate (especially in Kālsī rock edicts XI–XIV where, for example, *ṣuṣuṣā* = Skt. *śuśrūṣā*, XI. 29). Vowel quantity, especially the distinctions between *i*/*ī* and *u*/*ū*, is not always consistently noted, again at Kālsī in particular.⁹⁷ Consonantal conjuncts are in general constructed as in the later scripts, that is, by the graphic combination of the component characters, sometimes with abbreviation of one component; but the relative positioning of the components is not always phonetically accurate. For example, combinations with *r* are always constructed with the *r* above, regardless of its actual phonetic position, so that the same character (☿) represents both *rva* and *vra*.⁹⁸