Indian Epigraphy: A Guide to the Study of Inscriptions in Sanskrit, Prakrit, and the Other Indo-Aryan Languages c7.s4.t2.3

c7.s4.t2.3

Like the Kharoṣṭhī script itself, its numerical system did not change greatly in the course of its history, though some significant developments did take place. The sign for 4, shaped like a Roman x, was apparently a secondary development, since in Aśokan Kharoṣṭhī 4 and 5 are written as 1-1-1-1(-1), while in all subsequent Kharoṣṭhī texts the special sign for 4 is used. The sign for 1,000 to date is known only from central Asian Kharoṣṭhī documents, though it probably existed in India as well. As shown by H. W. Bailey,²⁰⁶ it is derived from an Aramaic ligature ‘LP (i.e., *‘alap*, ‘thousand’). Also in the central Asian documents, we find cursively written combinations of the sign for 1 which have evidently developed into distinct characters for 2 (𐩽) and 3 (𐩾).