Indian Epigraphy c10.s4.23

c10.s4.23

In early medieval epigraphs and manuscripts, a circle, with a smaller circle or dot (or dots) inside, sometimes indicates fullstop. As the circle with a central dot is the old Brāhmī letter tha, modified forms of the same letter came to be used in later times.⁵ In some medieval records, the symbol stands midway between tha and cha,⁶ and this confusion led to the growth of the popular use of the letter cha as the concluding mark at the end of literary or epigraphic records and sections thereof.⁷ Cha is recognised in this capacity in early medieval works like Śrīharṣa’s Naiṣadhīya⁸ and Hemacandra’s Ekākṣarakoṣa.⁹ Sometimes the auspicious word śrī also appears in the same way at the end of documents.¹⁰