The History of Indian Literature c10.66

c10.66

P. 256, note \*. The explanation of the Indian figures from the initial letters of the numerals has recently been rudely shaken, see Bühler in *Ind. Ant.*, vi. 48,—through the deciphering, namely, of the ancient ‘Nágarí numerals’ by Paṇḍit Bhagvánlál Indraji, *ibid.*, p. 42 ff. These, it appears, turn out to be *other* letters, yet the derivation of the later figures from them can hardly be called in question. What principle underlies these ancient numerals is, for the rest, still obscure: the zero has not yet a place among them; there are letter-symbols for 4–10 (1–3 being merely represented by strokes) for the tens up to 90, and for the hundreds up to 1000. Comp. pp. 222, note ²³³, and 257, note ²⁸⁴.