for that harsh aspirated r-sound which in the other languages is indicated by ढ़; and the Vedic ḷ ळ is expressed by the dental l, with a stroke like a virâma attached to its lower right-hand limb.
In tracing the origin of this alphabet, it appears that initial a, â, u and û, e and ai are almost identical with the Kutila character[1] in use from the ninth to the eleventh century A.D., which is only a development of the still older Gupta character of the fifth century, which again leads us back to the forms used in the inscriptions of Asoka in the third century B.C. The i and î exhibit the same form as the e for their fulcrum or initial form, though they possess the modern forms ਿ and ੀ for medial use. These latter are of later introduction. Originally, as is proved by the older alphabets, i was indicated by three dots, or circlets, forming a triangle with the apex downwards. These three dots being connected by lines represented the derived vowel e, to which a small tail was afterwards added, but, as the Oṛiya still shows, the medial i was originally expressed by a semicircle over the letter it followed, thus, क᳐ ki, This is still retained in the Tibetan ཀི ki. In the Kutila character this semicircle was lengthened downwards on the left hand or before the letter to express the short sound, or on the right hand or after the letter to express the long sound: कि, की. Previous to this, in the earlier inscriptions the long i is distinguished by inverting the semicircle, thus ु. Medial u was expressed in the alphabet of the fifth century B.C. by a small horizontal stroke on the right of the lower portion of a letter, thus ॒, and û by two such strokes. From these have arisen the Panjabi u ੁ and û ੂ. E was at first indicated by a short horizontal stroke attached to a letter at the top and drawn leftwards. This gradually raised itself into the slanting position
- ↑ This section and the following should be read with the tables of alphabets in the second volume of Prinsep's Indian Antiquities at hand for comparison. The modern alphabets will be found in a table at the end of this chapter.
