ON THE ORIGIN
OF THE
INDIAN BRAHMA ALPHABET
BY
GEORG BtiHLER.
SECOND REVISED EDITION OF INDIAN STUDIES, NO III.
TOGETHEE WITH TWO APPENDICES ON THE ORIGIN
OF THE KHAROSTHI ALPHABET AND OF THE
SO-CALLED LETTER-NUMERALS OF THE BRAHML
WITH THEEE PLATKS.
STBASSBURG.
KARL J. T R U B N E R
1898.
Ue Oriental Book-Supplying Agency, Poona.
Printed by Adolf Hokhausen, Vienna.
Preface to the Second Edition.
As the few separate copies of the Indian Studies No. Ill,
struck off in 1895, were sold very soon and rather numerous
requests for additional ones were addressed both to me and to
the bookseller of the Imperial Academy, Messrs. Carl Gerold's
Sohn, I asked the Academy for permission to issue a second
edition, which Mr. Karl J. Triibner had consented to publish.
My petition was readily granted. In addition Messrs, von Holder,
the publishers of the Wiener Zeitschrift fur die Kunde des
Morgenlandes, kindly allowed me to reprint my article on the
origin of the Kharosthi, which had appeared in vol. IX of that
Journal and is now given in Appendix I. To these two sections
I have added, in Appendix II, a brief review of the arguments
for Dr. Burnell's hypothesis, which derives the so-called letter-
numerals or numerical symbols of the Brahma alphabet from
the ancient Egyptian numeral signs, together with a third com-
parative table, in order to include in this volume all those
points, which require fuller discussion, and in order to make
it a serviceable companion to the palaeography of the Grund-
riss. The chapters on the Brahmi and the Kharosthl have been
throughout revised and the first has been changed most. A new
comparative table of the Semitic and Brahma signs,1 the same
as has been used for the Grrundriss, has been given. The
Additional Note at the end has been omitted, as, since the
In using the plates, those of the Grundriss ought always to be com-
pared, as the signs given there are mechanical reproductions from im-
pressions and as such more reliable than any drawn by hand.
20048S9
IV Preface.
appearance of M. Sylvain LeVi's article 1 on the Turkish kingdom
of Northwestern India, it is no longer required, and a number
of other alterations and additions has been made in accordance
with the results of further researches.
Thus the list of the passages from the Jatakas, which
mention writing and written documents, has been considerably
enlarged, the enlargement having become possible chiefly through
references, kindly communicated to me by Professors S. von
Oldenburg (p. 7ff.) and Rhys Davids (p. 120).2
The extensive and intimate acquaintance of Lieut. Col.
R. C. Temple with the actualities of daily Indian life has enabled
me to adduce an interesting confirmation of my explanation of
the term rupa which occurs in the oldest known Indian trivium
(p. 14, note 3).
A valuable paper by Dr. von Rosthorn, based on Chinese
sources, has furnished a correction of the interpretation which
I formerly put on Hiuen Tsiang's statement that in the seventh
century A. D. the instruction of the young Hindus began with
the twelve chang (p. 30). It now appears that the twelve chang
were twelve tables of simple and compound letters, of which
the varnamdla or matrkaviveka of the period consisted. And a
1 See Journ. Asiatique, 1895, serie IX, t. VI, p. 380 f. I accept M. LeVi's
conclusion that Major Deane's undeciphered inscriptions from Swat are
Turkish as highly probable, and I may add that a key prepared from
the signs of Sanskrit and Prakrit inscriptions does not fit them.
2 I regret that vol. VI of Professor Fausbo'll's edition of the Jatakas
reached me too late for utilisation. It furnishes a number of additional
passages, proving the use of writing, among which that on p. 369 f. is
the most interesting. According to the story told there, Amaradevl, the
daughter of the Sheth of Yavamajjhaka, noted on a leaf (pany.a), when
and by whom king Vedeha's crest-jewel, golden garland, golden slippers
and precious rug were sent to her husband, Mahosadha. Afterwards she
produced the record before the king to the confusion of his four Pandits,
who had accused her husband of the theft of the articles, and whom she
had captured and confined in baskets when they came to seduce her. As
Prof. Minayeff has first seen, the scene in the king's court is illustrated
by the Bharahut relievo, inscribed yavamajhakiyam jatakam, Cunning-
ham, Bharhut Stupa, pi. XXV, No 3. The story teaches that already in
ancient times, just as in our days, the Vanias allowed their daughters to
learn to write, which accomplishment many Hindus still consider dan-
gerous for female virtue.
Preface. V
communication from Dr. B. Liebich (p. 120 f.) has put me in
possession of the proof that the Bengal schoolmasters until a
very recent period used a set of twelve such tables, called phald
or in Sanskrit phalaka, which term the Chinese expressions
chang and fan probably are intended to render.
Dr. Grierson's important researches at Mahabodhi Gaya,
the results of which lately have been reprinted in the Proceed-
ings of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, 1896, p. 52 ff., have made
it necessary to rewrite the passage (p. 3 If.) on the remnants
of the masons' alphabet, found there by Sir A. Cunningham,
though the general conclusions to be drawn from them remain
the same. A communication, kindly placed at my disposal by
M. Sylvain Levi, has furnished from Chinese sources a distinct
tradition (p. 33), asserting that the signs for the liquid vowels
really are later additions to the Brahma alphabet, as the state-
ment of the Jaina scriptures regarding the original number of
its characters and the palaeographic evidence suggested. Mr.
Rapson's discovery of syllables, both in Brahml and Kharosthi,
on the Persian sigloi (pp. 51, 113) has further corroborated
the conclusions regarding the early prevalence of both alpha-
bets in Northwestern India and has raised a strong presumption
that both alphabets were used in the same districts already
in the fourth century B. C. during the Akhaemenian period.
Finally, Mr. Takukusu's article on Pali Elements in Chinese
has brought us the news that the tradition, asserting an early
preservation of the Buddhist scriptures in MSS., is more ancient
than the statement in the Life of Hiuen Tsiang could lead us to
suppose, and nearly, if not quite as old as the contradictory state-
ment of the Dlpavamsa and the Mahavamsa (p. 91, note). And the
most important discovery of a Kharosthi MS. at Khotan shows that
during the Kusana period Buddhist MSS. did exist in Northern
India and probably had been in use for some time (p. 122f.).
While the new facts, contained in these recent contribu-
tions, have been duly utilised, it has not been possible to pay
much attention to M. J. HaleVy's two controversial papers in the
Revue Se"mitique of 1895, pp. 223 ff., 372 ff., beyond omitting
in note 1 on p. 52 his derivation of the Brahma numeral symbol
for 8 (supposed to contain the first two letters of asta), from .
the Kharosthi Ma, which, as he now tells us, is a misprint
VI Preface.
for as (a non-existing and impossible ligature1 originally in-
vented by Dr. I. Taylor), and beyond adding a protest against
the derivation of the circular cipher, which belongs not to the
ancient Brahma system of numeral symbols but to the later
decimal notation, from the Kharosthi da?
I regret that I have not been able to find in the two, some-
what excitedly written, articles any facts or suggestions, likely
to benefit serious students of Indian antiquities. While repeating
the ingenious, but extravagant, theories of the earlier paper, they
teem in addition with statements which, though put forward with
the author's characteristic apodictiveness and self-confidence,
fill the Sanskritists rather with astonishment than with respect-
ful admiration, and which fully justify their continued unwilling-
ness to take his opinions on Indian matters into serious con-
sideration. There is hardly a single subject of Indian research,
on which they do not contain assertions, conflicting with per-
fectly well known and undisputed facts.
The quality of their scholarship and method is perhaps
best illustrated by the results of the 'examen serieux' of the age
of the Jatakas represented on the Stupas of Sanchi and Bharahut,3
1 The supposition that such a ligature is possible, betrays a want of
acquaintance with the principles of Indian spelling. The Hindus divide
a-xta (not as-fa), i-sta (not is-t.a) u-pta (not up-ta) and so forth. Their
ligatures represent elements of one and the same syllable, and hence
they do not, and cannot, form ligatures like a? or 06, is, up etc.
2 It is a matter of course that M. Halevy sticks to the derivation of
the Brahma symbols for 4 — 9 from the Kharosthi initial letters of the
Sanskrit numerals. The untoward fact that, except in the case of 5,
either the supposed phonetical values or the forms of the signs do not
agree with the requirements of the theory, is easily got over. The
busy Gandharian inventors of the Brahma symbols, we are told, had
no time to look up Panini, and so they put cha for catuh and so forth.
Again if the contemporaneous forms of the symbols and the letters will
not agree, those of different periods are chosen for comparison, and
e. g. the Brahma 6 of the 3rd cent. B. C. is declared to be a modifica-
tion of the "cursive" Kharosthi sa of the 1st cent. B. C. The equally
untoward fact that the Brahma numeral signs include symbols for 20 —
100 and for 1000, which cannot be derived from Kharosthi letters, is
carefully kept out of sight.
8 Nouvelles Observations sur les Ventures Indiennes, p. 18f. (Revue S£m.,
p. 241 f.).
Preface. VII
which; as it would lose in effect by curtailment, I translate in
full: — "These monuments offer inscriptions in Asoka characters;
these insrs consequently cannot be earlier than B. C. 221,
because otherwise the writing would run from the right to
the left, as in the legend of the Eran coin. How far can the
lower limit of their date go? Let us not put it too close to the
relic caskets of Bhattiprolu, which are at least fifty years later,
and which show already some altered forms, and let us put
between the latter and the Stupas an interval of twenty years.
The inscriptions of Sanchi and Bharahut date therefore from
about 191, i. e, one hundred and thirty four years later than
the introduction of writing (quaere, of the Brahma letters'?)
into India. It is in this interval that the composition (sic).
must necessarily be placed, in the middle of the Greek epoch
and in no way in the Persian period. Very luckily for us, the
Katahaka-jataka (sic) mentions the writing- board, phalaka, and
the texts of the Stupas the canonical term pitaka "a box for
tablets of card-board or wood", in which the Jainas usually
keep their MSS., 1 with its derivative petaki "he who knows
the Pitaka or Pitakas", where naturally not the box, but the
tablets or leaves, contained in it, are meant. These are real
revelations; for the terms phalaka and pitaka, which have no
etymology in Sanskrit,2 are nothing but the Greek words xXa£
(-x6q) and Tucnavuov;3 the identity of sound corresponds to the
identity of meaning. The Jatakas (sic) carry on their forehead
1 "Pitaka is only "a box" and corresponds to the modern dabado or card-
board of wood (sic) in which the Jainas usually keep the MSS. of their
parish libraries. (O. I. BA., p. 87.)"
2 "The root phal 'to profit' gives birth to phalaka "profit, gain" and (meta-
phorically) "the catamenia", but does not explain the homophonous pha-
laka "board, plaque and tablet".
3 "These two words have the identical meaning of "plaque" and "tablet".
In Syriac Dip^o is the same as «m^> (Duval, B. B., p. 1575) and «pnc (also
very common in the Talmud) means "leaflet, leaf". IIitTaxiov is a po-
pular word, which has come into literary use only rather late; but its
antiquity is guaranteed by the proper name IIiTTaxoj (sic) borne by one
of the Seven Sages of Greece, a contemporary of Solon. The word
auTtpov "un blanc"1 presents an analogous case; though it has come late
into literary use, one finds it once in an ancient decision of the Misna
(Ma'aser seni II IDS >-ICDX) and in the Agpereno of the Avesta."
VIII Preface.
the date of their birth, to wit, the century which follows the
conquest of Alexander."
What occurs to a Sanskritist with regard to this remark-
able statement of results, is as follows: —
(1) The assumption that all the Asoka inscriptions date
from B. C. 221, which is the basis of M. Halevy's contention
that no inscription in Asoka characters can be older than B. C.
221, and which is another version of his statement on p. 12,
declaring the Asoka edicts to have been incised about (vers)
221, is a sad blunder which a writer on Indian palaeography
ought not to make. And it is the more unpardonable, as Pro-
fessor Max Mtiller, whose Hibbert Lectures, translated by M. J.
Darmesteter, M. Halevy quotes (p. 12, note 1) as his authority,
explicitly gives B. C. 221 only as the date of the so-called
three New Edicts of Sahasram, Rupnath and Bairat, following
my calculations, and does not touch the question of the dates
of the other numerous Asoka inscriptions.
The dates of the incision of the following Asoka inscrip-
tions are clearly ascertainable and undisputed, (1) of the Bara-
bar Hill Cave inscrs A and 5, dated in Asoka's 13th year,
(2) of the Barabar H. C. inscr. C, dated in the 20th year, (3) of
the Nigliva and Pacjeria pillar inscrs, dated in the 21st year,
(4) of the first six so-called Pillar Edicts, dated in the 27th
year, and (5) of the seventh edict on the Dehli-Sivalik pillar,
dated in the 28th year. If Asoka's coronation is fixed with
Professor Max Miiller in B. C. 259, these inscriptions range
from B. C. 246 — 231; according to Professor Lassen's views
they would fall each four years earlier, and according to Pro-
fessor Kern, six years. As far as the evidence of the Asoka
edicts goes, the Sanchi and Bharahut inscriptions might, there-
fore, be placed at least a quarter of a century earlier than the
'examen se>ieux' assumes.
(2) An undated fragment of an A&oka edict, found on
one of the broken gate-pillars of the Sanchi Stupa, proves that
the structure certainly existed before the end of that king's
reign or, with Prof. Max Miiller's initial date, before B. C. 222/21,
and the presumption is that all the Sanchi inscriptions, show-
ing Asoka characters, were incised before that year. By the
attempt to fix the erection of the Sanchi Stupa between B. C.
Preface. IX
221 — 191, M. Halevy collides with the clear epigraphic evidence,
and commits a mistake which he might easily have avoided,
if he had looked up the works on Sanchi. His attempt to drag
down the age of the Bharahut Stupa goes against the probability,
as the inscriptions on the representations of the Jatakas show
the same characters as the Asoka edicts. All these represen-
tations thus give the reign of Asoka as the lower limit for the
existence of the Birth-stories. They teach nothing definite re-
garding the time of the composition of these fables, except in
so far that they raise the presumption of their having been long
current and generally known. For the archaeology of all nations
proves that myths and scenes from religious legends are trans-
ferred to stone only when they have become thoroughly fami-
liar to the people. Consequently, the assertion that the com-
position of the Jatakas must "necessarily" be placed between
B. C. 221—191, is not warranted.
(3) M. Halevy's attempt to bring the Jatakas into the
period after Alexander by deriving their term phalaka from
the Greek xXa£ and the word pitaka (which itself does not
occur "in the texts of the Stupas") from TUTWCVUOV. only shows
that his knowledge of Sanskrit is open to improvement and
that he does not even take the trouble to consult the standard
dictionaries. Both words are regular derivatives from Sanskrit
roots. Phalaka "a board", comes from the very common verb
phal, (phalati) "to split", mentioned in all Sanskrit dictio-
naries, and means etymologically "a piece (of wood) split off";
compare the Latin scindula from scindo and the Greek cyJSa,
ox(8a!-, oyjSa from cr/'.o (<ryj£t*). The etymology is duly given
in the larger Petersburg Dictionary under phalaka. Pitaka
means primarily and usually "a basket" (used for any pur-
pose, as for carrying earth, storing meat, measuring grain, etc.),
more rarely "a box", as I have translated it, in which latter
sense the cognate petaka is more common. Its employment to
denote a receptacle for MSS., or the contents of such a recep-
tacle, or a division of the sacred books, is mainly or entirely
confined to Buddhistic literature. Pitaka is derived from the
Sanskrit root pit (petati) 'to heap up, to store', as the larger
Petersburg Dictionary indicates under that verb, and it means
etymologically "an implement for heaping up or storing (ob-
X Preface.
jects)". Whatever may be the truth about the age of the Ja-
takas, these two words are certainly useless for M. Halevy's
purpose. The triumphant tone, with which he brings forward
his supposed discoveries, and the display of misplaced learning
in the notes, especially the appeal to king Pittakos' name in
support of the antiquity of the !5iamx.u)t£pov term Tunax-iov, make
the passage most amusing to every scholar, possessed of philo-
logical training.
To this specimen of M. Halevy's scholarship and method
may be added another, found in his remarks on Kebuka
(N. O. E. I, p. 56), where he lays down the law to a native
Pali commentator. "Kebuka, he informs us, is the name of
a place belonging to Seruma; the idea of the commentator
that it is the name of a river has not the slightest foundation."
And he then goes on to treat us to the ingenious conjecture
that Kebuka is the Caucasus which, as he alleges, in Persian
bears the name Kabak or Kabkh, essentially corresponding to
the Pali word. A Sanskritist who reads vs. 106 of the Jataka,
No. 327 (Fausboll, vol. Ill, p. 91):
Katham samuddam patari katham patari Kebukam |
Katham satta samudddni katham simbalim aruhi ||
can only translate: —
"How didst thou cross the ocean, how didst thou cross
Kebuka, how the seven oceans? How didst thou climb the
cotton-tree?"
and recognises at once from the use of the verb patari
"didst thou swim" or "cross in a boat", that Kebuka has
something to do with water and can only denote a river, a lake,
an ocean, or water in general. The Jataka No. 539 fully confirms
this inference, as it says explicitly, kebukam vuccati udakam,1
"kebuka means water".
If it were worth the while, the list of positive mistakes
and more than hazardous speculations might be enlarged ad
infinitum by examples from passages on Indian phonetics, epi-
graphy, antiquities, Dharma and so forth. Similar instances
might also be adduced, where the papers show a weakness in
1 FausbSll, The Jatakas, vol. VI, p. 42, 1. 11; compare also vs. 133, p. 32,
where kebuka is used to denote a tank.
Preface. XI
other subjects, e. g. in Greek,1 or collide with the statements
of the Greek historians.2 But what has been given, will be
amply sufficient to convince even others than Sanskritists that
a fuller discussion of their contents cannot serve any useful
purpose.
Recent utterances of Professors O. Donner, Konow, Lud-
wig, Macdonell, Oldenberg, Windisch and others on writing
in India and on the Indian alphabets make it apparent that
the object, for which the Indian Studies No. Ill and its supple-
ment were written, has been attained. Among the Sanskritists
it is now more generally recognised that there are good reasons
for believing that writing was practised in India long before Near-
chus saw the Hindus write on cloth, prepared from their native
cotton, and before another unnamed companion of Alexander,
whose statements Q. Curtius has preserved, saw them use for
the same purpose the tender inner bark of trees, i. e. the well
known bhurja from the Himalaya. Equally the conviction has
become stronger that the Brahmi is the most ancient Indian
alphabet and that the development of the Kharosthl is one of
the results of the Persian domination over Gandhara and Sindh.
The settlement of the general outlines of the enquiry, — to
which belongs also the recognition of the fact that the Brahmi
is the alphabet of the Pandits and the Kharosthl a script of
the clerks and men of business, similar in character to the
simpler and defective Nagarl, Lande, Takkari, Kaethl, Mo<Ji
and Gujarat! which have been developed out of the more ela-
borate Brahmi, some in later and some in earlier times, — is
all that can be carried through for the present. The details of
the derivation, which are particularly difficult in the case of the
1 See e. g. N. O. E., Note 1 on p. 15, where we find the instructive
sentence, "D'ailleurs le nom 'Icavfs (sic), et encore mains la forme non-
contractee 'la<ovt$ (sic), n'etait plus usite au temps d'Alexandre comme
designation collective des Gh-ecs (sic)".
2 See e. g. N. O. E. I, p. 60, where the establishment of an administration
of the Macedonian type is asserted to have taken place about B. C.
330 in the countries west of India, though the Greeks give us the names
of the Persians and other Orientals appointed by Alexander as his Satraps,
who, as far as is known at present, were not forced to pass previously
a Greek Civil Service examination.
XII Preface.
Brahmi with its forms, pointing partly to very archaic and
partly to transitional North -Semitic characters, may at any
moment require modifications on account of new epigraphic dis-
coveries in India or in Western Asia. And important epigra-
phic discoveries will, no doubt, soon be made in India, since
of late ancient sites have been identified, which were famous
places of pilgrimage before the times of the Mauryas.
Table of Contents.
Preface, pp. Ill— XII.
I. Former derivations of the Brahml lipi, pp. 1—5.
II. Literary evidence for the antiquity of writing,
from the Vasistha Dharmasutra, pp. 5 — 7,
from the Jatakas and the Vinayapitaka, pp. 7 — 22,
from the Lalitavistara and the Jaina Agamas, pp. 22—35.
III. Palaeographic evidence for the antiquity of the Brahml lipi,
from the Asoka Edicts, pp. 35—43,
from the legend of the Eran coin, running from the right to the left,
pp. 44—45,
from the Bhattiprolu alphabet, pp. 45 — 47,
from the legends of the Taxila coins, pp. 47—50.
from the Persian Sigloi, pp. 51 — 53.
IV. The derivation of the Brahma letters from the most ancient North-
Semitic signs.
General principles, pp. 53—56.
The borrowed signs, pp. 56—72.
The derivative consonants and initial vowels, pp. 72—77.
The medial vowels, pp. 77—82.
The approximate date of the introduction of the Semitic letters into
India, pp. 83—91.
Appendix I. The Origin of the Kharosthl Alphabet, pp. 92—114.
Appendix II. The Origin of the ancient Brahma Numerals, pp. 115—119.
Addenda and Corrections:
Further passages from the Jatakas, pp. 120—124.
The twelve Phala in the Bengal schools, pp. 120—124.
The Petroffski MS. from Khotaii, pp. 120—124.
Ijver since Mr. J. Prinsep succeeded in deciphering the
Edicts incised by order of the god-beloved king Piyadasi of
Pataliputra on the pillars and rocks of Eastern, Central and
Western India, the attention of the European Orientalists has
been directed to the question of the origin of their curious
alphabet, which is the parent of all those now used from Cape
Comorin to the Himalayas and of many others occurring be-
yond the confines of India proper. And, while there has been
not much difference of opinion regarding the derivation of the
second alphabet, in which Piyadasi's servants placarded their
master's sermons in the Northwestern corner of his dominions,
the views regarding the source of the more common characters
have diverged very widely. There has been almost from the
beginning a pretty general consensus that the alphabet of the
Shabazgarhl and Mansehra Edicts, called by the Europeans the
Arian, Ariano-Pali, Bactro-Pali, Gandharian, Northwestern or
Northern and by the Hindus Kharosthl lipi,1 is, as the direction
of its letters from the right to the left at once suggests, of Se-
mitic origin, and that it has been derived from one of the later
types of the Northeastern Semitic alphabet. But for the charac-
ters running from the left to the right, called by the Europeans
Lath, Southern, Indian Pali, Indian or Maurya and by the
[2] Hindus Brdhmi lipi, not less than five different derivations
have been proposed, of which a detailed demonstration has
been attempted. The number of general, more or less vague,
1 Regarding the Hindu names of the two alphabets see below p. 23.
Bukler, Indian Studies. III. 1
2 Indian Studies. No HI.
suggestions is even greater.1 Leaving the latter aside, the five
theories may be briefly stated as follows: —
(1) According to Sir A. Cunningham the Indian Pali or
Brahma alphabet, is an Indian invention and is based on a
system of indigenous hieroglyphics;2
(2) According to Professor A. Weber it is derived directly
from the oldest Phoenician alphabet;3
(3) According to Dr. Deecke it is descended from the
Assyrian cuneiform characters through an ancient Southern Se-
mitic alphabet, which was also the parent of the Himyaritic;4
(4) According to Dr. Isaac Taylor it comes from an alpha-
bet of Southern Arabia, the parent of the Himyaritic;5
(5) According to M. J. Halevy it is of a composite cha-
racter eight consonants having been taken directly from the
Aramaic alphabet of the fourth century B. C., six consonants
and two initial vowels as well as the medial vowels together
with the Anusvara from the Ariano-Pali or Kharosthi, and five
from the Greek; and this hotch-potch is alleged to have been
concocted about 325 B. C.6
It must, however, be noted that the first among these
theories seems to have been almost given up by its chief
advocate some time before his death. For in his last dis-
cussion of the Indian alphabet 7 Sir A. Cunningham says, "The
origin of the Indian alphabet is still unsettled. According to
Lassen, Dowson, Thomas and myself, its origin was indigen-
ous, [3] that is, it was invented by the people of India. But con-
tinental scholars are generally in favour of its derivation from
some unknown Western source", and in the sequel, after cri-
ticising the latest theory, which he takes to be that of Dr.
Taylor, he adds,8 "It seems not improbable that this old Indian
1 See the exhaustive review of earlier opinions in Dr. R. N. Gust's Ling-
uistic and Oriental Essays. Second series, pp. 27—52.
Corpus Inscr. Indicarum, vol. I, p. 52 S.
Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenlandischen Ges., Bd. X, 389 ff.; Indische
Skizzen, p. 225 -250.
Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morg. Ges., Bd. XXXI, 598 S.
The Alphabet, vol. H, p. 314 ff.
Journ. Asiatique, serie VIII, tome VI (1885), p. 268 ff.
Coins of Ancient India, p. 38 f.
Op. cit., pag. 41. The italics are mine.
I Former Derivations of the Brahmi. 3
alphabet, when it was first framed or adopted, did not possess
any cerebral letters." These utterances indicate that in 1891
Sir A. Cunningham himself no longer felt as certain of the sound-
ness of his views as in 1876, when he wrote the introduction
to the Corpus Inscriptionum Indicarum. As far as has become
known, they have not gained of late any new adherents, and
with the death of the illustrious archaeologist they have pro-
bably become entirely a matter of the past. Sir A. Cunning-
ham himself has furnished a very strong argument in favour
of the opposite theory by publishing, op. cit., Plate XI. 18, a
coin from Eran, which shows an inscription in Brahma cha-
racters running from the right to the left. This is really the
link, which was wanted in order to complete the chain of argu-
ments, proving the Semitic origin of the Brahma alphabet.
The remaining theories coincide in the main point that the
ancient Indian characters are derived from a Semitic source,
and Sir A. Cunningham is no doubt right, when he says that
this is the prevailing belief among Sanskritists, not only
however among those of the European continent, but pretty
nearly all over the Western world. This belief is probably
founded not so much on special studies in Indian palaeography,
which, as well as epigraphy, are mostly neglected owing to
the force of unfavourable circumstances, as on the general im-
pression that certain Indian characters strongly resemble Semitic
letters and on the conviction, supported in several cases by the
clearest evidence, that the Indo- Aryan civilisation includes many
and various elements, borrowed from Western nations, Semites,
Persians and Greeks. But I doubt that even half a dozen
Sanskritists could be found, who would care to make a definite
choice between the rival theories, except in so far that
they might be inclined to reject M. Halevy's ingenious, but
untenable combinations, which rest on a priori improbable as-
sumptions [4] and partly on errors regarding facts, and which in
their final results, e. g. the conclusion that the Vedas were com-
posed in the time of the Mauryas, disagree with all the lessons
taught by Indo-Aryan research.1
1 With respect to the statement, that M. Halevy's theory has not found
much favour with Sanskritists, I would point to Professor A. Weber's
remarks in his paper "Die Griechen in Indien", p. 17 (Sitz. Ber. der
1*
4 Indian Studies. No III.
My own attitude with respect to this problem has been
for a long time exactly the same. During the last fifteen years,
whilst I have devoted a portion of my time to early Indian
epigraphy, it has been with me an open question whether the
Brahma characters came from western or from southern Asia.
I have always believed in their Semitic origin. But I have
vacillated more than once between their derivation from a
pre-Himyaritic alphabet of Arabia and that from the ancient
northern Semitic characters, which show almost identical forms
in Palestine, Phoenicia, Cyprus and Assyria. And I have he-
sitated to take up the enquiry in real earnest, because it seemed
to me that one preliminary condition to a new attempt on the
problem was the preparation of perfectly trustworthy impres-
sions and facsimiles of the oldest Indian inscriptions, and a
second, the careful study of all these documents from a pa-
laeographic and from a philological point of view. The first
condition has now been fulfilled thanks to the unwearied la-
bours of Messrs Burgess, Fleet, Fiihrer, Hultzsch, Rice and
Senart. Really good facsimiles of all the versions of the Edicts
of Asoka have been prepared and mostly published, as well as
faithful reproductions of the closely allied, quite or nearly con-
temporaneous inscriptions in Dasaratha's caves, on the Bharhut
or Bharaut and Sanchi Stupas, on the Ghasundi slab, on the
Sohgaurfi Copper plate, in the Hathigumpha, Nanaghat and Pabhosa
caves. Moreover, the palaeographic store has been unexpectedly
enriched by Mr. Rea's discoveries in the Bhatfiprolu Stupa,
which have brought to light a new type of Brahma characters,
showing a certain independence, and, as it would seem to me
on further consideration, at least some very archaic forms.
The explanation of these [5] ancient documents, too, has so far
advanced as is requisite for the palaeographic enquiry.
Under these circumstances I believe it possible to resume
the discussion regarding the origin of the Brahma alphabet with
some hope of success, and I may state at once that the re-
Berliner Akademie, 1890, XXXVII), to Professor A. Ludwig's interesting
paper on "Yavananl", Sitz. Ber. der k. Bohm. Ges. der Wiss., 1893, No. IX,
to Mr. S. Soerensen's Om Sanskrits Stilling i den almindelige Sprogud-
vikliug i Indien, Copenhagen 1894, p. 288, note 1, and to Professor Kern's
remarks in Dr. Gust's Essay's, p. 39.
II. Literary Evidence for the Use of Writing. 5
suits, at which I have arrived in general confirm the views of
Professor Weber, who has already given the correct identifi-
cations for the majority of the signs. In the case of most of
the letters it is, of course, now possible to adduce forms which
come closer to each other than those which his table contains.
This is chiefly due to the numerous discoveries in Semitic epi-
graphy, which have been made during the last thirty nine years.
Mesa's stone, the oldest Sinjirli inscription and the inscriptions
on the Assyrian weights, which are datable more or less ac-
curately, each furnish something valuable. And these discoveries
make it also possible to adhere strictly to the general rule, to
be observed in such inquiries, that only the signs of one period
should be chosen for comparison.
Before I proceed to this comparison, it will be desirable
to call attention to some passages in Indian literature, recently
made accessible, and to some peculiarities in the oldest forms
of the Brahma alphabet, revealed by the new facsimiles and
by a tabular arrangement of the signs, which I have lately
undertaken for my ,,Grundriss der indischen Palaeographie".1
Both the passages in the literary works and the characteristics
of the oldest alphabet point to the conclusion that the Hin-
dus extensively used the art of writing at least about three
centuries before the time of Asoka-Piyadasi.
II.
When thirty five years ago Professor Max Miiller wrote
his excursus on the Introduction of Writing in India,2 the
oldest Brahminical works which he could quote as witnesses
for the use of letters were Panini's Grammar, Mann's and Ya-
jnavalkya's Institutes of the Sacred Law, the Mahabharata and
Kalidasa's Dramas, and he had to declare that in the Vedas [6]
and in the later literature of the Vedic schools no certain trace
of the use of writing could he found, while they contained very
strong evidence for the prevalence of oral teaching and for
Grundriss der Indo-Arischen Philologie und Alterthumskunde , Bd. I,
Heft 11, Strassburg i. E. 1896.
History of Ancient Sanskrit Literature, p. 497 ff.
6 Indian Studies. No IH.
their having been preserved by a purely oral tradition. From
the heterodox literature he was only able to adduce a passage
of the Lalitavistara which describes the first visit of prince
Siddhartha, the future Buddha, to the writing school, and from non-
Indian sources the seemingly conflicting utterances of Nearchos
and of Megasthenes, one of the most careless reporters on Indian
subjects. Professor Max Miiller's final conclusion was, there-
fore, that the art of writing became known in India about 400
B. C. in the middle of his Sutra-period and that, then and
even later, it was not applied to literary purposes.
With the further exploration of Indian literature various
additional pieces of evidence have come to light, which some-
what modify the above inferences and tend to show that writ-
ing was extensively used for the most various purposes at an
earlier period. A closer scrutiny of the ancient Dharmasutras
has proved that there is at least one among them, the so-called
Vasistha Dharmasastra, which in general mentions written do-
cuments (lekhya) as a proof of ownership (XVI, 10) and en-
joins in particular (XVI, 14 — 15) that in disputes about houses
and fields the judicial decisions shall be given in accordance
with the documents if the evidence of the neighbours disagrees,
and that they shall be based on the statements of the old men
and of the guilds, in case conflicting documents are produced.1
Regarding the age of Vasistha' s Institutes of the Sacred Law
nothing definite is known. It is only possible to say that this
work is a real Dharmasutra, that it was originally composed
for the use of the students of a northern school connected with
the Rgveda and was considered to be of general authority be-
fore the eighth century of our era.2 With respect to its rela-
tive position among the works on the sacred law, it is possible
to assert that it is older than the famous Manusamhita, where
one of its rules is quoted and the name of its supposed author
[7] is mentioned, while in its turn it quotes the ancient Dharma-
sutra of the Manavas, on which the homonymous metrical law-
Sacred Books of the East, vol. XIV, p. XXVI and p. 80. The first-men-
tioned passage is a verse, quoted by the author either from the tradi-
tion of the learned or from an older work.
Rumania, Tantravarttika, p. 179, Benares edition.
II. Literary Evidence for the Use of Writing. 7
book is founded.1 It is also later than Gautama's Dharmasutra
and probably belongs to the period, when special law-schools
had come into existence and taught the sacred and civil law
iu rivalry with the teachers of the Vedic schools. These cir-
cumstances make it difficult to deduce from its mention of
written documents more than the obvious general conclusion
that the art of writting was commonly used in daily life and
its importance for legal purposes was recognised during the
period, when new Vedic schools were still founded, and that
it is erroneous to consider the admission of written documents
as legal evidence to be a distinctive mark of the metrical
manuals of the special law-schools. On general grounds it is
probable that the composition of the Vasistha Dharmasastra
falls some centuries before the beginning of our era. To such
a conclusion points inter alia the fact that it is older than our
Manusamhita. But for the present it would be hazardous to
say anything more definite regarding its age.
More instructive are the numerous passages in the canon-
ical works of the Southern Buddhists which testify to an ex-
tensive use of writing in very early times. All those sections
of the Tripitaka, which contain descriptions of, or allusions to,
the national life of ancient India, furnish some contribution to
the subject. In the Jatakas, where, of course, most may be
expected, most is also found. Private and official correspon-
dence by means of letters is referred to again and again as
something quite common. In the Katahaka Jataka we are told
how Katahaka, a slave of the Sheth, or great banker and mer-
chant of Benares, by means of a forged letter passed himself
off as the son of his master and obtained the daughter of the
Sheth of another town: —
"He (Katahaka) who performed in the Sheth's house the
work of a store-keeper thought, 'These people sha'nt make rue
always do the work of a store-keeper and treat me as a slave,
striking, imprisoning and branding me, if they find fault with
me. In a neighbouring kingdom there is a Sheth, a friend of [8]
our Sheth. If I take to him a letter (lekha) written in our Sheth's
name, and if I go to him and say that I am the Sheth's son, I
1 Sacred Books of the East, vol. XXV, p. XXIX f.
8 Indian Studies. No III.
may deceive him, obtain his daughter and live comfortably'.
He himself took a leaf (panna), wrote as follows, 1 have sent
my son N. N. to thee; mutual connexion by marriage is suit-
able for us; give, therefore, thy daughter to this boy and let
him live there; when I have time, I will also come', and he
sealed the letter with the Sheth's seal. Then he took money
for the journey, perfumes, clothes and so forth according to
his pleasure, travelled to the neighbouring kingdom and stood
before the Sheth there, respectfully saluting him. Then the
Sheth asked him, 'Friend, whence hast thou come?' 'From Be-
nares.5 'Whose son art thou?' 'The Benares Sheth's.' 'For
what purpose hast thou come?' Thereupon Katahaka handed
over the letter, saying, 'You will know it, when you have read
this.' The Sheth read the letter, and exclaiming, 'Now I live
indeed!', he gave him joyfully his daughter and established
him there."1
Again the Mahasutasoma Jfitaka mentions a correspond-
ence by means of letters (panna) between a teacher of Tak-
kasila and his former pupils,2 and the Kama Jataka3 narrates,
how a prince, who had renounced the throne and lived in a
village, was asked to write and actually wrote a letter (panna)
to his brother, the reigning king, requesting a remission of the
royal taxes for the people who had hospitably received him.4
An official letter is mentioned and its preparation is de-
scribed in the Punnanadi Jataka,5 which gives an account of
the manner, in which the future Buddha was re-installed in
his position as Purohita of the king of Benares, after having
been banished in consequence of the intrigues of his enemies.
"Afterwards the king remembered his (the Bodhisattva's) vir-
tues, and reflected thus, 'It is not proper to send somebody
in order to call my teacher; but I will compose a verse, write
a [9] letter (panna), order crow's flesh to be cooked, tie up the
1 FausbOlI, Jatakas, vol. I, p. 451, 1. 22 S.
* Op. cit., vol. V, p. 458.
8 Op. cit., vol. IV, p. 169.
4 Compare also the Harita Jataka, No. 331, op. cit., vol. Ill, p. 498, 1. 18,
where the ministers send a panria to the king regarding Harita's mis-
conduct (reference kindly supplied by Prof. S. v. Oldenburg).
5 Op. cit., vol. II, p. 173f.
II. Literary Evidence for the Use of Writing. 9
letter (panna) and the flesh in white cloth, seal it with the
royal seal (rajamuddika) and send it to him. If he is clever,
he will come after reading the letter and recognising the crow's
flesh; if he is not clever, he wo'nt come5. He then wrote the
verse, which begins with the words punnam nadim, on a
sheet." Of course the future Buddha was clever, and came
back to Benares.
Further, some other passages mention official correspond-
ence between kings. In the Cullakalinga Jataka1 we are told
how powerful Kalinga, the king of Dantapura, eager for war-
fare, tried to pick a quarrel with the princes of India, whom
he found disinclined to gratify his bellicose inclinations. In
order to effect his purpose he sent his four beautiful daughters
in a covered cart through the territories of his neighbours and
ordered their guards to proclaim that any prince, who might
take them into his harem, would have to fight their father.
Assaka (Asmaka), the king of Potali, dared to ai'rest their pro-
gress, and made all the four maidens his queens. Thereupon
the Kalinga marched out with his army. But Nandisena, the
minister of the Assaka king, the Jataka continues, "hearing of
his approach sent a royal decree (sasana) to the following ef-
fect, 'Let him stop within the boundaries of his territory, let
him not cross our frontier, (else) a fight will take place between
the two kings5. When he (the Kalinga) had heard this letter
read (lekham sutva), he stopped within his own territory." Here
the term sasana, literally 'an order", is of considerable interest,
as it is the representative of the Sanskrit sasana, which occurs
so frequently as the technical term for landgrants.2
Another case occurs in the Asadisa Jataka,3 according to
which seven kings besieged the town of Benares and sent to
Brahmadatta, its ruler, a letter (panna), asking him either to
give up his kingdom or to fight. The future Buddha, who
was then Prince Asadisa, king Brahmadatta's elder brother,
came to the asistance of the latter. He cut (achindi) on an
1 No. 301, op. cit., vol. UI, p. 4 ff.
2 Two other cases, in which letters, called panna and sasana, are men-
tioned occur in No. 186, op. cit., vol. II, p. 104, 1. 1. 8 and 9, and No. 462,
op. cit., vol. IV, p. 133, 1. 1. 4 and 9 (Oldenburg).
3 No. 181, op. cit., vol. II, p. 89 ff.
10 Indian Studies. No III.
arrow the following letters (akkhardni): "I, Prince Asadisa,
have come, and shall destroy with one arrow the lives of all
[10] of you; let those fly who wish to live," and, being unrivalled
in the archer's craft, he shot his arrow on the knob of the
golden dinner-vessel of the besiegers. The latter, who where
just sitting at dinner, read the letters and, of course, speedily
raised the siege.
The Jatakas contain also a passage, mentioning the use
of writing for legal purposes. In the Ruru Jataka1 a debtor
invites his creditors to come with the bonds (inapannani),
which he had given to them, to the banks of the Ganges in
order to receive payment. The same Jataka, (p. 257) mentions
further the custom of inscribing particular important records
or compositions on gold-plates. Khema, the queen of Benares,
had dreamt of a gold-coloured deer and had notified to her
husband that she must die, if the deer was not found. The
uxorious king composed this verse: —
'To whom shall I give a rich village and women decked with ornaments?
Who will tell me of that deer, the best deer among deer?"
which he caused to be engraved on a gold-plate. The plate
he made over to his prime minister and caused the inscription
to be read to the townspeople.2 While in this case the text en-
graved is a kind of proclamation, we learn from the Kanha Ja-
taka3 that in rich families statements regarding the acquisition of
property were preserved in this peculiar manner. The future
Buddha, the story says, who had been born as the son af a Brah-
man possessing eighty millions, after the death of his parents
"one day examined his treasury. Seated on a splendid couch,
he caused a gold-plate to be brought and looked at the letters
(akkharani), incised on it by his ancestors, which stated, 'So
much wealth has been gained by such a one and so much by
such another one'."
1 No. 482, op. cit., vol. IV, p. 256.
2 According to No. 159, op. cit., vol. II, p. 36, the king of Benares caused
the information about a gold-coloured peacock to be engraved on a
gold-plate, which one of his successors caused to be read out (Olden-
burg).
3 No. 440, op. cit., vol. IV, p. 7.
II. Literary Evidence for the Use of Writing. 11
Three other cases, mentioned respectively in the Kurudhamma
Jataka,1 the Tesakuna Jataka and the Sambhava Jataka are
again different.2 All three stories narrate, how particularly
valued moral maxims were engraved on gold-plates apparently
in order that they might [11] not be forgotten. In the first the
inscription records at the king's command the Kurudhamma,
the law of the Kurus, which is identical with the five great
precepts, imposed by all Indian religions on laymen, fNot to
slay, not to steal, not to commit adultery, not to lie, not to
drink intoxicating drinks.3 According to the second story the
future Buddha caused the vinicchayadhamma "the maxims con-
cerning righteous judgment and the behaviour of kings", which
he had preached, to be perpetuated in the same way.3 In
addition to these testimonies for the use of writing the Kafahaka
Jataka, already quoted, gives a hint regarding the existence
of writing-schools and the manner in which writing was taught
in ancient India. But, this had be better reserved for a fuller
discussion of that subject.
Equally valuable are a number of passages of the Vinaya-
pitaka, which Professor Oldenberg's Index makes easily acces-
sible. Writing (lekhd) and writers (lekhaka) are mentioned
in the Bhikkhu Pacittiya II. 2 and in the Bhikhun! Pacittiya
49. 2. In the former passage writing is enumerated among
"the excellent branches of learning, which are not blamed, nor
despised, nor contemned, nor disregarded, (but) esteemed in the
various countries." In the Parajika section a curious practice
is forbidden to the Buddhist monks, in which writing plays
an important part. "(If one) cuts (chindati), the text says, an
inscription (lekham) to this effect, cHe who dies in this manner,
will obtain wealth, or will obtain fame, or will go to heaven/
(the cutter) is guilty of a Dukkata (dushkrta) sin for each
single letter (akkharakkharaya). (If anybody] sees the inscrip-
1 No. 276, op. cit., vol. II, pp. 371, 381.
2 No. 522, op. cit., vol. V, p. 125, compare No. 515, op. cit., vol. V, p. 59
(Grierson).
8 According to Jataka No. 509, op. cit., vol. IV, p. 488 f., information about
hidden treasure was written on gold-plates. The same story narrates
that Visvakarma wrote with jatihiiigula on the walls of the pa^asalas
which he built by order of Indra (Oldenburg).
12 Indian Studies. No III.
tion, and forms the painful resolution to die, (the engraver will
be guilty) of a Thullaccaya (sthulatyaya) sin; (in case the
reader actually) dies, (the engraver will be guilty) of a Para-
jika offence." l
The passage indicates that it was the practice of religious
teachers to incite their lay-hearers by the promise of rewards
in the next birth to commit suicide, and that they distri-
buted tablets of wood or bamboo with inscriptions specifying
the manner of the death and the rewards to be gained. The
statement is perfectly credible, as religious suicide, or suicide
with the hope of rewards in the next birth, was very com-
mon in ancient India and even occurred not rarely within
[12] the last thirty or forty years.2 The Dharmasutras and the
metrical Siurtis mention the voluntary death by starvation or by
other more violent means and even recommend it to the her-
mits and to the other ascetics,3 and there are passages in the
Mahabhfirata, where ascetics, kings and others are recommended
to put an end to their existence by starvation, jumping down
from precipices, voluntary cremation and so forth. The Jainas
were and are universally in favour of the cdeath of the sages',
though it has gone out of fashion in our days. And Hiwen
Tsiang, Siyuki I, p. 232 (Beal) testifies to the prevalence of
the belief that a jump from the Aksaya Vata, the sacred fig-
tree at Allahabad, secured re-birth among the gods, as well as
to the fact that it was acted on in the seventh century. Like
the majority of the Brahnainical teachers who, though giving the
old rules, strongly disapprove of suicide, the Buddhists naturally
opposed such practices. Their statement that written exhortations
to suicide used to be given, furnishes another valuable piece of
evidence for the very general use of writing in ancient India.
Finally there are still two remarkable passages in the
Mahavagga I, 43 and 49, which are also of considerable im-
1 See also Prof. Oldenberg's remarks in Sacred Books of the East, vol. XIII,
p. XXXII f.
2 In January 1869 there was still a guard on the Girnar, in order to pre-
vent pilgrims from jumping from the rock, called the Bhairav jhdmp
'Bhairava's leap'.
8 See Manu VI, 31 and the passages quoted in the Synopsis to my Trans-
lation, Sacred Books of the East, vol. XXV, pp. 204, 567.
II. Literary Evidence for the Use of Writing. 13
portance for our question.1 The first tells us that a likhitako
coro, a thief whose name had been placarded or proclaimed
in writing in the king's palace had been received into the
order of the Buddhist monks. The people murmured against
this and Buddha, of course, forbade for the future the ad-
mission of proclaimed thieves. The story confirms the hints,
to be gathered from the Jatakas, regarding written royal procla-
mations. The second passage, which is literally reproduced in
Bhikkhu Pacittiya 65. 1, and hence must be very ancient, de-
scribes in detail the deliberations of the parents of a boy of
Rajagrha, called Upali, about their son's education. They agree
that it would be beneficial for his future, if he learnt lekha
'writing', ganana 'arithmetic5 and rupa, literally 'forms'. But
[13] they find that the first art might injure his hands, the second
his chest and the third his eyes. Hence they finally resolve to
permit him to enter the order of the Buddhist monks, who are of
good moral conduct, dine well and sleep in well sheltered beds.
Even at first sight it seems probable that rupa, ga-
nana and lekha were the three "Rs", or subjects taught in
the elementary schools of ancient India, when the Mahavagga
was composed. This conjecture is confirmed by a remark,
which king Kharavela makes about his own education in the Ha-
thigumpha inscription, dated in the year 165 of the Maurya era.
He says concerning himself: —
[i]
wrftra [11]
"Endowed with the body of a glorious prince, he played
during fifteen years children's games. Then, being expert in
writing, rupa, arithmetic and legal rules and excelling in all
sciences, he ruled during nine years as Caesar."
Dr. Bhagvanlal renders the untranslated word rupa by
"painting", while Professors Oldenberg and Rhys Davids, Sacred
Books of the East, vol. XIII, p. 201, take it to mean in the Maha-
vagga "money- changing", because Buddhaghosa says in the com-
-1 See also the remarks on these two stories by Prof. Oldenberg in Sacred
Books of the East, vol. XIII, p. XXXII f. and by D'Alwis, Introduction
to Kachchhayana's Grammar, pp. XXVII, CXVf., 73—101.
2 Actes du VI. Congres Int. Or. Ill, 2, p. 154.
14 Indian Studies. No III.
mentary that "he who learns the rupa-sutta must turn over and
over many kar sap anas and look at them". The rendering
"money-changing", though not far from the truth, is a little
too specific. For it is not probable that a royal prince would
qualify himself to become a banker. But, the curriculum of
the so-called indigenous schools of the present day includes
a branch of elementary learning, which may be called rupa
"forms" and to which Buddhaghosa's explanation may also
refer.1 After the children have mastered the art of writing
and the most elementary arithmetical operations, addition, sub-
traction and particularly the amk or complicated multiplication
tables, they are instructed in the practical application of arithmetic
[14] to simple commercial and agricultural affairs. They learn,
how many Dams, Korls, Paisas, Paulas and so forth go to the
Rupee, the rules for calculating interest and wages as well as
the simplest rules of mensuration.2 This commercial and agri-
cultural arithmetic is no doubt what is meant by rupa and it
may be that in ancient times, when coins were rare, specimens
were placed before the pupils, which they had to handle and
look at, in order to learn their form, weight and marks. As
far as I am aware, this is not done in our days.3
With respect to the instruction in writing, there is, as
stated above, something more in the beginning of the Katahaka
Jataka. "When the son of the Sheth, the story says, learnt
writing, the slave (Katahaka) too went with him carrying his
1 My statements regarding the indigenous schools are based on what I
have seen in Western, Northern and Central India. The Rev. J. Long's
edition of Adam's Reports on Vernacular Education, pp. 19ff. and 98 ff.
furnishes confirmatory statements. See also Captain Harkness' article
on the schools in Southern India, Jour. Roy. As. Soc., vol. I, p. 15 f.,
Mr. Gover's on the Dyal schools of Madras, Indian Antiquary, vol. II,
p. 52 ff., and Mr. Raghunathjl's on the Marathl schools, Indian Antiquary,
vol. VIII, p. 246 ff.
2 What is taught in this way in the indigenous schools of Gujarat has
been collected by Rao Saheb Bhogilal Pranvallabh and published by
the Bombay Educational Department under the title Detl Hisab, "Native
Arithmetic", Pts. I and II.
3 According to Major Temple the Burmese market -girls were actually
taught in this way within the last thirty years, Indian Antiquary,
vol. XXIV, p. 247, Notes.
II. Literary Evidence for the Use of Writing. 15
board and (thus) learnt writing." The sentence indicates, that
the Sheth's son did not receive instruction at home, but went
to a master, who presumably kept a school. The mention of
the "board" (phalaka) is very interesting. It agrees with the
narrative of the Northern Buddhist Lalitavistara, according to
which young Siddhartha, the future Buddha, on -going to the
school of the Brahman Visvamitra, brought with him "a golden
pencil and a tablet of red sandal wood".1 And the actualities
in the indigenous schools of Western, Northern, Central and
Eastern India2 furnish the necessary commentary on the two
passages. Nearly everywhere the board or wooden tablet is
still in use for the first instruction in writing, and it is either
covered with sand in which the letters are drawn with a small
stick, or it is varnished and the letters are drawn with a stick,
smeared with a solution of white chalk instead of ink.3 It is
[15] evident that the Lalitavistara and the Jataka refer to the me-
thod of instruction, which is still followed, and the information,
conveyed by the latter and Mahavagga I. 49, makes it pro-
bable that elementary schools existed at the period, when the
Buddhist canon was composed, and that their curriculum was
about the same as that of the indigenous Pathsalas, Lehsa^s,
Nisals (i. e. *Lihsalas) and Tolls of modern India.
In the portions of the Nik.ayas, which I have read, I have
met with fewer references to writing. But they are not entirely
Professor Terrien de la Couperie, Babylonian and Or. Record, vol. I,
p. 59, states that these words are found in the older Chinese translation,
Pu yao king, dated 308 A. D. The legend possibly goes back to the
beginning of our era.
Regarding Bengal and Behar, see the passages from Adam's Report quoted
above.
In Gujarat the latter method is the more common one, and a vessel,
filled with a solution of chalk usually belongs to the paraphernalia of
the schoolboys. But I have likewise seen the sanded board, on which
the grains are made to adhere slightly by gum arabic. Very poor boys
simply scattered dust on their boards and wrote in that, or if they had
no boards, they brought brass kettles or pans and wrote on these with
chalk. This happened even in the Government schools, where more
usually slates and chalk-solution were used by the beginners or Amk-
valas, as the school-phrase is. Beruni, India, vol. I, p. 182 (Sachau),
writing iu A. D. 1030, mentions the use of black tablets in the schools,
on which the children wrote with a white material.
16 Indian Studies. No III.
wanting. Thus the Brahmajala Sutta 14 and the Samanna-
phala 49, mention a game, called akkharika,1 which according
to Buddhaghosa means "reading letters in the air or in the
vault of the sky", see also Childers, Pali Diet. s. v. pitthl.
As regards the question to which exact period the testi-
mony of the "Pali Canon may refer, the answer, I think, must
be, "to the fifth and possibly to the sixth century B. C." In
the introduction to the Vinayapitaka Professor Oldenberg has
shown that there are good reasons for assuming the composi-
tion of the Mahavagga, Pacittiya and Parajika sections to pre-
cede the Council of Vesall (ca. 380 B. C.) and to fall even
somewhat earlier than the year 400 B. C.2 While it will be
sufficient to refer to his discussion on the Vinaya and to Pro-
fessor M. Miiller's review of the question in the introduction to
the Dhammapada, Sacred Books of the East, vol. X, p. XXIX if.,
the case of the Jatakas requires a fuller consideration.
It is a well known fact that the sculptures on the Sanchi
and Bharahut or Bharaut Stupas contain representations of va-
rious Jatakas. On the Sanchi Stupa the Sanaa Jataka has been
identified3 and others, like the Mahakapi Jataka, may be re-
cognised even on the Plates in Dr. Fergusson's Tree and Ser-
pent [16] Worship. On the Bharahut Stupa twenty-one sculptured
scenes, to which the titles are mostly added, have been found
to correspond with Birth Stories in Professor Fausboll's printed
edition, and 'Dr. E. Hultzsch has shown that even a Pada of
a verse, used as a title, agrees with the printed text.4 Among
1 Mentioned also in the Cullavagga I, 13. 2 and elsewhere.
2 Vinayapitaka, vol. I, p. XXXIV— XXXVIII.
3 Jour. Roy. As. Soc. 1894, p. 21 Iff.
4 Indian Antiquary, vol. XXI, p. 225 f., where Dr. Hultzsch has reprinted
his excellent edition of the inscriptions together with a synopsis of the
stories hitherto identified and other very valuable remarks. The fact
that the titles of the stories frequently differ, the Pali text naming the
story after one chief actor or incident and the inscription after another,
has been discussed by Professor Rhys Davids in the Introduction to his
Buddhist Birthstories p. LX ff. And he has shown that it in no way
goes against the assumption that the canonical collection existed at the
time when the sculptures were made, because vacillations with respect
to the titles occur likewise in the Pali collection. I would add that
variations in titles are also found in Brahminical literature. Thus Bana
II. Literary Evidence for the Use of Writing. 17
them there are also two, the Rurumiga and the Asadisa, which
have been quoted above as witnesses for the use of writing. Both
the Stupas date from the third century B. C., some additions
only belonging to the second century. The age of the Sanchi
Stupa is proved by a fragment of an Asoka Edict, which agrees
in part with the so-called Kosambl Edict on the Allahabad Pil-
lar, and by the fact that the characters of more than nine tenth
of its nearly four hundred inscriptions fully agree with those
of the Asoka Edicts, while about two score show slightly more
advanced forms.1 Similarly, nearly all the hundred and fifty
three published inscriptions of the Bharahut Stupa are written
in the alphabet of the Edicts, and it is chiefly Dhanabhuti's
inscription on the gateway-pillar dated "in the reign of the
Sungas", which is incised in more modern letters. The pieces
with the later characters are, of course, additions or repairs, made
[17] after the completion of the original structure.2 Under these
circumstances it is very probable that in the third century
B. C. our collection of the Jatakas formed part of the Buddhist
Canon, which, as the Bairat Edict, addressed to the Magadha
Saiigha, and various inscriptions on the Stupas indicate, was
then fully settled. Both on the Sanchi and Bharahut Stupas
we read of monks who had the title pacanekdyika (pdncanai-
calls the Bhagavadglta, Anantaglta. Kumarila uses the title Ascarya Par-
van for the Putradarsana Parvan of the MSS. of the MahSbharata, and
there are Vedic hymns with two or three names. Such a vacillation
comes quite natural to a Hindit, who is accustomed to substitute endless
synonyms for technical terms and names of plants animals etc., and
even changes portions of personal names, saying Vikramaditya, Vikra-
marka or Vikramanka, though he means the same individual. The
discrepancies between the Pali stories and the representations in Bharahut,
which Prof. Minayeff believed to have discovered (Recherches I, 140ff.),
are, I think, merely such as may be expected to be found between all
narratives and their illustrations by sculptures.
1 See my articles on the Sanchi Stupa inscriptions in the Epigraphia In-
dica, vol. II, p. 87 ff. and p. 366 ff., which latter is accompanied by two
plates, giving specimens of inscriptions in the old and the more ad-
vanced characters.
2 See the Plate in vol. XL of the Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenlan-
dischen Gesellschaft, and Indian Antiquary, vol. XIV, p. 139. The in-
scription of Dhanabhuti on the gateway-pillar belongs in my opinion to
the middle of the second century B. C.
Buhler, Indian Studies. III. 2
18 Indian Studies. No III.
kayika)1 i. e. 'teacher of the five Nikayas5, and in Bharahut
appears also a petaki i. e. ca person who knew or taught the
Pi^aka or Pitakas', about whose designation more will be said
below.
The evidence of the relievos on the Stupas furnishes a
lower date for the Jatakas, later than which their use for
the edification of the Buddhist laymen cannot be put. But
there are other circumstances connected with them, which
make it very probable, that the picture of the national life of
[18] India, furnished by them, refers to a much earlier period than
the third century B. C. Though, as Professor Rhys Davids
has shown op. cit., p. LV. ff., nothing definite is known re-
garding the date when the present collection was formed and
incorporated in the Buddhist canon, it is already now evident
that the stories which they contain are not, as was believed
formerly, inventions of the Buddhist monks, but almost through-
out loans from the ancient Brahminical literature or the old pre-
Buddhistic national tradition of India. A very good statement
of this view by Dr. S. von Oldenburg has been translated in
By an oversight I have given in the Epigraphia Indica, vol. II, p. 93,
pancanaikayika as the Sanskrit equivalent of pacanekayika. Though such
a form might be defended by analogous compounds like tridraunika, it
is equally possible and no doubt better to assume that the prototype of
the Prakrit word was formed in accordance with the rule, exemplified
by cMurvaidyalca 'one who knows or teaches the four Vedas'. For, in
the ancient epigraphic Prakrits panca and panca would both be repre-
sented by pamca or paca i. e. pacca. These remarks may possibly meet
the doubts, which M. A. Barth has expressed regarding the word in the
Bulletin des Religions de Tlnde, 1894, Bouddhisme, p. 1, note 1. M. A.
Barth's further doubts, whether the five Nikayas, known in the third
century B. C., may be identified with those of the Pali Canon, do not
appear justified to me. Assuming the correctness of his statement that the
'five Nikayas' are unknown to the Northern Buddhists, this fact would,
in my opinion, not prove anything against the antiquity of these collec-
tions, because the Northern Buddhists have preserved only the disjecta
membra of an old tradition. No doubt, when the Northerners and the
Southerners agree with respect to a particular text or collection, its great
age is clearly established. But it seems to me dangerous to invert the
proposition and to allege that books or collections of the Southern Ca-
non, not known to the Northerners, must be considered later additions
for this reason alone.
II. Literary Evidence for the Use of Writing. 19
the Jour. Roy. As. Soc. of 1893, p. 301 ff., and I can only
say that a closer study of the Jatakas had led me to the same
conclusion before the publication of Dr. von Oldenburg's pa-
per. Moreover, the detailed researches of Professor Leumann
and of Dr. R. G. Bhandarkar have yielded exactly the same
results, see the Wiener Zeitschrift fur d. Kunde d. Morg. Vol.
V, p. 11 Iff., the Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morg. Gesellschaft
Vol. XLVIII, p. 65 ff. and the Transactions of the IXth Int.
Or. Congress, 1892, Vol. I, p. 422 ff.
This discovery makes the question regarding the exact
date, at which the loan may have been effected, a matter of
minor importance. The chief point for consideration is, if in
effecting the loan the Buddhist monks altered much and espe-
cially, if the description of Indian life which the Jatakas con-
tain, has been made to agree with that of the times when
Buddhism had become a power in India. The answer can only
be, that there are remarkably few traces of Buddhism in these
stories and that they do not describe the condition of India in
the third or fourth century B. C., but an older one. Peculiarly
Buddhistic are only the introduction of the future Buddha into
most tales, who invariably is identified with the wisest and best
of the actors, occasional spiteful remarks against the Vedic
animal sacrifices and against the deified national heroes, whom
the orthodox sects worshipped, and intentional perversions of
the legends told of them. The doctrine of the power of the
Karrnan, the moral maxims and the few religious observances
such as the sanctification of the Uposatha or Parvan days,
which the stories inculcate, are common to the Buddhists and
to all other Indian religions, whether orthodox or heterodox.
[19] With respect to these there was not much to change, except
perhaps some of the technical expressions.
On the other hand the descriptions of the political, reli-
gious and social condition of the people clearly refer to the
ancient time before the rise of the great Eastern dynasties of
the Nandas and the Mauryas, when Pataliputra had become
the capital of India. The Jatakas mention neither the one nor
the other, and they know nothing of great empires which com-
prised the whole or large parts of India. The number of the
kingdoms, whose rulers play a part in the stories, is very con-
2*
20 Indian Studies. No III.
siderable. The majority of the names, such as Madra, the two Paii-
calas, Kosala, Videha, Kasi, and Vidarbha agrees with those
mentioned in the Vedic literature, while a few others, like Ka-
liftga and Assaka i. e. Asmaka or Asvaka, occur in Brahmi-
nical literature first in the Epics and in Panini's Sutras. The
characteristic names of the Andhras, the Panqlyas and Keralas
are not mentioned.
Though a political centre was wanting, frequent state-
ments regarding the instruction of the young Brahmans and
nobles show that there was an intellectual centre and that it lay
in Takkasila, the capital of distant Gandhara. Takkasila is
according to the Jatakas the town, where the youth of the
tAvo highest classes received instruction in the three Vedas and
the twelve or eighteen branches of learning (sippa or vijjathana).
This agrees with some statements in other parts of the Canon,
where, as in the Vinayapitaka, the famous physician Jlvaka Koma-
rabhacca is represented as having studied medicine in Takka-
sila. And it is very credible that Gandhara, the native country
of Panini, was a stronghold of Brahminical learning certainly
in the fourth and fifth centuries B. C., and perhaps even earlier.
The statements regarding the religious condition of India
point to an equally early period. Just as the three Vedas are the
basis of the higher instruction, so the prevalent religion is that
of the Path of Works with its ceremonies and sacrifices, among
which several like the Vacapeyya (vajapeya) and the Rajasuya
are specially and repeatedly mentioned. Side by side with
these appear popular festivals, celebrated, when the Naksatra
had been proclaimed, with general merry-makings and copious
libations of Sura, as well as the worship of demons and trees,
[20] all of which go back to the earliest times. Nor are the her-
mits in the woods and the wandering ascetics unknown. Most
of the heroes take the isipabbajja, i. e.} renounce the world
according to the rule of the Rsis, and live with their sacred
fires in the hill-forests, whence they descend occasionally in
order to procure salt and pungent condiments (lonambilaseva-
nattha). The wandering ascetics (tapasa) appear to belong to
different orders, as various distinctive marks are mentioned.
But only those of one division, the Ajivikas, are actually named,
among whom the future Buddha himself was once born in a for-
II. Literary Evidence for the Use of Writing. 21
raer Kalpa. These are, as Professor Kern has first pointed out,
the ancient Vaisnava devotees of Narayana and particularly the
Paramahamsas, who according to the lately recovered Vaikha-
nasa Dharmasutra actually went naked and swallowed cowdung,
as the Buddhists allege of these dangerous rivals.
The state of civilisation, described in the Jatakas. is in
various respects primitive, and particularly noteworthy is the
prevalence of wood architecture, which on the evidence of the
oldest sculptures had almost disappeared in the third century
B. C. The Jatakas even describe the palaces of kings as us-
ually constructed of wood. Many other details might be added.
But the facts given are sufficient for our purpose. They make
it at least probable that the mention of writing as common in
daily life is not an addition, made by the Buddhists in later times,
but occurred in the old stories which they appropriated. And it
ought to be remembered, that in the Punnanadi and Asadisa
Jatakas writing is not merely an ornamental accessory, but a most
essential point, without which the stories would have no meaning,
and that the Asadisa Jataka is found on the Stupa of Bharahut.
An additional argument for the antiquity of the writing,
mentioned in the books of the Pali Canon, is furnished by the
technical terms which they employ. They exclusively use for writ-
ing, writers and letters words which mean "to cut", chind, "to
scratch" likh, "the scratcher" lekhaka, "scratching" or "scratches",
lekha, and "the indelible" akkhara. On the other hand the word
lipi, which Panini, circiter 350 B. C.,1 has in the compounds
[21] Upikara and libikara, "writer", is not found in the Buddhist ca-
nonical works known to me, nor is there in Childers' Dictionary
any quotation for it from the Canon. For lipi two explanations
have been proposed. According to the older opinion it is de-
1 I can only adhere to the traditional date of the great grammarian, which,
as we know now, was contained in the ancient Brhatkatha, since both Kse-
mendra's and Somadeva's Sanskrit translations contain the story of Pa-
nini, the pupil of Upavarsa, who flourished during the reign of Yoga-
nanda, the predecessor of Candragupta, Indian Antiquary, vol. I, p. 305.
— Panini' s Dhatupatha gives for the verb likh the meaning aksaravimjdsa
'arranging letters' or 'syllables' and thus furnishes, as Geheimrath von
Bfihtlingk points out to me, another proof for the prevalence of writing
in the fourth cent. B. C.
22 Indian Studies. No III.
rived from lip 'to smear', like krsi 'agriculture' from kj's to
plough', and like a number of other substantives formed by the
feminine affix i. According to others,1 it is a corruption of the
Old Persian dipi 'writing', which corruption was favoured by
a fancied connexion with the verb lip. Though lipi might be
a perfectly regular derivative from lip, and might appropriately
have been used to denote 'letters' and 'the alphabet' on the
introduction of writing with ink, the derivation becomes doubt-
ful through the fact that the verb limpati is not used in the
sense of 'he writes'. And the impressions of the Shahbaz-
garhi version of Asoka's Edicts have furnished a strong argu-
ment for the adherents of the second view. For they show
that in the Gandhara dialect lipi is represented by dipi and
that the verbs dipati 'he writes' and dipapati 'he causes to
write' did also exist.2 On linguistic grounds it is not probable
that lipi and limpati should have been turned into dipi and
dipati} the latter also changing its meaning. On the other
hand, dipi corresponds exactly with the Persian word, and its
introduction into India is easily explained by the Persian oc-
cupation of Northwestern India during the Akhaemenian period
from about 500 B. C. probably until the fall of the Persian
empire.3 These points appear to me so strong that I too must
declare myself in favour of the loan theory, and assume that in
Sanskrit lipi was substituted for dipi at a period, when writing
with ink had come into use, in order to connect the term with the
[22] root lip. The statement of Nearchos, according to which the
Hindus wrote letters ev c'.vBis'. X(av x£/.po-r/;j.svatc, as well as that
of Q. Curtius VIII, 9, according to which they used libri ar-
borum teneri i. e. birch-bark, for the same purpose, makes the
use of ink certain for the latter half of the fourth century.4
1 See, Burnell, Elements of South Ind. Palaeography, p. 5f., Note 2.
2 The aorist dipista is found in ShahbSzgarhi Ed. IV, 1. 10; VI, 1. 16 and
the participle dipapita ibidem, Ed. XIV, 1. 13.
3 See also App. I, p. 95. It may be noted, that even in later times the
Hindus have borrowed a Persian word, connected with writing. This is
the term divlra — divira, "a writer, clerk", found in the Valabhl land grants
of the seventh century A. D. and in later Kasmirian works. It represents the
Persian deblr, see the smaller Petersburg Dictionary sub voce divira.
4 The oldest preserved specimen of writing in ink occurs on the relic
vase from Andher, Cunningham, Bhilsa Topes, PI. 30, No. 6.
II Literary Evidence for the Use of Writing. 23
The loan theory agrees also well with the occurrence of the
word in the Sutras of Panini, who was a native of Salatura, the
modern village of Lahul, close to Ohind and west of the Indus, and
with its absence from the ancient Buddhist canonical works,
which were composed in Eastern India and before 400 B. C.
Some further valuable information regarding writing and
especially regarding the ancient alphabets, is furnished by the
works of the Northern Buddhists, by the Jaina scriptures and
by some metrical Smrtis. In the account of prince Siddhartha's
first visit to the writing-school, extracted by Professor Terrien
de la Couperie from the Chinese translation of the Lalitavistara
of 308 A. D. (see above p. 15, note 2), there occurs besides
the mention of the sixty four alphabets, known also from the
printed Sanskrit text, the utterance of the master Visvamitra,
"that there are two kinds of writing, that of Fan or Brahman
and that of Kuliu, both equally good and not differing". With
the help of a Chinese Buddhist Encyclopedia, dated 668 A. D.,
Professor Terrien de la Couperie has shown that the alphabet
of Brahman was written from the left to the right and that,
invented by Kuliu, Kiuliii, Kialu or Kialusheta (all of which
names are explained by "ass' lips", in Sanskrit kharostha) from
the right to the left. He thereby has rendered us the great
service of showing what the terms Brahm! and Kharosthi really
mean. The former is evidently the alphabet, which used to
be called Pali, Lath, Southern Indian, Asoka or Maurya, and
the latter the so-called Northwestern, Ariano-Pali, Bactro-Pali,
or Gandharian. With this explanation, the remark of the future
Buddha's writing-master indicates, that at the time, when the
Lalitavistara, translated into Chinese in 308 A. D., was com-
posed, i. <?., at the latest in the third century A. D., both the
ordinary Indian and the Gandhara alphabets were equally com-
mon in the author's native country. If, as is not improbable
on account of the position of the Lalitavistara in the Canon
of the Northern Buddhists, this was the Panjab or one of the
adjoining districts of Northwestern India, the statement agrees
with the facts known through the inscriptions and coins, which
[23] from the earliest times of the historical period of India until
the end of the second century A. D., show both the Brahma
and Kharosthi characters.
24 Indian Studies. No III.
The enumeration of the sixty-four alphabets1 has gained
a greater interest by the discovery of a similar, apparently in-
dependent list in the Jaina Agamas. Professor Weber's ana-
lysis of the latter shows,2 that they too allege the early exist-
ence of a larger number of scripts and that some of the names
agree literally, or at least in meaning, with those given by
the Buddhists. Both the Jainas and the Buddhists agree in
allotting the first place, to "Brahman's writing", the Brahml
llpi or Bambhl livl, indicating thereby the pre-eminence of the
characters, running from the left to the right, which are used
in the majority of Asoka's Edicts. Both name also the alpha-
bet written from the right to the left, which in the Jaina Pra-
krit is called Kharotthi instead of Kharosthl. Its position in
the two lists somewhat differs, as the Buddhists give it the
second place and the Jainas only the fourth. Further, both
lists include the Puskarasarl (No. 3) or Pukkharasariya (No. 5)
and the Dravida (No. 12) or Damila (No. 17) characters. The
mention of the last alphabet has become important since the
discovery of an ancient partly independent variant of the Brah-
ml lipi at Bhattiprolu in the Kistna districts of the Madras
Presidency. And it is not improbable that this alphabet is
meant by "the writing of the Dravidian country3". The men-
tion of the Puskarasarl or Pukkharasariya lipi, too, possesses
some interest, as its name is evidently derived from the patro-
nymic Pauskarasddi or Puskarasadi, which appears in Brah-
minical works on grammar and law as the designation of one,
or perhaps of several famous teachers. It is certainly a Brah-
minical name and indicates that a scion of the race of Puskara-
sad invented some particular alphabet or introduced modifica-
tions [24] in an existing one. The name, therefore, furnishes the
1 See Lalitavistara, p. 143 f. Calc. ed.
2 Indische Studien, vol. XVI, pp. 280, 399 ff. The list occurs twice, in the
Samavayanga and the PannavanS Sutras. There is a third list of alpha-
bets with about 30 mostly very corrupt names in the Mabavastu, I,
p. 135 (Senart), which has been omitted intentionally, as its exact contents
cannot be made out with certainty.
8 I may state here that in my opinion Dr. Burnell's contention for the
antiquity ot the Vatteluttu or Pandya-Cera alphabet is erroneous; see
the Grundriss der Indo-Ar. Phil, und Alt., I, 11, § 32.
II. Literary Evidence for the Use of Writing. 25
proof that in early times Brahmans directed their attention to
the art of writing, for which view other arguments will be ad-
duced further on. The other names, which like the Gandharva
or Gandhavva agree fully, or like the nagalipi "the writing of
the snake-deities33 and the Bhogavalya, "the writing of Bhoga-
vatl, the residence of the Nagas", in their general meaning,
are perhaps in part fanciful and, at least for the present, not
particularly instructive.
The independence of the Jaina list from that of the La-
litavistara is proved by various discrepancies. First, it is much
shorter and includes only eighteen varieties, and among them
occurs the Javanaliyd or according to the printed edition of
the Pannavana Sutra, the Javananiya, which corresponds to
Panini's term Yavananl,1 or, as Katyayana's Varttika states,
"the writing of the Yavanas33. Secondly, the Jainas use the
term Bambhi livl in a double sense, not only for a particular
variety of writing, but also for every kind of writing. The
texts are explicit on this point and say,2 Bambhle nam lime
attharasavihalikkhavihane pannatte \ tarn bambhi etc. "An eigh-
teenfold order of scripts is taught for the Brahma writing, viz.
the Brahma" etc. This apparently senseless assertion finds its
explanation through passages of the metrical Smrtis of Narada
and Brhaspati, as well as through Brahminical sculptures and
pictures of Brahman. The two lawbooks state that "the Cre-
ator (Brahman) created writing in order to keep the affairs of
the world in their proper course" or "in order to remove doubts
regarding legal transactions33.3 On the sculptures in the Ba-
The identification, which is given by Malayagiri, is unobjectionable,
even if Javanaliyd is the correct form. For instances of the substitution
of la for Sanskrit na occur e. g. in Pali anela for an&nas, mulala for mr-
ndla, vef.u for venu and in Maharastrl velu for venu and limba for nimba.
It may be noted that the later Tibetan version of the Lalitavistara in-
cludes the Yavananl in its list of seventy alphabets, see Foucaux, Rgya
Cher Rol Pa, p. 112 f., and that the Yondrl of the Mahavastu, loc. cit.,
is probably a representative of Yavananl or YavandU.
See A. Weber, op. cit, p. 399.
Sacred Books of the East, vol. XXXIII, pp. 58 f., p. 304. NSrada's law-
book is later than the Manusamhita and older than Bana (circiter 620
A. D.), who alludes to it in the KadambarT, p. 91 (Peterson). The Brhas-
pati Smrti is again later than Nfirada's.
26 Indian Studies. No HI.
[25] dami caves,1 which date from the end of the sixth century
A. D., the same idea is expressed by representing Brahman
with strips of palmleaves in his right hand, for which modern
pictures of the deity substitute an inscribed piece of paper.2 It
thus appears that there were two legends which the Jainas have
combined, one which ascribed to Brahman the invention of all
writing and another which restricted his activity to one parti-
cular alphabet, that which was the commonest and most gen-
erally used. Both myths no doubt were current side by side,
and express with a slight variation the belief- that writing is a
national Indian invention.
These points, to which the differences in half a dozen
names of alphabets must be added, show very clearly that the
Jaina list has not been copied from that of the Buddhists, but
gives expression to an independent tradition, which in all pro-
bability is considerably older than that of the Buddhists. The
greater antiquity of the Jaina list is apparent from its more
reasonable number of alphabets, which, however, is also a purely
conventional one3 and need not be taken to mean more than
"a large number". It is also probable, because the Anga and
the Upanga, in which it occurs, certainly are much older than
the third century A. D., the time for which the existence of
the Buddhist list is absolutely certain. In my opinion we have,
since the discoveries in the Kankall Tlla at Mathura, very good
reasons for believing the 6vetambara tradition which places the
first collection of the Angas in the reign of the Maurya Can-
dragupta or about 300 B. C.4 And, though the Angas evidently
have undergone changes between that time and their final re-
daction by Devarddhi in the fifth century A. D., it seems to
me probable that the list of the alphabets belongs to the orig-
inal contents of the Samavayanga, because it has been embod-
ied also in the Pannavana Sutra, the traditional date of which
is 358 after Vlra or 168 B. C. Nor is the existence of such
1 Indian Antiquary, vol. VI, plate facing p. 361.
2 Moore, Hindu Pantheon, plate I, and the representation of Brahman in
Sir W. Jones' article, Asiatic Researches, I, p. 222 S.
3 Compare the eighteen Puranas, and Upapuranas, the eighteen Smrtis and
Upasmrtis.
4 See Sacred Books of the East, vol. XXII, p. XL ff.
II. Literary Evidence for the Use of Writing. 27
[26] a traditional list at the beginning of the Maurya period a priori
incredible. Panini's rule regarding the formation of Yavananl
"the writing of the Yavanas" very probably indicates, as has
already been remarked by others, that in his time, i. e., about
350 B. C., more alphabets than one were known,1 and for the
third century B. C. the contemporaneous use of three alphabets,
the ordinary Brahml lipi, the Kharogthl and the Bhattiprolu
variety of the Brahma alphabet is certain. The bearing of the
early existence of such a list of alphabets and of the myth,
ascribing their invention to Brahman, on the question of the
antiquity of writing in India, is obvious. The introduction of
writing cannot have taken place about 400 B. C., but must be
earlier at least by some centuries.
Another passage of the Jaina Samavayanga Sutra makes
it possible to show how the popular Brahma alphabet looked
about 300 B. C. The Samavayanga includes a detailed ab-
stract of the lost Drstivada, the twelfth of the Jaina Angas, and
asserts that according to this work, the Bambhl livl or Brahma
1 As stated above, I adhere to the tradition, which asserts that Panini was
the pupil of Upavarsa and lived during the reign of the last Nanda, the
predecessor of the Maurya Candragupta. This tradition gives a reason-
able date and probably goes back itself to the beginning of our era, since,
according to the concurrent testimony of Ksemendra and Somadeva, it oc-
curred in Guriadhya's Brhatkatha. I agree with Dr. Burnell (El. S. Ind.
Pal.2, p. 6) and Professor A. Ludwig, (see his paper on "Yavananl" quoted
above) that yavanani means "the writing of the Greeks". But I believe
with Prof. Ludwig that Pnnini's acquaintance with the existence of the
Greek alphabet is by no means irreconcilable with his traditional date.
Irrespective of the general reasons, adduced by Professor Ludwig, it seems
to me not wonderful that an author, whose native country had been ex-
plored in 509 B. C. by Skylax and whose countrymen, the Gandharas,
had furnished a contingent for Xerxes' invasion of Greece should mention
the old Oriental name of the Greeks and should be acquainted with their
writing (see also Professor Weber, Monatsberichte Berl. Akad. 1871, p. 616).
And there is, as Mr. Rapson points out to me, even positive proof for
such an acquaintance, as Athenian drakhmes with the inscription AOE
struck before the end of the reign of Alexander, possibly even before
350 B. C., have been found in India as well as Indian imitations of such
coins, see B. V. Head, Cat. Greek. Coins: Attica, p. XXXIf., pp. 25—27. To
me it seems absolutely impossible to make the mere occurrence of the
word Yavana in Sanskrit works a mark, which proves that they must
have been written after the invasion of Alexander.
28 Indian Studies. No III.
[27] alphabet consisted of 46 mauyakkhara (matrkaksara) or ra
clical signs.1 The commentator Abhayadeva says that this number
comes out by deducting from the (in his time, saec. XI) ordi-
nary alphabet the vowels r, f, I, | and the lingual la, but
including km. The reckoning is correct, as may be seen from
a comparison of the oldest written alphabet, that on the Ho-
riuzi palmleaf, which gives 51 signs, viz; : —
a, a, i, l, u, u, r, f, I, I (10), e, ai, o, au, am, ah, ka, kha,
ga, gha (20), ha, ca, cha, ja, jha, na, ta, tha, da, dha (30), na,
ta, tha, da, dha, na, pa, pha, la, bha (40), ma, ya, ra, la, va,
£a, sa, sa, ha, lam (50), km.2
If the four vowels and la are deducted, only 46 radical
signs remain. Nevertheless Abhayadeva's explanation undoubt-
edly contains a mistake. It is not the consonant la but the
group ksa, which ought to be deducted. For la is one of the
ancient radical signs and occurs on the Sanchi Stupa as well
as in the Bhattiprolu alphabet. Ksa, on the other hand, can
have been reckoned as a radical sign only from the time, when
ka was written with a loop or triangle on the left <Ji. It was
only then that the origin of ksa «^, in wich ka retained its
ancient dagger-shape, was obscured and that the still prevalent
erroneous conception. of the indigenous schoolmasters could arise,
who persistently declare ksa to be a mdtrka. The period, when
the ka with a loop came into general use probably falls not
earlier than between 400 and 500 A. D. In the inscriptions
of the nail-headed and flat-topped (Nagari) types, it is only
traceable since the second half of the sixth century. But in
the ordinary literary characters it appeared earlier, as the Ho-
riuzi palrnleaf shows.
With respect to the omission of the vowels r, r, I, I,
Abhayadeva is undoubtedly right, as they are missing in all
the ancient and modern alphabets, used in the elementary Ind-
1 See Weber, Indische Studien, vol. XVI, p. 281 f. and Verzeichniss der
Sanskrit und Prakrit Handschriften, vol. II, pt. II, p. 408, where better
readings of the text are given.
2 See Anecdota Oxoniensia, Aryan Series, vol. I, pt. 3, plates 1 and 2. The
alphabet of the Cambridge MS. Add. No. 1049 has one letter less, as it
omits la which is unknown in Nepal and other parts of Northern India
as in Kashmir.
II. Literary Evidence for the Use of Writing.
29
[28] ian schools and by the classes without a scientific Brahminical
education. According to the printed Lalitavistara, p. 145 f.,
prince Siddhartha explained on entering the writing-school to
his master the hidden meaning of the radical signs of the al-
phabet which he was to learn.1 The vowels, which he is said
to have enumerated, are only twelve, viz: — a, a, i, l, u: u, e,
ai, o, an, am, ah. These twelve vowels alone occur in the
alphabet, taught in the indigenous Indian schools, where they
are combined with the consonants and form the so-called Ba-
rakhadl or Barasakhadi,2 which the children on beginning their
school-course are made to copy incessantly, until by its means
they have learned both elementary reading and writing. The
Barakhadl, in Sanskrit dvddasaksarl, "a collection or aggreg-
ate of twelve syllables (for each consonant)", is arranged as
follows 3:-
A A II U U E AI 0 AU Am Ah
1
ka
kha '
ga
gha
ha
2
ka
kha
ga
gha
ha
3
ki
khi
0*
ghi
hi
4
kl
khi
9~l
ghl
m
5
6
7
8
ku
ku
ke
kai
khu
khu
khe
khai
gu
ga
9e
gai
ghu
ghu
ghe
ghai
hu
nu
he
hai
and so on
through all the
consonants.
9
ko
kho
9°
gho
ho
10
kau
khau
gau
ghau
hau
11
kam
kham
gam,
gham
ham
12
kah
khah
gah
ghah
hah
1 This alphabet, too, included 46 mStrkas. But the Calcutta edition omits,
no doubt erroneously, among the consonants the dental la. The last letter
is k?a.
2 The word is usually pronounced B5ra-khadl instead of Barakhadl, be-
cause its etymology is no longer remembered.
3 The Barakhadl has been printed in Bombay and can be obtained through
Pandit Jeshtaram Mukundji. It is described by Molesworth, MarathT
Dictionary sub voce •^"fjr^T^i'^', and by Narmadashankar in his GujaratI
Dictionary sub voce ^TTT^^^"- This latter work states that the syllables
ka, ka and so forth down to kah are the Barakhadl of ka.
30 Indian Studies. No III.
[29] This Barakhadi, which is used in all the parts of India
known to me,1 has of course always the same number of vow-
els, but the number of the consonants varies. In the Maratha
country and in Gujarat, there are 36 instead of 34, the groups
ksa and jna being reckoned as simple radical signs and placed
after la. As usually a Mangala or invocation om namah siddham
is prefixed to it, it is sometimes called by the Pandits the Sid-
dhamatrka or Siddhaksarasamamnayali or "the alphabet, pre-
ceded by the word Siddha (success)", or jocularly Matrkapu-
rana the Purana of the Mothers (radical signs)".
Its great antiquity is attested by the Chinese writers.
Hiwen Tsiang states in the Siyuki2 that the instruction of the
young Hindus began with the practice in the twelve chang or
tables. What these twelve tables were, appears from an account
of the Indian alphabet and elementary instruction, given by
Hui-lin3 who wrote between A. D. 788 — 810. According to
him the thirty four consonants, the last of which was ksa,
were each first combined with the twelve vowels a — ah, and
thus a table or syllabary was formed identical with the mo-
dern Barakha<Jl, which bore (according to another authority) the
name Siddhavastu "the matter (preceded by the word) siddha".
Next came ligatures of each consonant with ya, ra, la, va, sa,
ha and the five nasals, and each of these ligatures was again
combined with the twelve vowels. The result was a set of
eleven further tables, which were, as the author says, in com-
mon use. Though Hui-lin calls these tables fan or "cycles",
1 It is also used for the pagination of MSS. in Burma, Siam and Ceylon.
In the former two countries the vowels are 12, in Ceylon 16, see the
Grundriss, I, 11, p. 82 f.
a See, St. Julien, Memoires etc., I, 72 and note, where, however, the trans-
lation has "un livre en douze sections" and the note alleges that the book
was a syllabary, composed by Brahman and called Siddhavastu. In a
letter to me, quoted in the first edition of this essay, Prof. J. Legge has
pointed out that the Chinese text has nothing about "a book", but
merely "12 chang" or tables.
3 See Dr. A. von Rosthorn's letter to me in the WZKM (Vienna Oriental
Journal) X, 280, the contents of which are summarised in the above ac-
count. My former conjecture that the expression "12 chang" is a trans-
lation of dvadataktari (Barakhadi) and stands for "12 (syllable) table"
is of course not tenable.
II. Literary Evidence for the Use of Writting. 31
it is not doubtful, as Dr. A. von Rosthorn remarks, that they are
identical with Hiwen Tsiang's twelve chang. It thus appears that the
system of instruction in writing, described by Hui-lin and Hiwen
Tsiang, is based on the Barakhaoll still used, but is further devel-
oped in accordance with the_requirements of Sanskrit teaching. But
the four vowels, r, r, I, I are not included, and Hui-lin, who
mentions them expressly, states that ordinary people and beginners
did not know them, as well as that they were employed as
Expletives' by grammarians. Hiwen Tsiang, too, excludes
them from the ordinary alphabet which, as he says in the
Siyuki, I, 77 (Beal), contained 47 letters i. e. the 12 vowels
and 35 consonants, ka — ha, la and ksa.
[30] The omission of the four liquid vowels may also be in-
ferred from the fragments of an alphabet of the Maurya period,
originally discovered by Sir A. Cunningham at Mahabodhi
Gaya1 and lately re-examined by Dr. G. A. Grierson.2 In the
cloistered walk, which according to the tradition Asoka erected
over the supposed Cahkama of Buddha, there is a double row
of pillar bases,3 eleven on each side, on which according to
Dr. Grierson the following letters are still visible:
South
11 10 987654321
cha na ka
22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12
North
The A on No. 1 is according to Dr. Grierson laid on its side,
and the fia on No. 16 is in the same position. If the sign |Hl, which
is here given according to a photographic quarter size repro-
duction of Dr. Grierson's photo-etching (Rep., Figure 3), is set
up straight £, we obtain a form closely agreeing with those
1 Mahabodhi Gaya, p. 8f. Plates III and X, 1.
2 Report to the Seer. Gov* of Bengal, General Dept, Nov. 25, 1895.
3 The pillar base No. 1 with the letter A has been transferred to the
Asoka Gallery of the Indian Museum at Calcutta, together with two
others which at present bear no letters, Grierson, Report, p. 2.
32 Indian Studies. No III.
in the Mathura inscriptions of the Kushana period.1 There is
besides one pillar shaft, at present erroneously fixed in the
base with ka, which, as Dr. Grierson's facsimile (loc. cit.)
shows, bears a mutilated A, laid on its side. Sir A. Cun-
ningham does not mention the ha on No. 16, but instead gives
a round-topped ga on No. 13, as well as ja on No. 19 and ta
on No. 22 as visible at the time of his visit (1881). Dr. Grier-
son however states that these signs are not to be traced at
present. He also declares it to be improbable that the ja was
actually seen by Sir A. Cunningham "as the fractures [on the
spot where the letter ought to stand] are evidently very old",
and he conjectures (Rep., p. 5) that Sir A. Cunningham's round-
topped ga is "merely a faulty impression" of the sign on
No. 16.2'
However that may be, and even if the additional ja and
ta mentioned by Sir A. Cunningham are left out of count, it
is evident that the masons had numbered the pillar bases,
and probably also the corresponding shafts, with the letters of
the Brahma alphabet arranged according to the phonetic prin-
ciples of the grammarians and of the Barakhatfi. As the first
base of the southern row is marked with the letter A and
No. 12, the first of the northern row, with ka, it is further
evident that the masons' alphabet included eleven vowel-signs,
one less than the Barakhadl. And it becomes also probable that
among them were, as Sir A. Cunningham conjectured, the signs
for A, I, I, U, U, E, AI, 0, AU and that the last was either
Am or Ah,3 one of them being inadvertently omitted. The li-
quid vowels cannot have had a place here, since they would
make the total of the vowel signs sixteen and it would be ne-
cessary to assume that the masons skipped five of them.
1 See the Grundriss, I, 11, Tafel III, 10, IV and especially 40, III. In the
second Mathura letter we have likewise the little knob on the left, cau-
sed by the scribe's making the bottom-stroke separately.
2 On comparing Sir A. Cunningham's facsimiles, op. cit., Plate X, 1 with Dr.
Grierson's, it seems to me evident that the former reproduce drawings
or at least corrected impressions of rubbings.
3 As Dr. Grierson has pointed "out, there is no sufficient reason for
declaring with Sir A. Cunningham that the last letter must have
been Ah.
II. Literary Evidence for the Use of Writing. 33
As the Indian masons are neither great scholars nor
quite illiterate,1 it may be assumed that the alphabet, which
they used, is the popular one of the elementary schools of
the day.
[31] The discovery of the Gaya alphabet possesses, as Sir
A. Cunningham has pointed out, considerable importance for
the history of Indian writing. As its fragments are arranged
on phonetic principles and as they include the guttural ha,
which never occurs in the old Prakrit inscriptions, it must have
been framed for the requirements of Sanskrit. And it is at
least highly probable that its formation is due to the Brahmans,
whose influence and peculiar theories are also recognisable, as
will appear further on, in the manner of the derivation of the
secondary signs from the original ones. In the third century
B. C., it appears, the state of things in the elementary schools
was the same as in our days. The children learnt an alphabet
which was not intended for their vernacular dialects, and this
was no doubt due to the circumstance that already then (as
later when the legend regarding Buddha's Brahminical writing-
master Visvamitra arose, and also in modern times) the ele-
mentary instruction was chiefly in the hands of the Brahmans,
who did not think it worth the while to alter for the sake of
their Prakrit speaking pupils the alphabet, invented and suited
for the peculiar bhdsa of their schools and class.
Finally there are explicit statements in Chinese Buddhist
works, discovered and kindly communicated to me by M. Sylvain
Levi, according to which the signs for the four liquid vowels
were invented either by Nagarjuna or by Sarvavarman, the
minister of Satavahana. This tradition points at all events to
the conclusion that even in later times1 the Hindus were aware
of the fact that the ancient Brahma alphabet contained only
twelve vowel signs.
1 The Indian masons, the sutradkaras or vardhakins of the older literature
and the siletas of our days, occupy an intermediate position between the
Aryan and the Sudra classes. They wore and still wear the sacred thread,
and they possessed and still possess a small amount of Sanskrit learning.
The rules of their craft, which they commit to memory, are written in
Sanskrit, and are at present largely mixed with Prakrit and barbarous
bastard forms.
Buhler, Indian Studies. III. 3
34 Indian Studies. No III.
If we return to the passage of the Samavayanga Sutra,
the various facts adduced make it plain that Abhayadeva's ex-
planation of the extract from the Drstivada is substantially
correct. The forty-six radical signs of the ancient Brahmi lipi
included twelve vowels a, a, i} I, u, u, e, ai, o, au} am, ah and
thirty four consonants viz, the twenty five of the five Vargas,
the four liquids, the three sibilants, the spirant ha and in all
probability not ksa, but la. It appears further, that there is
no reason to distrust the Jaina tradition, according to which
the statement of the Drstivada goes back at least to the reign
[32] of the Maurya Candragupta, as his grandson's masons had
learnt an alphabet, apparently agreeing with that described in
the Jaina Anga in the most important particular.
The result of this enquiry, which shows that the popular
Indian alphabet of the third century B. C. had no signs for the
vowels r, r, I and 7, will not surprise those who have paid atten-
tion to Indian palaeography. The long l} the existence of which
(as a sound) is denied by the grammarians of Panini's school, is
an invention probably due to the Brahminical Kabbala, the so-
called Mantrasastra, which seems to have been studied and used
for charms by Brahmans, Buddhists and Jainas at least since
the beginning of our era. The sign for the intial L occurs first
on the Horiuzi palmleaf and in the ancient Cambridge MS.
from Nepal, Add. No. 1049, where it consists of two cursive
la interlaced (see Tafel VI of the Grundriss). Medial I is, as
far as I know, not traceable in any old document. Among the
remaining three sounds, only the short r occurs as an initial
in words of the ordinary language, while initial R and L are
used only in the technical terms of the Vyakarana and other
Sastras. The ancient signs for the initial Z-, which again are
found on the Horiuzi palmleaf and in the Cambridge MS. Add.
No. 1049, are cursive forms of la. Medial I is expressed in
the inscriptions mostly by li. But in the Haidarabad grant of
Pulikesi II (Ind. Ant. vol. VI, 72, pi. II a, 1. 7), we find a cursive
la in klpta, see also the Grundriss, I, 11, Tafel VII, 42. XIV and
p. 65. A similar sign occurs also in the same word in Rudra-
deva's Annamkonda inscription, 1. 118, see Ind. Ant. vol. XI,
facs. at p. 14 — 15. The principles, on which the more common
signs for initial and medial r, r have been framed, are (1)
III. The Antiquity of the Brahmi. 35
initial r and r are expressed by a ra with the signs for medial
r and r, (2) medial r is a modification of ra, produced either
by a twist of the ra-stroke to the left with or without a curve
to the right at the end, or by the addition of a curl at the end
of the ra-stroke, (3) medial f is invariably expressed by the
double medial r of the period. Thus we find for vr in the
Northern inscriptions of the first and second centuries A. D.
^ or ^ and in the fourth century and later J, while the
inscriptions and even the modern alphabets of the Southern
type offer ^. The northern initial R, which appears first in
the Bower MSS.,1 is ^ i. e. ra with the curve of the medial
r attached, and [33] the southern forms of the letter, the oldest
example of which occurs in a Kadamba grant of the fourth or
fifth century,2 appear to be modifications of the northern sign.
These facts indicate that the signs for medial r and f were
developed first and that those for the initials came into use
somewhat later. As will be shown below, the process is exactly
the reverse of that followed in the cases of the other vowels,
where the medial signs are identical with, or modifications of,
the initial ones. It is evident that the formation first of initial
and next of medial vowels is the natural method, when an
alphabet without vowel-signs is turned into one with vowels.
Hence the palaeographic facts, too, show that the signs for r
and f were not framed at the same time with those for i, I,
u, u, e, ai, o, au, and that in all probability they are later
inventions.
HI.
If we now turn to the consideration of the oldest Indian
inscriptions, it is not difficult to show that the palaeographic
facts fully confirm the results, which the preceding examination
of the ancient literature has yielded. They likewise show that
writing, and especially the Brahmi lipi, had had a long history
in India, before king Piyadasi-Asoka caused his Edicts to be
incised in the various provinces of his large empire. In ad-
1 Compare also for the several forms of r and R the Grundriss, I, 11, Tafel III,
7, IX; 34, III; 37, VI; Tafel IV, 7, III; 39, III; Tafel VI, 18, IV; 43, III and
Tafel VI, 7, I-II.
2 Ind. Ant., vol. VI, p. 23, pi. Ill, 1. 12.
3*
36 Indian Studies. No III.
dition they permit us to recognise that the Brahmi lipi is the
real old Indian alphabet, which was popularly used in the third
century B. C. all over India, and that it was fully developed
[34] before the introduction of the Kharosthi, whence we may
infer that it is the writing which the Buddhist canonical works
mention so frequently.
That the Brahmi lipi was in the third century an ancient
alphabet with a long history is proved by the very consider-
able variations in the forms of its signs found in the several
versions of the Edicts, as well as by the recent discovery, on
Sir A. Cunningham's Eran coin, of a variety which runs from
the right to the left, and of another one, on the Bhattiprolu
relic caskets, which includes a number of more archaic forms
and independent developments.
As regards Asoka's Edicts, even a cursory inspection of
good impressions or of trustworthy facsimiles, such as those
of Drs. Burgess, Fleet and Hultzsch, reveals the existence of
numerous differences in the formation of the several characters.
A more careful study shows not only that almost every letter1
has two, three, half a dozen or more sometimes widely diver-
gent forms, but also that certain peculiarities are confined to
particular districts, as well as that the great majority of the
apparently or really more advanced forms, which appear more
or less constantly in the inscriptions of the next three or four
centuries, are found already in the Edicts. And it is significant
that the local differences observable permit us to speak of a
Northern and a Southern variety of the ordinary Brahma al-
phabet, between which, as in later times, roughly reckoning,
the river Narmada marks, the boundary line.
In order to show, how considerable the divergences are,
I give here the eight chief varieties of the initial A? among which
the first and the last show hardly any resemblance, though
if all eight are placed side by side their connexion is easily
recognised.
» X X X a H * H
1 According to Tafel II of my Grundriss der indischen Palaeographie the
only exceptions are the letters U, jha, na, ta, }ha, na, tha and na.
2 The same varieties are of course found also in the initial a.
III. The Antiquity of the Brahml. 37
It is not difficult to see, that the first seven varieties
have been caused by two conflicting tendencies, a liking for
[35] angles and a liking for curves, which are observable also in
the divergent forms of other Brahma letters. Nos 1 — 3 are
purely angular. The first and the second differ only thereby,
that in the one the obtuse angle touches the vertical line, and
that in the other it has been first made separate and then con-
nected by a short crossbar.1 In the third form the right hand
stroke is slightly bent in the middle and the whole letter re-
sembles a Greek XL Nos 6 and 7 show on the left, instead
of the straight sides of the angle, two well developed curves,
and in No 6 they are united in the middle, while in No 7
they do not touch. Nos 4 — 5 appear to be mixed forms, as
the former has on the left a curve below with a straight stroke
slanting towards the left, while in the latter the curve stands
above and the straight stroke below. This apparent mixture
may be due to an incomplete change of the older, angular
form. But the two varieties may .also be explained as cursive
developments from No 6, the writer not caring to make the
more elaborate curve twice. No 8, finally, is a purely cursive
development from No 6, a straight stroke being substituted for
the notched line on the left.
Now the local distribution of these forms, which with the
exception of Nos 2 and 3 are of very frequent occurrence, is
as follows. The angular forms Nos 1—3, as well as the var-
iety mentioned in note 1, are confined to the Southern ver-
sions of the Edicts. They appear only in Girnar and Sidda-
pur, Dhauli and Jaugada, and it may be noted that in Girnar
and Siddapur they are in the majority, Nos 4 — 7 appearing
only occasionally, while in the two Southeastern versions (with
the exception of the Jaugada Separate Edicts) the contrary is
the case. On the other hand I know of no case where a purely
angular form is found in the KalsT, Delhi, Bairat, Sanchi, Al-
lahabad, Mathia, Radhia, Rampurva Barabar, Sahasram and Ru-
pnath Edicts. In the majority of these documents Nos 4 — 7
alone are used. No 8 occurs very frequently in Kalsi (some-
1 There are also instances in which this crossbar is omitted and the angle
stands by itself, see e. g. amina, Siddapur I, 1. 3.
38 Indian Studies. No III.
times with small variations) and once or twice in Rampurva.
Hence it would appear that the angular forms are southern
[36] peculiarities and that, as they are undoubtedly the more an-
cient ones, they furnish an instance of the conservatism, fre-
quently observable in the southern alphabets of later times.
This inference is confirmed by the fact that other ancient
inscriptions of the same or nearly the same period, like those
on the Kolhapur and Bhatfiprolu relic caskets and from the
Nanaghat cave, likewise show the angular forms, (mostly side
by side with the curved ones), while the documents, found
north of the Narmada, such as those on the Bharahut and
Sanchi Stupas and in the NagarjunI caves, as well as the coins
of Agathocles offer almost exclusively the A with two curves,
rarely the mixed form No 4. A solitary exception in Maha-
bodhi Gaya (Cunningham, op. cit., plate V, No 2) may be ex-
plained by the consideration that, as the dialect of several
Gaya inscriptions shows, Southerners came to visit that famous
place of pilgrimage, and that the person who wrote the copy
may have been a Southron.
In addition to the local differences in the form of the
initial A and A, there are also others observable in kha, ja,
ma, ra and sa, which may be briefly noticed here, though the
full details must be reserved for the discussion of the palaeo-
graphy of the Edicts in my Grundriss.1 The kha with a circle2
or loop at the foot, a very ancient form, alone is used in
Kalsi and besides occurs only in Jaugada together with the
simplified forms showing a dot instead of the circle or no ap-
pendage at all. The ja with a loop in the middle3 is used
only in Kalsl. It seems to be a form peculiar to the extreme
North and the Northwest, as it is found also on the coins of
Agathocles and of the Taxila merchants (see below p. 48 f.). The
other northern versions have mostly a secondary development
from it, the ja with a dot in the middle (plate I, No 7, Col. V, c)
more rarely the independent form (given under No 7, Col. V, d),
which is used exclusively in Girnar together with its derivative,
1 See now the Grundriss der Indo-Ar. Phil, und Alt. I, 11, p. 34 ff.
2 See plate I of this paper, No. 19, Col. V, a.
3 See plate I, No. 7, Col. V, b.
III. The Antiquity of the Brahmi. 39
the later angular ja with three horizontal bars (see below p. 41).
The ma with the angle at the top, an ancient form, (plate I, No 13,
Col. V) occurs in the southern versions (with the exception of
Siddapur), where an open square appears instead of the angle)
[37] and is used exclusively in Girnar. All the northern versions
of the Edicts have a semicircle instead of the angle. The ang-
ular and wavy forms of ra and their insertion in the verticals
of consonants are also peculiar to the southern versions (Gir-
nar and Siddapur); the solitary ra in the Rupnath Edict
consists of an almost straight stroke. Finally, the ancient sa
with a straight limb on the left (plate I, No 15, Col. VI, b) is
likewise confined to the South (Girnar and Siddapur).
These facts, to which some more might be added, are suf-
ficient to show, that the very common idea1 of the homogene-
ousness of the characters of the Edicts and of the absence of
local varieties, is erroneous. The differences between the writing
of the northern and the southern versions are quite as consider-
able as those, found four hundred forty years later, between the
letters of the northern and southern inscriptions of the first and
second centuries A. D.2 And it must be kept in mind that the
circumstances, under which the Edicts were engraved, were not
favourable to a full expression of the local varieties of the letters.
Copies were sent out from Pataliputra into the provinces, which
were recopied and, as the dialectic differences in the language
and occasional peculiarities in the wording prove, also recast
by the clerks of the district-governors, before they were made
over for engraving to the masons. It seems only natural to
See e. g. Burnell, El. South Indian Palaeography, p. 7, note 4, with whose
remarks Dr. Taylor, M. Halevy and others agree.
I state this in accordance with the facts, shown by Tafel III of my Grund-
riss, which includes inter alia the signs from the inscriptions of the Sakas
and Kusanas of Mathura, Kaman and Sanchi, the Western Ksatrapas,
the Andhras and Abhlras. Dr. BurneU's statement (loc. cit.) that "in
the course of a few hundred years [after Asoka] the alphabets used in
Gujarat and Bengal had already become so different as to be very little
alike in appearance", I fear, cannot be substantiated. Between 200 B. C.
and 200 A. D. there are no inscriptions from Bengal proper. The in-
scriptions from Mahabodhi Gaya in Behar (given by Sir A. Cunningham)
which may be assigned to this period, look very much like those of the
Sakas and the Western Ksatrapas.
40 Indian Studies. No III.
assume that the characters of the copies prepared at Patali-
putra influenced the writing of the provincial clerks, and caused
the introduction of forms, otherwise not usual in the several
[38] provinces.1 Such a suspicion is the more natural, as the pro-
vincial clerks have in no case completely changed the lang-
uage, but have always allowed some Magadhisms to stand.
But, however that may be, local differences are traceable in
the writing of the several versions and they prove that the
Brahma alphabet had had a long history before the third cent-
ury B. C. If the slowness of the change of the forms, and
the comparative insignificance of the local variations which the
inscriptions of the next four or five centuries show, are taken
as the standard, it will be necessary to assume that the letters
of the Edicts had been used at least during four or five hund-
red years.
As regards the second important point, to which attention
has been called above, viz., the occurrence of numerous ap-
parently or really advanced forms, identical or closely agreeing
As I have stated already in Dr. Burgess1 Arch. Surv. Rep. W. I., Vol. IV, p. 79 f.
and in the Ind. Ant., Vol. XII, 190, the clerks who prepared the fair copies
of the inscriptions, not the masons or coppersmiths who engraved them, are
the men who influenced the formation of the letters. How the masons worked,
may be seen from two passages of the Kalsi version. In the twelfth Edict,
1. 31 six letters have been scored out and the corrections have been written
above the line. The letters in the upper row are as large as those in the
lower and the distance between lines 30 and 31 becomes from the beginning
of the corrected passage twice as great as it was before. It is evident
that the mistake and its correction occurred iu the MS. given to the
mason. If they were due to the latter, the line would run on straighter
and the letters of the correction would be smaller. Again in the four-
teenth Edict 1. 20 the syllables tile of the word ghatile are corrections,
one standing above the line and the other below it. But the distance
between rjha and the first letter of the following word, ma, is twice as
great as those intervening between the other letters of the line. Here
it is again certain that the MS. had the mistake and the correction.
If the mason had skipped the two signs and added them afterwards, the
gha would not stand further off from ma thait from its predecessor. I
think that these two instances are sufficient to prove that Asoka's ma-
sons copied quite mechanically. It seems, therefore, impossible to attri-
bute to them any other influence on the shape of the letters than such
as may be caused by a slip of the chisel or by their accidentally over-
looking a stroke in the MS. before them.
III. The Antiquity of the Brahml. 41
with those of the later times, its significance will become best
apparent, if all such signs, found in the Edicts, are placed to-
gether. The subjoined little table, for the preparation of which
[39] I have to acknowledge the help of Dr. W. Cartellieri, gives in
the lines, marked A, the advanced Asoka letters photolitho-
graphed according to cuttings from the facsimiles, and in those,
marked B, the corresponding characters from the later in-
scriptions of Hathigumpha, the Nanaghat, Mathura and the
Western caves. The dates of the latter vary between the
middle of the second century B. C. and of the second century
A. D., and in every case the oldest available counterpart has
been chosen.
n ka kha ga gha cha ja $a ti
H+3 ? ^ ^ L dt £ < X
12345678 9 10 11
va vi sa ha
\> d * lr^
^ > L 13 * J ,, £ Lr <•«
12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22
The table shows that the later signs for sixteen letters
occur already in the third century B. C. Four of these forms,
the dagger- shaped ka (common in Kalsi and occurring in most
other versions except in Girnar), the angular gha (Kalsi) and
ha (No 21, in various versions) as well as the curved da
(Kalsi) are in reality archaic,1 while the corresponding common
signs of the Edicts are advanced developments, which like the
peculiar va (No 18, Girnar, Sohgaura), and sa (No 20, Kalsi, Jau-
gacla), have left no trace in the later writing. The remaining ones
are really cursive or derived from cursive forms. No 1, the
initial A, has been discussed above, its counterpart in line B
1 See below pp. 58 f., 61, 73. The counterparts in line B are from the
Hathigumpha inscription.
42 Indian Studies. No III.
occurs in the Kusana inscriptions from Mathura, No 3, the
kha with a loop to the right (Kalsl) is a cursive form for the
kha with the circle at the foot,1 and itself the parent of No 4
[40] (Delhi-Sivalik) which preserves the twist in the down stroke
caused by the loop, but substitutes a dot for the latter.2 No 5,
the kha with the triangle (once in Mathia) is a fanciful va-
riant for the oldest form, its counterpart has been taken from
the archaic Mathura inscriptions. No 6, the ga with the round
top3 is a cursive form of the pointed letter, the corresponding
form is from Hathigumpha, but found in all inscriptions of the
second century B. C. No 8, the cha with two loops4 is a
tertiary development, immediately derived from the form with
the bisected circle, which again is merely cursive.5 The same
remark applies to No 9, the ja with three bars. It is derived
from the notched Girnar form, which itself is a cursive deve-
lopment from the Blmttiprolu form." Nos 11 and 19, the
stunted ti and vi1, give examples of the triangulation of the
lower portion of va and of the reduction of the vertical
strokes so characteristic of the alphabets of the next cent-
uries, which appears already with great regularity in the
Nagarjunl cave inscriptions of Asoka's grandson. No 12, the
1 See below plate I, No 19, Col. V, I.
2 The corresponding forms in line B have been taken from Hathigumpha.
Better ones for No 3 are found in the inscriptions from the Western
caves, see Tafel III, 8, VIII of the Grundriss.
3 Once in Delhi Sivalik Ed. VII and in the mason's alphabet at Mahabo-
dhi Gaya.
4 Kills! once and mason's alphabet from Mahabodhi Gaya. The form in
line B is from Hathigumpha.
5 See below p. 68.
6 See below plate I, No 7, Col. V, a and the discussion on No 7, p. 60 f.,
The sign, given above, occurs in Girnar, Ed. IX, 1. 1. The great length of
the central bar is caused by the a-stroke which it includes. Similar
forms occur in Kalsi, where they represent the looped ja. The corres-
ponding form in line B occurs already in Dasaratha's Nagarjunl inscrip-
tion.
7 The stunted ta is very frequent in Kalsl and occurs occasionally also in
other versions. The triangular va with the very short vertical is found
r>nce in a correction in Kalsl, Edict XIII, 2, 1. 13. The forms in line B
have been taken from the Kusana inscriptions. Some instances of pa,
pha and *a with very short verticals occur likewise already in the Edicts.
III. The Antiquity of the Brahmi. 43
da with a shallow curve and the tail twisted towards the right
(Jaugada, Girnar, etc.) is a transitional form, corresponding to
those in the NagarjunI cave, the archaic Mathura and the Pa-
bhosa inscriptions (B), and leading up to the da of the first
[41] and second centuries A. D. Nos 13, 14 and 16 give examples
of the introduction of angles in the lower limb of pa, pha and
la* which originally consisted of curves, but are changed with
perfect regularity already in the Hathigumpha, the archaic
Mathura and the Pabhosa inscriptions.2 No 15, the l>ha with
the round side-limb (Jaugada, Kalsl, etc.) is of course cursive
and found in all the later inscriptions except in Hathigumpha.
Nos 17 and 22. the la and ha with the side-limbs turned down-
wards (Jaugada Separate Edicts) are again highly cursive. Coun-
terparts of No 17 are found in the Nanaghat inscription, those of
No 22 only in the Abhira inscription from the Nasik caves. These
facts, to which others, such as later forms of the medial vowels,
the position of the Anusvara at the top of the consonants and
the occasional use of serifs or short bars at the top of verti-
cals, might be added, do not agree with the assumption that
writing was a recent practice in Asoka's times. To me it seems
that they are most easily explained, on the supposition that
several, both archaic and more advanced, alphabets existed in
the third century B. C., that an archaic alphabet was chosen
for the perpetuation of the Edicts, but that the clerks mixed
the forms. And in support of this view I would adduce the
Jaina tradition, discussed above p. 23 ff., according to which
many alphabets were used about 300 B. C. But, even if we
leave aside all conjectural explanations of the facts, it remains
undeniable that the writing of the Edicts is in a state of
transition, and this alone is sufficient to warrant the assertion,
that their alphabet certainly had had a long history.3
1 Nos 13 and 14 occur a few times in Kalsi and other versions, No 16 is
from Delhi-Sivalik and occurs also in Kalsl, etc.
2 Among the inscriptions of the second century B. C., that from the Nana-
ghat cave preserves the round forms.
8 As so distinguished an epigraphist as Dr. Burnell has come to exactly
the contrary conclusion and as his view is still quoted by other writers
on the subject, it will not be superfluous, if I briefly review his argu-
ments. His chief argument for the late introduction of writing is that
44 Indian Studies. No III.
[42] To an earlier stage than the writing of the Edicts belongs
the inscription on Sir A. Cunningham's Eran coin, which runs
very few allusions to the use of letters are contained in the literary
works which date from the fourth century B. C. The answer to this
statement is contained in the second part of this paper, and it need
only be pointed out that Dr. Burnell could not know of the passages
mentioning private and official documents, as the works, in which they
occur, had not been published in 1878. His second and accessory ar-
gument is drawn from internal evidence furnished by the Edicts. He
says, El. South Indian Palaeography, p. 2, "The inscriptions of Asoka are
also in themselves proofs that writing was about 250 B. C. a recent
practice; for they present irregularities of every kind," and in the note
to the passage, he quotes as instances, conflicting spellings like anapitam
(correctly anapitam) and anapitam, dasana and dasana (from the Girnar
version), the irregular insertion of nasals before consonants (which, as
he admits, may be due to the negligence of the masons) and the cons-
tant neglect of the reduplication of consonants e. g. in piyasa for piyassa,
arabhisante (read arabhisare) for drabbhissare and so forth. These facts
are indisputable, and other similar ones like the irregular employment
of the signs for sibilants in Kalsl, Bairfit II and Siddapur and the constant or
nearly constant use of short i and u for long z and u in Kalsl, Bairat
and Kfipnfith may be added. But they do not prove the proposition, in
support of which Dr. Burnell adduces them. The numerous double and
even treble forms of the same words, which occur in one and the same
version are not graphic. Some are, as the analogies in the ancient lite-
rary Prakrits show, real variants which occurred in one and the same
dialect, and some are due to slips in the translation of the Magadhi
originals of the Edicts into the Western and Northwestern dialects. The
irregular use of the Anusvara before consonants may also be ascribed
partly to the same cause, since the Pali too occasionally omits a nasal
and then doubles the following consonant. In other cases it may be due
to the carelessness of Asoka's clerks, who treated their Vernaculars ex-
actly as a modern Karkun treats his. Everybody who has had any ex-
perience of Indian office work, must know that the Sheras or official
papers, prepared by the clerks of the older generation, who had received
their elementary instruction in the indigenous schools and had after-
wards been trained in the offices, show an extreme irregularity in the
use of the Anusvaras, of the short and long i and w, of the three signs
for sibilants and of the reduplication of consonants. During my service
as Educational Inspector I have seen a great many, sometimes impor-
tant, documents from British Government offices and from those of native
princes, which in their spelling were quite as bad as, and even worse
than, Asoka's Edicts, and I do not recollect that any papers, except those
sent by carefully trained schoolmasters, were quite exact. One cause of
this state of things was the wretched instruction in the indigenous schools,
III. The Antiquity of the Brahmi. 45
[43] from the right to the left.1 The letters agree exactly with Aso-
ka's and the dha has the position required for the writing from
the left to the right. It dates, therefore, from a period during
which the Brahma characters were written in both directions.
This period is probably not very far distant from the middle
of the third century B. C., as the Edicts still show single let-
ters, which belong to the writing from the right to the left,
viz., the dha, given in the first Comparative Table No 4, Col. V, a,
the 0, ibidem, No 6, Col. VI, f, and the ta, ibidem, No 22,
Col. V, 1. The coin may, therefore, be somewhat younger than
Sir A. Cunningham thinks, who assigns it to 400 B. C. The
great antiquity of its find-spot, the town of Eran, is attested
by an inscription on the Sanchi Stupa, where it occurs as
Erakina.
A still more important palaeographic witness for the an-
tiquity of the Brahma alphabet is the variety, found in the
inscriptions on the Bhattiprolu relic caskets, the value of which,
I am sorry to say, I have somewhat underestimated in the in-
where writing is taught according to the Barakhadi, described above,
which contains no ligatures and more sibilants than the Vernaculars
possess, and where composition received little or no attention, being at
the best confined to the copying of a few forms for letters. Another
cause was the want of a settled system for the minutiae of vernacular
grammar, both in writing and in speech (compare my remarks, Ep. Ind.,
Vol. Ill, p. 136) all efforts in this direction being of quite recent date.
A third cause is, I fear, the deeply rooted tendency of all Hindus to in-
accuracy in small matters. Now the Asoka Edicts are official papers,
written by his lipikaras or clerks. As there is no reason for assuming
that they had received a better education than the men in the modern
offices of British and native India, and that the Vernaculars of the third
century B. C. had been polished and perfected by grammarians, it seems
difficult to ascribe the defects in their spelling to other causes than
those which produce the same imperfections in the office work of the
modern Karkuns. The probability that the causes are the same in-
creases, if it is remembered, that even the Sanskrit landgrants, issued
from the secretariats of later kings, show the same mistakes, sometimes
in a very high degree. Thus the Valabhl grant, published in the Ind-
ian Antiquary, Vol. VII, p. 68 f., has no long », very few long u, invar-
iably dha for ddha and almost regularly Sa for $a.
Coins of Ancient India, p. 101 and plate XI, 18. According to a plaster
cast, which I owe to the kindness of Mr. Rapson, the inscription is Dhn-
mapalasa.o, the last consonant being illegible.
46 Indian Studies. No III.
troductory remarks to my edition in the Epigraphia Indica,
Vol. II, p. 323 ff. Though the article has been published only
in 1894, it was written more than two years earlier, before I had
begun to study the question of the derivation of the Brahma
[44] alphabet. Then, I saw only that the inscriptions probably be-
long to nearly the same period as the Edicts and that their
alphabet, which offers the six independent Matrkas gh, j,
m, I, s and I and the curious notation of a and a, as well
as some minor differences in the radical signs for c, d and
bh, must be considered as coeval with Asoka's Brahma let-
ters. Hence I drew the inference that in the third century
the Brahma characters showed in certain districts even greater
local varieties than appears from the Edicts alone, and I pointed
out that this discovery greatly bettered the position of those
who, like myself, hold the art of writing to have been pract-
ised for many centuries before the times of the great Maurya
reformer. So far I have nothing to change or to add.
But the comparison of the Indian characters with Semitic
signs, which 1 have instituted since, has greatly altered my
opinion regarding the palaeographic value of the independent
signs. I no longer believe in the possibility to regard the gha
of the Edicts as a derivative from ga, and admit now that the
Bhattiprolu gh (below plate I, No 3, Col. VI) is an indepen-
dent form, the framer or framers of the alphabet having dis-
carded one of the old Semitic radicals, which the common
Brahma alphabet retains. I further must admit that the BhaJ-
tiprolu j (below plate I, No 7, Col. V, a) and 9 (plate I,
No 15, Col. V) are older forms than the corresponding ones
of the Edicts, the former being a tolerably faithful representa-
tion of the oldest form of Zain and the latter being a simpli-
fication of the Semitic Samech, turned topsy-turry. The I and
I (below plate I, No 12, Col. V, 2, Col. VI), regarding which I
did not say anything definite, I must now declare to be indepen-
dent evolutions from the ancient Semitic Lamed, and even in
the tailed c (below plate I, No 18, Col. V, 3) I now recognise an
archaic form. On the other hand, for m fl, which I took to
be a possibly older form of the ordinary Brahma sign, I can
no longer claim this distinction. It is merely the oldest ma of the
Edicts, placed top downwards. This change of opinion regard-
III. The Antiquity of the Brahml. 47
ing- the details, the necessity for which will become more fully
apparent in the next part of this paper, naturally forces me to
modify the general proposition that the Bhat^iprolu alphabet
does not teach us much regarding the history of the Brahma
[45] writing and regarding the conversion of the Semitic letters
into Indian characters. It certainly furnishes us with valuable
intermediate "forms for four radical signs, c, j, I and s, which
latter appears to be the parent of the ordinary Brahma sa and
sa, and with one entirely independent derivative sign gh. Its
separation from the ordinary Brahma alphabet must fall not
only before the third century B. C.7 but also before the time,
when the Eran coin was struck, and cannot have happened at
a later period than the fifth century B. C., though it may fall
much earlier.
This estimate carries us back to the period, for which the
passages of the Jatakas, the Pacittiya and the Mahavagga,
quoted above, assert the common use of writing, though they
do not give the name of the characters employed nor any de-
tails regarding them, by which they might be identified. The
coincidence makes it of course tempting to assume that the
writing, referred to in the Buddhist Canon, is the Brahml lipi.
And the correctness, or at least the great probability of this
assumption, I think, is made apparent by the recent discoveries
regarding the relative position of the Brahml and the Kharo-
sthi — the only other script which could come into question
— as well as by the facts bearing on the origin of the Kha-
rosthl.
The late finds of very ancient inscribed coins in North-
western India leave no doubt that according to the epigraphic
evidence the Brahml lipi was since the beginning of the his-
torical period the paramount Indian alphabet, used from the
Himalayas to Cape Komorin and from the Khyber Pass to the
Bay of Bengal, while the Kharosfhi held always a secondary
place only in a very confined territory. Again, the clear evid-
ence of the forms of the Kharosthl letters, the original stock
of which is doubtlessly derived from the Aramaic alphabet of
500 — 400 B. C., shows that this alphabet cannot have been
developed, much less have penetrated into Eastern India at
the early period to which the Buddhist works refer.
48 Indian Studies. No III.
The first point, which is of considerable general import-
ance for Indian palaeography, will best become intelligible by
a brief review of the epigraphy of those districts where Kha-
rosthl inscriptions occur. From the third century we have the
two Kharosthl versions of the Asoka Edicts, incised in the
[46] northwestern corner of the Panjab, at Shahbazgarhi and Man-
sehra. To the same or possibly a somewhat earlier period belong
Sir A. Cunningham's coins from the site of the Taxila or Tak-
sasila, which prove the contemporaneous popular use of the
Brahma characters in Gandhara.
These coins have been figured by Sir A. Cunningham in
his Coins of Ancient India, plates II and III. He has pointed
out, op. cit. p. 61, that they are partly punch-marked silver
pieces and partly single or double die copper pieces, all of the
standard peculiar to India, and he takes them for this reason
and on account of the very archaic forms of the letters of the
legends, "to be anterior to the Greek conquest of Alexander".
It will perhaps be safer to say "anterior to the Greek conquest
of Demetrius". From their inscriptions, which are partly in
Brahma characters of the Kalsl type1 and partly both in
Brahma and in Karosthi letters, Sir A. Cunningham has al-
ready drawn the obvious inference, that both alphabets were
used in Northern India during the third century B. C. Some-
thing more, it seems to me, may be elicited from an analysis of
the legends.
On the coin, plate II, 17, the Brahma legend Vatasvaka
corresponds to Sanskrit Vatasvakdh and probably means "the
Vata - Asvakas" or "the Asvakas of the Vata or 'fig-tree' di-
vision". It is well known that there was an Asvaka tribe in
Northwestern India, whom the Greeks call Assakenoi and state
(Arrian, Indica, I. 1) to have inhabited the country west of the
Indus as far as the Kophen. It may further be mentioned that
some old Indian tribes, like the Yaudheyas2 were actually di-
vided into sections or ganas, as well as that, as the case of
the Audumbaras shows, tribes were occasionally named after
1 The Kalsl type is visible in the looped ja,
* See, Sir A. Cunningham, Arch. Surv. Reports, Vol. XIV, p. 141 and plate
XXXI, where coins of their second and third ganaa are described.
III. The Antiquity of the BrahmT. 49
trees. With this explanation the coin appears to have been
issued by one of the subdivisions of a tribe, which occupied just
those districts, from which so many Kharosthl inscriptions come,
and a Brahma inscription on a tribal coin would certainly in-
dicate that the alphabet was in popular use.
[47] The latter point comes out still more strongly through
some other coins, figured on plate III,1 viz.
Obverse Reverse
No 9 Dujaka (Kharosthl) Negama (Brahmi)
No 10 Dojaka (Brahmi) Negama (Brahmi)
No 8 [T]alima[ta] (Brahmi) [NJegafmJ (Brahmi)
No 11 A[taka?Jtaka (Brahmi) NegamfaJ (BrahmT)
The word negama is common enough in Pali and in the
epigraphic Prakrits, and means always 'the traders'. It shows
here that the coins are mercantile money-tokens, issued by
traders, and the words on the obverse may be either names
of towns or of guilds.2 The latter explanation is perhaps the
more probable one. But however that may be, the use of both
alphabets by traders proves indeed that both were in popular
use in the heart of Gandhara.
The other coins of the same period, struck outside the
Panjab, show legends in Brahmi, even that from Mathura,
op. cit. plate VIII, 1, in which town also a votive inscription
in Brahma characters of the third century (Reports Arch. Sur-
vey, Vol. XX, plate VI) has been found. Only in one case
Kharosthl letters have turned up further south, but under cir-
cumstances, which do not allow the inference that the alpha-
1 Though the letters are perfectly distinct, Sir A. Cunningham gives er-
roneously Nekama as the reading of the Kharosthl legend of No 9. On
the obverse of No 8 he reads Rdlimata, and he takes negama as the
equivalent of the Greek No'[Ata[ia, for which explanation there is no au-
thority (see also Ind. Ant., vol. XXI, p. 346). He correctly points out
that, on plate II, Nos 21 & 22 have the inscription Kadasa, i. e. Kalasa,
in Brahma letters of the type of the Edicts, and asserts that No 13 on
plate III bears the Kharosthl legend Pamca Nekamma. According to the
autotype the third sign is not ne but a and the fourth looks like kra.
2 I am unable to explain Dujaka- Dojaka. Talimata seems to be connected
with the Sanskrit Tali "Corypha Taliera" or "Flacourtia cataphracta".
Biihler, Indian Studies. III. 4
50 Indian Studies. No III.
bet was generally used or known. This case occurs in the
Siddapur Edicts where the writer Pa<Ja has added at the end
his qualification lipikarena 'the scribe' in Kharosthl characters.
This looks like a joke or a boast, as if Pada, proud of his
accomplishments, had been anxious to make it apparent that
he knew more than the ordinary characters. And, as he was
[48] in the royal service, it is not unlikely that he may have ac-
quired a knowledge of the Kharosthl during a stay in a north-
ern office, or may have been a Northerner by birth.1
From the second and first centuries B. C. we have chiefly
legends on coins, which were struck in the Panjab or in non-
Indian countries further west. The Indo-Grecian kings gener-
ally use Kharosthl letters, but Agathokles and Pantaleon em-
ploy also Brahma characters, showing thereby that this alphabet
likewise continued to be used in the Northwest, side by side
with the Kharosthl. The same fact is proved by the double
legends in Kharosthl and Brahma letters on Sir A. Cunning-
ham's Audumbara and Kuninda coins, op. cit. pi. IV2 and
V, 1 — 6, which come from the same districts and probably
belong to the same time. Further east in Kosambl, Ayodhya
(op. cit., pi. V, 7—18 and IX) and Pancala (pi. VII) as well
as further south in Ujjain (pi. X) none but Brahma letters
occur. And it is curious that even the Yaudheyas (pi. VI),
who were settled on the lower Satledge, use only the latter
characters. A few single letters on the gateway of the Bharahut
Stupa, among which there is a sa of the second century, (Cun-
ningham, the Stupa of Bharahut, pi. VIII), are probably marks
of northern masons, who erected this additional portion of the
monument for Dhanabhuti.
During the period of the 6aka and Kusana kings, from
the first century B. C. to the end of the second century A. D.,
1 See the Wiener Zeitschrift f. d. Kunde d. Morgenlandes, Vol. VII, p. 30 f.
Dr. Grierson, Ind. Ant., Vol. XXIV, p. 247, points out an analogous
practice of the modern Kayasths of Bihar who sign the documents,
written in the Kaithl character, with their names in Arabic letters.
8 The Vrfni-coin No 15 is according to the evidence of the characters
later and probably belongs to the period when the Sakas had carried
the Kharosthl as far as Mathura. A few votive inscriptions of the second
and first centuries B. C. from the same town are in Brahma characters,
Epigraphia Indica, Vol. II, p. 195.
III. The Antiquity of the Brahinl. 51
the numerous inscriptions, incised in the Western Panjab, are
in Kharosthl and those on Dr. Bhagvanlal's Lion Capital prove
that the Kharosthl penetrated during the reign of the Saka
Satrap and king 6u<Jasa or £o<Jasa as far as Mathura, where
however, as the enormous quantity of Jaina and Bauddha votive
inscriptions shows, the Brahma alphabet was at that time and
later the usual one. [49] The coins of the earlier &aka kings from
the North like those of Mauos and Azes and of their Satraps,
as well as those of Gondopherres and his brothers, have Greek
and Kharosthl legends, while the later Kusana kings, Kaniska,
Huviska and Bazodeo or Vasudeva discard the latter, and their
successors finally adopt the Brahma alphabet. Further east and
south the king and Satrap Rajubula and his son &ug!asa, who
ruled over Mathura and perhaps over other portions of the eastern
Panjab, either follow the same practice as Mauos or use Brahma
letters (Cunningham, op. eit, pi. VIII, 2 — 5), which occur also
on the coins of the Satraps Hagamasha and Hagamana (ibidem,
Nos 6 — 7). Further two foreign (Saka?) Satraps and kings of
Ujjain, Nahapana and Castana employ on their coins both the
Indian Alphabets simultaneously, while the inscriptions of Aya-
ma, the minister of Nahapana, of his daughter Daksamitra
and his son-in-law, the Saka Usavadata or Usabhadata, as well
as of the immediate descendants of Castana show exclusively
Brahma characters.
The epigraphic evidence shows therefore that in the third
century the popular use of the Kharosthl was strictly confined
to the Panjab and that it was nothing more than a secondary
script, running along by the side of the Brahmi, which pre-
vailed all over India. This state of things continued during
the next two centuries. During the period of the Saka rule
the Kharosthl spread further south, without however losing
its character as an accessory alphabet. A very strong ar-
gument for the assumption that its position was the same even
in the fourth century B. C. is furnished by Mr. Rapson's
discovery of Persian Sigloi with countermarks in Brahma and
Kharosthl letters (Jour. Roy. As. Soc., 1895, p. 865 ff.). For
this reason and because the general prevalence of the Brahma
alphabet has now become more clearly apparent, it seems very
probable that the Buddhist Canon can only refer to the latter.
4*
52 Indian Studies. No III.
The second point, the improbability that the Kharosthl
was already developed or in general use even in its home as
early as say 500 B. C. requires here only a few remarks as
the details have been discussed fully below in Appendix I.
Its derivation from the Aramaic alphabet has been generally
accepted, ever since Mr. E. Thomas pointed it out, and the
shape of its &«, na, ra and va makes a doubt impossible. Ac-
cording to Dr. I. Taylor's suggestion, The Alphabet, Vol. II,
p. 261, which [50] is most probable on historical and palaeogra-
phical grounds, its immediate source is the Aramaic alphabet
of the Akhaemenian period, and the introduction of the Aramaic
letters into India dates from the time, when the Akhaemenian
kings of Persia had conquered the Panjab, just those districts
where the Kharosthl has its real home.1 As the Persian con-
1 M. Halevy, op. cit,., p. 250 ff. and particularly p. 267, tries to establish
a still later date for the elaboration of the Kharosthl. He seeks the
prototypes of its characters in the Aramaic alphabet of the fourth cent-
ury B. C. He believes that they were developed in Ariana not earlier
than 330 B. C. after the appointment of Macedonian Satraps by Alexan-
der, who, as he thinks, may have fostered the use of the already pre-
valent Aramaic writing1 and thereby may have induced their subjects to
adapt it to their special wants. The obvious weakness of M. Halevy's
arguments prevents my accepting his theory, which would be more fa-
vourable for my point.
It is a matter of course that I am likewise unable to agree with
M. Halevy's theory (op. cit., p. 280—286 and Plate II, A) according to
which the Brahmi lipi has borrowed from the Kharosthl six radical signs,
!<a, jha, da, na, u and ra, the Anunasika, the system of vowel-notation,
and the numeral signs 4—9. The reasons, why I do not consider the
six Matrkas and the vowel-notation of the Brahma alphabet as loans
from the Kharosthl, will become apparent in the next section of this
Essay. With respect to the Anunasika, I must point out that the sign,
«,, which M. Halevy derives from the Kharosthl ma V of the Indo-
Grecian coins, appears in no Indian document written in India before
1200 A. D., while the Kharosthl went out of use about 200 A. D. As
regards the assertion that the Brahma numeral signs for 4—9 are the
initial Kharosthl letters for the words catur, pancan, sat (old Prakrit, sa,
chha or sad), saptan (Prakrit satta), affan (old Prakrit asta, attha) and
navan (old Prakrit nava), which is also put forward by Dr. Taylor (The
Alphabet, II, p. 266), it is unfortunate that in four cases the facts are
absolutely against it. The Kharosthl cha % no doubt looks like the
Ksatrapa sign for four. But the Indian words for four, all begin with the
unaspirated ca. Again, the Asoka signs for six (see below plate IH) have on
IV. The Derivation of the Brahml. 53
[51] quest probably happened shortly before 500 B. C., it is impos-
sible that the Kharosthi can have been developed before 450 B.
C., and it is not to be thought of that it could have penetrated into
Eastern India, where the Buddhist Canon was composed, during
the fifth century, much less could it have been there in so general
use, as the alphabet mentioned by the ancient Buddhists cer-
tainly was. Under the circumstances just discussed, the as-
sumption that the alphabet, referred to in the Jatakas, the
Mahavagga and so forth is the Brahml — which, I repeat, the
palaeographic facts contained in Asoka's Edicts, the Indian
letters on the Persian Sigloi, the legend of the Eran coin, the
Bhattiprolu inscriptions strongly suggest — undeniably gains a
very high degree of probability.
IV.
As the literary evidence points to the common use of
writing in India during the fifth and perhaps in the sixth cen-
tury B. C., and as the palaeographic evidence proves the Brahml
lipi to be the oldest Indian alphabet and to be probably identical
with the script referred to in the Buddhist Canon, it is a matter
of course that its source must be found in the more ancient Se-
mitic characters. A short time ago such a result would have
precluded the possibility of all atternps to make Southern Ara-
bia the country from which the parents of the Brahma letters
came. But at present, pretensions to a high antiquity are put
resemblance to the Kbarosthi aa *p. Further the Ksatrapa sign for
seven ^ or Gupta ft cannot be the Kharosthi palatal Sa |~| , because
the word for seven begins in all Indian dialects with a dental *a. Again,
the Ksatrapa and -Andhra l>j cannot represent the Kharosthi AS, because
no such ligature is ever formed in any Indian writing. Besides, if it
had been formed, it would be wrong. The second part ought to be the
lingual sa *P, because the word is astan not aSfan. Finally, the
nought of the ninth and later centuries O cannot be derived from a
sign for 10 expressed by a circle, because no such figure exists, nor
from the entirely dissimilar Kharosthi da j . The Hindus call the nought
explicitly sunyabindu "the dot marking a blank", and about A. D. 500
they marked it by a simple dot, which latter is commonly used in in-
scriptions and MSS in order to mark a blank (see the Gruudriss, I, 11,
pp. 78 and 86), and which was later converted into a small circle.
54 Indian Studies. No III.
forward on behalf of various epigraphic documents from the
latter country. The theories, it is true, are still conflicting.
Some ascribe certain Sabaean inscriptions to the tenth century
B. C. or an earlier period, while others declare those of the
Minaeans to belong to very ancient times and deny the anti-
quity of the Sabaean documents. More light on these questions
is required, but even as matters stand at present, it seems to
me hazardous to make use of the old argument, that the de-
rivation of the Brahma letters from a South-Arabian source
is a priori impossible, because the inscriptions, found there,
are of too modern dates.
[52] Nevertheless the theory of a South -Semitic origin of
the Brahma alphabet appears to me untenable. What has been
brought forward in its favour by the two chief advocates, is to
a great extent far from convincing. The ocular evidence, it
seems to me, speaks against many of their identifications.1
Further, in some cases late or at least secondary forms of
Indian letters have been used for comparison.2 Again in other
cases the most extraordinary and absolutely unnecessary changes
in the phonetic value of the signs are assumed to be quite nat-
ural and hardly worthy of an explanatory remark. When one
is told that the Hindus utilised the Semitic Qoph to express
the sound chu (Deecke) or cha and ka (Taylor), that they
employed the Semitic Shin for ja, sa, sa and sa (Deecke) or
at least for ja and .sa (Taylor), that the Semitic Waw furnished
both the signs for ya and va, or that Lamed became ra and
Resh was turned into la, one can only say that such assertions
are hard to believe. As the Hindus are always very particular,
even pedantic, in matters connected with phonetics, and as
the franiers of the Brahmi lipi evidently have been careful
with respect to the formation of many derivative signs, duly
deriving <]ha from da, pha from pa, bha from ba and so forth,
it seems incredible that they should have had no regard for
phonetic affinities in utilising the signs, which they borrowed.
And the assumed vagaries appear absolutely inexplicable if
1 That is also Sir A. Cunningham's statement, Coins of Ancient India,
pp. 39—40.
s To the former class belong Dr. Deecke's initial A and Dr. Taylor's broad-
backed to, to the latter Dr. Taylor's initial A, kha and ra.
IV. The Derivation of the Brahml. 55
one considers that the Semitic alphabet has the Tsade, the
phonetic value of which comes close to ca and cha, and that
it possesses separate signs for Waw and Yod, which might be
used to express va and ya.
As long as the theories regarding the derivation of the
Brahma alphabet contain equations like those just mentioned,
and as long as these theories do not take into account all the
oldest forms of the Indian letters, the problem, it seems to me,
has not been solved and the task has to be redone. Really trust-
worthy results can only be attained under the following conditions: —
[53] (1) The comparison must be based on the oldest forms
of the Indian alphabet and actually occurring Semitic signs of
one and the same period.
(2) The comparison may include only such irregular equa-
tions, as can be supported by analogies from other cases, where
nations have borrowed foreign alphabets.
(3) The comparison must show that there are fixed prin-
ciples of derivation.
In resuming the inquiry on these principles I soon found
that the Southern Semitic characters would not serve my pur-
pose. Though the Himyaritic or Sabaean alphabet on account
of its stiff, monumental appearance bears a general resemblance
to the Brahml lipi, and though two or tree of its letters come
close to the corresponding Indian signs, it includes so many
dissimilar characters, which evidently are more strongly modi-
fied than the Brahma Matrkas, that the real resemblances can
only be considered as accidental or as due to an analogous de-
velopment. But on trying the oldest characters, which are al-
most identical throughout all the countries, occupied by the
Northern Semites, it became possible to identify in the Brahma
alphabet all the twenty two Semitic letters, and to explain the
formation of the numerous derivative signs, which the Indians
were compelled to add. As stated already, the identifications
agree for the greater part with Professor Weber's, whose im-
portant essay in the Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenlandischen
Gesellschaft of 1855 very nearly solved the problem of the
origin of the Brahma alphabet. If Professor Weber had had
at his disposal the materials which are accessible at present,
his acumen would no doubt have removed every difficulty.
56 Indian Studies. No III.
The identifications are shown in the accompanying Table,
kindly drawn for me by Mr. S. Pepper and etched by Messrs
Angerer and Goschl of Vienna. The signs of the first two co-
lumns have been taken from M. Ph. Berger's Histoire de
PEcriture dans PAntiquite, pp. 185 and 202 and those of
Col. Ill with the exception of the Taw from Sinjirli (22. III. b)
from Professor Euting's Tabula Scripturae Aramaicae (1890).
Among the forms of column IV without asterisks, those opposite
the twelfth and the seventeenth Semitic characters [54] have
been taken from a plaster cast of Sir A. Cunningham's Eran
coin (see also Coins of Ancient India, plate XI, 18) and that
opposite the sixteenth character from the word esa in the Kalsi
version, Ed. XIII, 1, 1. 37.
Among the signs in column V and VI a few are from Sanchi,
viz. the lingual la, the fifth of Col. VI opposite the fourth
Semitic character, and the first of Col. V opposite the sixteenth
Semitic character. Further, in Col. VI the fourth sign opposite the
sixth Semitic character, U, comes from Bharahut, the first
opposite No 15 from the Eran coin the third opposite the fifteenth
Semitic character in Col. VI has been taken from the Ghasundi
slab, and two signs of the two rows in the same Col. opposite the
sixteenth character, viz. the second in the first row, AI, and the last
in the second row, I, belong to the Hathigumpha and Nanaghat in-
scriptions. All the remaining letters have been drawn according
to Dr. Burgess' facsimiles of the Rock and Pillar Edicts,1 and of
the Bhattiprolu inscriptions.
A. The Borrowed Signs.
Before proceeding to the details, it will be desirable to
state the principles, on which the twenty-two signs of the Se-
mitic alphabet seem to have been turned into Brahma letters.
Even a superficial examination of the Brahma alphabet shows
the following chief characteristics: —
•(1) The letters are set up as straight as possible, and
they are with few exceptions made equal in height.
1 The facsimiles of the Girnar and Kalsi versions, on which I have chiefly
drawn, have been published, Epigr. Ind. vol. II, p. 447 if. The Pillar
Edicts have appeared op. cit., p. '245 ff. and the Bhattiprolu inscriptions
op. cit. p. 323 S.
IV. The Derivation of the Brahml. 57
(2) The majority consists of vertical lines with append-
ages attached mostly at the foot, occasionally at the foot and
at the top, or rarely in the middle; but there is no case where
an appendage has been added to the top alone.
[55] (3) At the top of the characters appear mostly the ends
of vertical lines, less frequently straight horizontal lines, still
more rarely curves or the points of angles opening down-
wards, and quite exceptionally in ma (No 13, Col. V) two lines
rising upwards. In no case does the top show several angles,
placed side by side, with a vertical or slanting line hanging
down from it, or a triangle or circle with a pendant line.
The principles or tendencies, which produced these cha-
racteristics, seem to be a certain pedantic formalism, a desire
to have signs well suited for the formation of regular lines,
and a strong aversion against all top-heavy characters.1 The
natural result was that a number of the Semitic signs had to
The appearance of a pedantic formalism in the alphabet is no more than
what might be expected. For it is a characteristic of most Indian cre-
ations in literature, science and art. The aversion, shown by the Hindus
against letters with heavy tops, has also a good and sufficient reason,
and, I think, it is chiefly due to their making the letters hang down from
a top-line instead of placing them on a base-line (see, Beruni, India I, 1 72).
The modern Karkun or clerk of Western, arid, as Dr. Grierson informs
me, also of Eastern India, as a rule, actually draws this line across the
whole breadth of the paper, and the modern Lekhak or copyist places
a small board with thin threads fastened at equal distances below his
sheet of paper, or squeezes the paper between the strings and the board.
The general appearance of the most ancient MSS., like the Bower birch
bark volume and the Horiuzi palmleaves, makes it highly probable that
their writers used the same or a similar contrivance. Even the look of
the Asoka inscriptions, especially of the Pillar Edicts and of the Girnar
and Jaugada Rock Edicts, indicates that their eng'ravers, or the writers
of the original copies, were accustomed to the use of top lines. Though
they are rarely quite exact, it is clearly visible that they at least tried
to equalise the height of the tops. If the custom, as is not improbable,
dates from still earlier times, the aversion against heavy tops is easily
explained. For signs beginning with vertical lines or with short hori-
zontal strokes are most suitable for such writing, and the later modifi-
cations of the Brahma letters are to a great extent the results of a
variety of attempts to obtain such forms. Another reason may have
been the introduction of the vowel-signs, which mostly are added to the
tops of the consonants.
58 Indian Studies. No III.
be turned topsy-turvy or to be laid on their sides, while the
triangles or double angles, occurring at the tops of others had
to be got rid of by some contrivance or other. A further
change in the position of the signs had to be made, when the
Hindus began to write from the left to the right. They had,
of course, to be turned from the right to the left, as in Greek.
[56] Instances, where the old position has been preserved, are
however met with both in borrowed and derivative signs.
With respect to the single borrowed letters I have to
add the following remarks.
No 1. That the Hindus, like the Greeks used the Se-
mitic Aleph in order to express the vowel a has been suspected
by Professor Weber. His successors have asserted the identity
of the first letters of the two alphabets as a fact, though the
Indian forms of the initial A with two curves, which have
been mostly used for comparison,1 do not agree very well.
The doubtlessly oldest form with the angle to the left of the
vertical (Col. V) which, as stated above, is peculiar to the
Southern versions of the Edicts, agrees almost exactly with
the oldest Semitic signs. Only the vertical has been placed at
the point of the angle in order to make the appearance of the
letter more regular, and the whole sign has, of course, been
turned from the right to the left. On a Patna seal it occurs,
however, once in its original position, see the Grundriss,
Taf. II. 1. I, and p. 8.
No 2. I can only agree to the identification of the Brahma
la with the Semitic Beth, which has been asserted on the strength
of the Sabaean arid Ethiopian forms2 by Professor Weber and
his successors, with the exception of M. Halevy, who derives
it from the dissimilar Greek Beta. But I think that it is
a development, derived by the Hindus immediately from the
1 M. Halevy, however, correctly compares the angular form. His attempt
to derive it from the Greek Alpha is not intelligible to me. The two
signs possess a minimum of resemblance to each other.
2 The Sabaean form is no doubt very similar to the Brahma sign but, I
think, due to a different modification of the ancient North Semitic letter.
It would seem that the triangle at the head of the letter has been turned
into a square and the stroke on the right has been made straight. Hence
arose first the pj and by a simplification [~|-
IV. The Derivation of the Brahml. 59
old Phoenician and Mesa signs. As the Hindus did not toler-
ate heavy tops, they opened the triangle and made the central
stroke hang down from the end of the angle in the manner
shown in the hypothetical form in Col. III.1 The next result was
a rhomboid form (Col. V, a), a few examples of which are found
occasionally in various versions of the Edicts, where we have e. g.
-O- bo in apalibodhaye, Kalsi Edict V, 1. 15. The liking of the
[57] Hindus for straight top -lines produced further the square and
the oblong ba, which latter is the commonest form in Kalsi
and the regular one in the Bhattiprolu inscriptions. It may
be noted, that this letter is frequently, though not regularly,
made smaller than ' those with verticals. Regarding the want
of the lower line in the derivative bha (Col. VI) see below.
No 3. The identity of the Indian ga with the Semitic
signs is so evident that it has been always recognised. I will
only add that there are numerous instances in the Edicts where
one of the sides of the angle is shorter than the other. The
formal looking very pointed angles with perfectly straight equal
sides are characteristic of the Western and Southern versions.
No 4. The identity of the Brahma dha with the Semitic
Daleth has "also been generally admitted, Dr. Taylor, who de-
rives it from tha (No 9, Col. V) alone dissenting. To me it
seems that the first form, given in Col. V, with the vertical on
the right, is the immediate offspring of the oldest Semitic forms,
the letter having been made higher and the right hand stroke
straightened in accordance with the general principles of forma-
tion, stated, above. The round back is probably due to a cur-
sive development. In the Edicts this form is rare, and the
second, given in Col. V, which is younger and due to the change
in the position required by the change in the direction of the
writing, is found in the great majority of cases. The older
one (Col. V, a) is used exclusively in the Bhattiprolu inscriptions
and usually in the Western cave inscriptions of the Nanaghat,
Nasik, Karle, Junnar and so forth, which range from about
150 B. C. to 200 A. D. It is also the parent of all the later
An apparently analogous modification of the old Semitic Beth which one
might be inclined to see iu the b2 £ of the Orkhou inscriptions (V. Thomson,
Insr. de TOrkhou dechiffrees, p. 24) is disposed of by Prof. Doniior's re-
marks on the sign in his essay, sur 1'origine de 1'Alphabet Turc, p. 57 f.
60 Indian Studies. No III.
northern forms of the letter, including the present Devanagarl
dha. In the caves mentioned we find also in the Andhra and
other inscriptions of the first and second centuries A. D. numer-
ous triangular forms1 like ^ or ^. They may be possibly an-
cient survivals, especially as the Edicts too occasionally offer
forms with half angular backs like ^.
The difficulty with respect to the phonetic value of the
Brahma sign, which does not exactly correspond to that of
[58] the Dalvth, may perhaps be explained by the suggestion that
the letter was used for a long time both for the unaspirated
and the aspirated dental, and that the da was separated at a
time, when the real value of the borrowed sign had been for-
gotten.
No 5. Professor Weber denies the connexion of the
Brahma ha with the Semitic He, while Drs. Deecke and Tay-
lor derive it from the Sabaean form y.2 As long as only
the round form, given as the third sign in Col. V, and similar
ones were known to exist in the Edicts, the case was a diffi-
cult one. Dr. Burgess' new impressions and facsimiles show,
however, that the angular ha, Col. V, b, which is constant in
the cave inscriptions of the next centuries, occurs here and
there in Asoka's inscriptions.3 The new Siddapur version
shows throughout the little horizontal bar (on the right) attached
very close to the foot of the letter and offers in the word ma-
hatpane No. I, 1. 4) the sign, placed first in Col. V. This is al-
most exactly a turned He of the Assyrian weights (Col. Ill, b)
which according to M. de Vogue"4 appears from about 700 B. C.
Professor Euting kindly points out to me that the very similar
He of Col. Ill, 1 is found on a Mina (C. I. S., P. H,_No &>\
which according to the accompanying cuneiform inscription dates
from the reign of Salnianassar, and therefore, as also M. de
Vogue has stated in his remarks on the inscription, is older
1 See Burgess, Arch. Surv. Reports West-Ind., Vol. IV, Plates XL1V, 17;
XLVIII, 16, 17; and the Grundriss, I, 11, Tafel III. 24. VII, XI.
2 This sign is due to a very much stronger modification of the ancient
North-Semitic He than the Brahma letter.
3 See also above p. 41, and the Grundriss, Tafel II. 40. VI.
4 Corpus Inscr. Semit., P. II, Vol. I, p. III. Mr. Berger enters this sign
(Table, op. cit., p. 300) in the column for the Persian period.
IV. The Derivation of the Brahmi. 61
than the year 725 B. C. As this sign belongs to the eighth
century B. C., when the very archaic forms of the Aleph, Daleth,
Cheth, Theth, Wav and Qoph, represented by the corresponding
BiTihma letters, still existed/ it may be considered the proto-
type of the Indian ha. The aversion of the Hindus against
heavy tops, of course, caused the sign to be turned round,
and their liking for regularity caused the bar to be attached
to the stroke which then became the base-line, and the whole
letter to be set up straight. All things considered, this explan-
ation seems [59] more probable than attempts to connect ha
with the later more exactly agreeing sign in Col. Ill, b, or
with the still older form with three parallel bars.
No 6. The Indian va, regarding which Professor Weber
felt uncertain, evidently corresponds with the Mesa form of Wdw.
Owing to the aversion against heavy tops the Semitic letter
has been turned topsy-turvy. At the same time the semicircle
has been closed. Among the two forms, given in Col. V, the
second is the regular one in the Edicts, the first, as well as
an angular variety not given,2 occurs only rarely.
No 7. Professor Weber has already pronounced himself
for the identity of the Brahma ja with the Zain. On phonetic
grounds Professor Weber's conjecture is extremely probable.
For, ever since the Indians began to borrow Persian and Arabic
words, they have rendered the Zain of the latter by their ja,
and the dictionaries of the Indian vernaculars contain hundreds
of instances of this kind. Even in earlier times, about A. D.
500, they express, e. g. in jiva for Zsu; (Ziv-s) the Greek
Zeta, which then had the value of Zain, by ja. Both facts
prove that the two sounds had a close affinity for their ear.
The discovery of the Bhaftiprolu j? Col. V, a, considerably
facilitates the identification of the two signs, as it closely agrees
with the archaic Phoenician sign, differing only slightly in the
position of the bars at the top and the foot. The signs of the
1 See M. de Vogue, op. cit., p. II.
2 Compare also above p. 41, where a fourth cursive form has been figured.
3 Dr. Burgess' facsimiles in the Epigraphia Indica show occasionally an
incipient central bar in ju and ju, where it ought not to occur,
impressions prove clearly that in all these oases there is not a real third
line, but that the stone has a flaw.
62 Indian Studies. No III.
Edicts, given in Col. V, b — d, are all cursive, and represent
attempts to make the letter with a single stroke or at least
with two. The third form with a dot at the junction of the
two curves, is of course a development from the second with
the loop. And the substitution of a dot for a loop indicates
that the persons who invented it wrote with pen and ink. A
man working with a stylus would not think of such a substitution,
nay could hardly effect it.1
No 8. The discovery of the angular gha (Col. V, a) which
occurs a few times in the Kalsi version2 and is constant in the
cave inscriptions, makes its identification with the three-barred
[GO] Chefh of the archaic Phoenician, of the Sinjirli and other
ancient inscriptions, very probable. The Semitic sign, which
often slants towards the left, has been laid on its side (see the
hypothetical form in Col. IV) and the long upper bar, covering
the letter, has been raised upwards and converted into the long
vertical on the left.3 The usual form of the Asoka Edicts with
the curve is of course cursive. In the Bhattiprolu alphabet this
letter has been discarded and a derivative from ga (No 3,
Col. VI) takes its place. The Sabaean Cheth ^, from which
Dr. Taylor derives the Indian gha, is no doubt an analogous
development from the old North-Semitic sign.
No 9. The identity of the Brahma tha with the Semitic
Theth has always been recognised and is evident enough. I
may mention as a curiosity that a small cross appears inside
the circle instead of a dot in the Pallava landgrant, Epigraphia
Indica, Vol. I, p. Iff. In this document all dots are replaced
1 Regarding the use of ink in India, see above p. 22. The ancient Indian
term for ink is masi, often spelt masi, and now pronounced malchi, which
is derived from the obsolete verb mas, hinisdyam, compare masa and
mo.yma.9a. Etymologically and originally it means 'powder1 (of charcoal
and the like), used for the preparation of ink, see the larger Petersburg
Dictionary under masi, and the Grundriss, I, 11, p. 91.
2 The sign given in the Table has been taken from upaghate, Ed. XIII, 1,
1. 37.
8 It may be mentioned as a curiosity, that from the twelfth century
A. D. the Nagarl gha is again placed upright and has become almost ident-
ical with its Semitic prototype, see the Grundriss, Taf. V. 13. XX— XXII.
This is, however, not due to a survival, but merely to the desire of
equalising the breadth of the Nagarl letters.
IV. The Derivation of the Brahml. 03
by minute crosses. On the other hand, a Theth with a dot
occurs on an Assyrian weight, see Col. III.
No 10. The derivation of the Brahma ya from the an-
cient Semitic Yod has been asserted by Professor Weber, who
however could only compare the later round Phoenician form,
which opens downwards.1 The oldest Indian form is probably
the notched one (Col. V, a),2 which appears exclusively in the
Delhi Pillar Edicts and occasionally in most other versions and is
the parent of all the later developments. It is probably de-
rived from the oldest Semitic Yod, formed of a downstroke with
two bars, attached to the left, and one to the right. Its forma-
tion seems to have been effected by placing the top-heavy sign
on its side, in the manner shown in the hypothetical form of
[61] Col. Ill, by lengthening the stroke which now stood in
the middle of the line and equalising the direction of that on
the right.
No 11. The derivation of the Brahma ka was a difficult
problem, as long as the cross with four perfectly equal bars
(Col. V, b) was considered to be its most ancient form, and
consequently the earlier attempts to account for its existence
are not very satisfactory. Professor Weber, following Kopp,
and Dr. Taylor have tried to derive it from the Semitic Qoph
very much against the ocular evidence, and M. Halevy has
identified it with the Aramaic Kaph, which likewise, as far as
I can see, does not resemble the Indian letter. But now, when
the more accurate reproductions of the Edicts have proved the
frequent early occurrence of the dagger-shaped form (Col. V, a)
which is constant in Bhattiprolu and in all the various inscrip-
tions, incised between 200 B. C. and 550 A. D., the case of
the sign is by no means desperate nor even difficult. If, as now
may be done with perfect propriety, the dagger-shaped ka is
taken as the older form and the cross with equal bars as a
regularised or formalised derivative, it is easily recognisable
that the dagger-form probably has been derived from a Kaph,
like that of Mesa's inscription (Col. II), in which the down-
1 Is has also been admitted by M. Halevy, who compares a late form of
the Semitic letter.
2 That with the single curved stroke at the foot of the vertical is appa-
rently cursive.
64 Indian Studies. No III.
stroke slants sharply to the left and the angle on the left is
attached very close to the top, compare also the signs of the
Siloah inscription, in Prof. Euting's Tabula Script. Aram. Col. 3.
In setting the sign up straight, the Hindus took the upper stroke
of the angle for the top of the down-stroke, and a cross-like
figure was the natural result, which, on being made more
regular, yielded the dagger-shape.
No 12. For the identity of the Brahma la (Col. V, a)
with the Semitic Lamed (Cols. I and II), which has been re-
cognised by Professor Weber and accepted by Dr. Deecke and
M. Halcvy, the la of the Eran coin (Col. IV), the Bhattiprolu
la (Col. V, b) and the Bhattiprolu I (Col. VI) furnish new
illustrations. The most ancient survival is found in the last
mentioned character, which, if the little bar denoting the ling-
ualisation is removed, almost exactly represents the Semitic
sign. Next comes the letter of the Eran coin, which has pre-
[62] served the original direction of the Lamed, but shows on the
right the little bar, no doubt intended to mark the end of the
line. This bar is wanting in the Bhattiprolu I, which how-
ever has been turned from the right to the left and has deve-
loped a curious long tail, hanging down from the top of the
main line. Originally this appendage no doubt was a flourish,
marking the end of the% vertical.
No 13. The identification of the Brahma ma with the
Semitic Mem is also due to Professor Weber. He, as well as
M. Halevy, derive it from the Aramaic sign of the seventh
century1 B. C., V/. Though this derivation is no doubt tempting
it seems to me that it is equally possible to connect the Brahma
ma with a sign like that of the Mesa inscription, which likewise
shows a curve at the end of the down-stroke. A little stronger
development of this curve would necessarily lead to a sign,
like the hypothetical one, entered in Col. IV, which is almost
the same as the first Pehlevi Mem of Col. 58 in Professor
Euting's Tabula Script. Aram. And in support of this view I
may appeal to the development of the looped ka, Northern ^
and Southern Jf from the dagger-shaped ka with a curve at
he foot ;f, as well as of the round ad Southern ra "\J from J, which
1 See M. de Vogue, loc. cit.
IV. The Derivation of the Brahml. 65
show analogous changes on purely Indian ground. The super-
position of the angle, which originally remained at the side,
over the round or elliptical figure1 is of course due to the
striving after regularity, which the Hindus show throughout.
The Brahma ma with the angle at the top (Col. V, a) which is
(see also above p. 39) particularly common in the Girnar ver-
sion and not found in the Northern versions, thus appears to
be the older form, and that with a curve (Col. V, b) the cursive
one. In the Bhattiprolu alphabet the ancient Brahma ma with the
angle appears turned topsy-turvy (see p. 46). The Sabaean, Beta-
like Mem, $ from which Dr. Deecke and Dr. Taylor derive the
Brahma ma, shows little resemblance and is probably the product
of a different process.
[63] No 14. Professor Weber,2 who is followed by Dr.
Deecke, considers the Semitic Nun to be represented by the
Brahma na, Col. VI, b, and it is Dr. Taylor alone who connects
the dental na, Col. V, directly with the Sabaean form of Nun.
I do not think it probable that a Hindu would make such a
mistake as to take the phonetic value of Nun to be equivalent
to his lingual nasal, which sounds very differently, and I fail
to see, except on the impossible theory of Greek mediation,
how the double horizontal line of na can be explained by means
of a real Semitic form. It seems to me that the Hindus, owing
to their aversion to heavy tops, first turned the Nun topsy-
turvy and used for some time a figure like that drawn in
Col. IV.3 As a proof for this assertion I would cite the palatal
1 The third Pehlevl Mem of Col. 59 of the same Table, which exactly re-
sembles the Brahma ma, may be pointed out as an interesting analogous
development.
2 I must add that Professor Weber admits the possibility of deriving the
dental na from Nun, but thinks that the na comes nearer. M. Halevy
connects na immediately with the Greek vu, which, as he believes, was
laid on its side.
3 A Nun with a small open square at the top, instead of an angle, occurs
in the Siloah inscription and again much later, see Prof. Euting's Tabula
Scr. Aram. Cols. 3a-b, 8b, and 13 a. As the change from an angle to
an open square is in keeping with the stiff formalism of the Indian al-
phabet, it is not necessary to assume that the Semitic prototype showed
the latter. The Indian form is probably nothing but an analogous de-
velopment.
B u h 1 e r , Indian Studies. Ill . 5
66 Indian Studies. No III.
fia (Col. VI, a), which consists of the hypothetical form, turned
from right to left, and of a small bar at the top, indicating that
it belongs to a different class or Varga.
Later only, I think, the Hindus substituted as a cursive
development for the hook at the side, the single bar which
protrudes on either side of the foot of the vertical.
No 15. Professor Weber doubtingly proposes to connect
the Brahma sa (Col. VI, d) with the Semitic Samech, and his
idea has been taken up by Dr. Taylor who derives it from
the very dissimilar Sabaean form y. The new Bhattiprolu s,
Col. V (the origin of which has been wrongly explained in my
introductory remarks to the edition of the inscriptions) and the
sa of the Eran coin (Col. VI, a) as well as the sa of the
Ghasundi slab (see below), I think, permit me to say that
Professor Weber's conjecture is well founded. I take the Bhatti-
prolu s to be derived from a Samech like that in Col. I, b,
the two [64] upper bars of which were replaced by a curve
(as in the hypothetical sign in Col. IV) and which was then
turned topsy-turvy in accordance with the Indian principle,
appealed to so often. This sign probably served in the begin-
ning to express both sa and sa. Later two separate signs were
developed out of this original representative for Samech, (1)
the sign for sa with the original cross bar placed at the outside
of the curve, which appears in its original position on the Eran
coin (Col. VI, a) and turned from the right to the left (Col.
VI, b) in the Southern versions of the Edicts (Grirnar and Sid-
dapur) and in Bhattiprolu; (2) the sign for sa (Col. VI, c),
with the original cross - bar shortened and placed inside the
curve, which hitherto is traceable only on the Ghasundi slab,1
but must have been used extensively, as it is evidently the
parent of the square sa of the later Sanskrit inscriptions.2 It
occurs neither in the Bhattiprolu alphabet, which retained the
old sign, in order to denote s, nor in the ordinary Brahml lipi
1 See Journ. As. Soc. Beng., Vol. LVI, Plate at p. 79, where it occurs in
the name Samkar$ana.
2 The square form occurs first in the Mora Well inscription from the times
of Rajuvula's son (Sodasa), Arch. Surv. Rep., Vol. XX, Plate V, 4, which
possibly belongs to the first century A. D.
IV. The Derivation of the Brahml. 67
of the Edicts. The northern variety of the latter developed a
new sa (Col. VI, d) with 'a curve instead of the straight limb
at the side, and out of this the sign with two curves, one below
the other (Col. VI, e), which occurs in the Kalsl version, in
Dasaratha's Nagarjum cave inscriptions and so forth, and which
probably is also intended for sa.
It would, of course, be possible to connect the Bhatti-
prolu s with the cursive Aramaic Samech (Col. Ill) of the sixth
century B. C. But then the cross bar of the Bhattiprolu sign
would remain unexplained. Moreover, there would be the in-
superable difficulty that the Aramaic Beth, Daleth, Waw, Cheth,
Ain, Qoph and Eesh of the sixth century are so strongly mo-
dified that they cannot be considered the prototypes of the corre-
sponding Brahma ba, dha, va, gha, E, kha and ra. It seems,
therefore, advisable to assume, as must be done also in the case
of sa, that the Hindus independently changed the form of the
ancient sign, but in a manner analogous to that adopted by the
Aramaeans.
[65] The derivation of the signs for sa and sa from the same
original letter points to the influence of the Sanskrit grammar-
ians or phoneticists, who are well aware of the intimate con-
nection of the two sounds and duly teach that Sanskrit sa
becomes sa through the influence of a preceding i, u, r, e, ai,
o, au, k} T or I.
No 16. Professor Weber's ingenious identification of the an-
cient Ain (Col. I and II) with the Brahma E,— which is supported
by the analogous proceeding of the Greeks, who also used it to
express the gutturo-labial vowel, and of the modern Jews,1 who
express the e of foreign words by Ain, — receives a strong
confirmation through the round and half-round signs for E in
Col. IV and Col. V, a— b. The first occurs once in the word esa,
Kalsl, Edict XIII, 1, 1. 37. The same version offers also several
times the very similar form2 of Col. V, b. The first sign in Col. V,
1 See Grierson, Irid. Ant., vol. XXIV, p. 248, Note 5. The cause of this
substitution is probably the resemblance of the Hebrew p to a cursive
e, torned towards the left.
2 It seems probable, that this or a similar half round form is the parent
of the southern E, which in the Pallava and Vengi inscriptions looks
like ca, td and later becomes I/, closely resembling the ancient la.
5*
68 Indian Studies. No III.
which looks like a dha is found in the word etina of the
Hathigumpha inscription of Kharavela, 1. 8, and in the Sanchi
inscription No 173 (Epigraphia Indica Vol. II, p. 375) where,
not thinking of the Hathigumpha letter, I unfortunately have
read Dharakina for Erakind. Professor Weber's conjecture
has been accepted by Dr. Taylor alone, Dr. Deecke and M.
Halevy, trying to connect the triangular E with Aleph. There
was however a very good reason for giving up the round E.
For it could not have been distinguished from the lingual tha,
which the Hindus developed out of the corresponding dental.
In my opinion the triangular E is a development, formed by
the Hindus independently, and the angular forms for Ain in
the later Semitic alphabets, Euting op. cit., Col. 8b, 14 ff., are
merely analogous, showing how easily a circular letter may be
converted into a triangle or rhombus. It is just possible that
phonetic considerations may have induced the Indians to select
Ain for expressing their e. For according to a description of
the Indian e-sound, which seems to go back to Sakatayana
and has been generally accepted by the later native gram-
marians,1 it is half guttural and half palatal (kanthya-talavya).
As the Ain no doubt was a guttural, it may have appeared
more suitable for E than for / or U.
No 17. The fact that the Brahma pa is the old Semitic
Phe turned topsy-turvy, has been acknowledged by everybody.
The new form of the Eran coin, Col. IV, shows it in its orig-
inal position.
No 18. Regarding the Brahma equivalent of the Semitic
Tsade I differ from all my predecessors. I believe that it was
[66] used, as one would expect from its phonetic value, for the
formation of the letter ca, the sound of which is and always
has been, not the English tsha, but tsa almost like tya. The Se-
mitic sign, of course, had to be turned topsy-turvy on account
of its heavy top, and the small bar running to the right was
turned towards the vertical. This process gave first a tailed
\s and later with the direction to the left, if. The angular
shape of the letter has been well preserved in the ca of the
Edicts, Col. V, a, which is not uncommon, and the tail appears
1 See Weber, Indische Studien, vol. IV, p. 119 f.
IV. The Derivation of the Brahml. 69
in the Bhattiprolu form, Col. V, c.1 The round ca (Col. V, b)
is purely cursive, and not the parent of the later Indian letters,
which mostly go back to angular or pointed forms.
No 19. With respect to the Semitic Qoph I must like-
wise differ from all my predecessors, who have compared it to
the Brahma cha, which is clearly an Indian derivative from ca
and has a very different phonetic value. In my opinion the
Semitic Qoph has its counterpart in the Brahma kha, the oldest
form of which (Col. V, a) consists of a circle with a super-
imposed vertical line ending in a curve. This is the oldest
Semitic sign (Cols. I and II),2 turned topsy-turvy on account
of its heavy top. The curve at the end of the vertical has
no doubt been added in order to distinguish the letter from
va. The kha with the circle at the base occurs sometimes in
Jaugada and is used frequently in the Kals! version3 of the
Edicts, where not rarely the circle is replaced by a somewhat
irregular loop, sometimes attached to the right of the vertical
line (see the kha figured above p. 41). It is the parent of
most of the later Indian signs for kha, including the modern
Devanagarl form, which all show a loop or a triangle at
the base of the vertical. In several versions of the Pillar
[67] Edicts and elsewhere a well developed dot takes the place of
the circle. This change is analogous to that pointed out above
in connexion with the second and third forms of the Brahma
ja, and likewise indicates the use of pen and ink for the time
when it was made. There is also a third form of the kha
which consists merely of a vertical with a hook at the top. It
is chiefly used in the Southern versions of the Edicts, parti-
cularly in Girnar, as well as in Bhattiprolu and later in the
cave inscriptions, and is evidently a cursive development.
1 The later Semitic alphabets furnish various analogous developments, see
Prof. Euting's Tabula, Col. 9 (third sign), Col. 15 (first sign), Col. 42
(second sign), differing from the Brahma letter only by the position of
the angular or round appendage, which of course remains at the top of
the character and to the right of the vertical stroke.
2 Still more closely agreeing Phoenician and Mesa forms, in which the
vertical is not drawn across the round head, are given in Prof. Euting's
Tabula, Col. Id, Col. 2 a.
3 The form given in the plate has been taken from the word likhite, Kalsl,
Edict IV, 1. 12 (end).
70 Indian Studies. No III.
In favour of this identification speaks also the fact that
the modern Indians in loan words not rarely express the
Arabic Qoph by their Ma. Thus the Marathl has f^f, f^WT,
*?WT*r7 IT^TW, *JHT and so forth for Arabic words with Qoph.
This substitution shows that the Indian ear detects an affinity
between the deep guttural Qoph and the harsh sounding kha.
No 20. I can only agree with Professor Weber's identi-
fication of Resh with the Brahma ra or repha. But the orig-
inal ra has not the form, consisting of a straight stroke, which
is given in his table and in that of Dr. Taylor. The straight
ra, evidently a late cursive development, is very rare in the
Edicts. I know only of one instance in the Rupnath Edict in which
a nearly straight stroke occurs. In the Girnar version, where ra
is very common, it has at the top invariably one or two little
angles, open to the right, or instead of the angle an irregular
bulge towards the left, see Col. V, a — b. I take the form
with the single angle to be the oldest and consider it to be
derived from a Semitic form like that of the Mesa inscription,
the triangle of which the Hindus opened, in order to avoid
the heavy top, by attaching the vertical to the lower side of
the base i. e. by putting ^ for ^. The signs with two or
more angles, Col. V, d — e, are no doubt artificial, ornamental
developments. In the new Siddapur Edicts this development has
been carried to an extreme, and the whole letter has been con-
verted into a wavy line, consisting of four or five little
angles.
No 21. Professor Weber's identification of Shin with the
palatal sibilant sa, which has been accepted by Dr. Deecke,
seems also to me self-evident. It is only necessary to substi-
tute for the late Indian form (given in Professor Weber's
Col. II) the formerly not accessible, real old Brahma signs,
Col. V, a — c, which are found in the Kalsl, Rupnath and Sid-
dapur versions of the Edicts, on the Bhattiprolu prism, on the
Ghasundi slab and in the Pabhosa cave inscriptions.1 I con-
1 I enumerate the occurrences so fully, because, when the sign first turned
up in Kalsi, it was considered to have been borrowed from the Kharo-
sthi, which has the remotely similar lingual .yo *P. I will add that in
Bhattiprolu where we have samanude&anam i. e. 6ramanoddeh/anam, in
the Ghasundi inscription where we have Para&ariputa and Slid, and in
IV. The Derivation of the Brahml. 71
[68] sider as their prototype the oldest Semitic form with two
angles (Cols. I and II), not the very similar Aramaic Shin (Col. Ill)
of the sixth century. For in accordance with the principles
of the Brahml lipi, the Semitic letter had to be turned topsy-
turvy, and the double angle at the top had to be got rid of,
which latter change could be most easily effected by placing
the one angle inside the other. The Hindus may be well
credited with the independent invention of this modification,
as the later Phoenicians and the Ethiopians have likewise in-
troduced it independently. Moreover, the same considerations,
which make it impossible to accept the Aramaic Samech as
the immediate source of the Bhattiprolu s (see above p. 67),
speak in this case against the assumption that the Semitic al-
phabet, adopted by the Hindus, contained the Aramaic Shin.
Finally the Western letter-numeral su for 100, still shows the
two angles quite plainly, see App. II, pi. Ill and the Grundriss,
Taf. IX, Cols. IV— V, XI.
No 22. The oldest form of the Brahma ta, which Professor
Weber has recognised already as a modification of the Semitic
Taw, seems to be that (Col. V, a) consisting of a long slightly
inclined downstroke with a short straight bar slanting off to
the right. Next comes the sign, given in Col. V, b, with the
bar slanting off to the left, and this is due to the change in
the direction of the writing. The ta consisting of a vertical
stroke with an angle at the foot, Col. V, c, which is frequent
in the southern and western versions of the Edicts and also on
the Sohgaura Plate, is probably [69] due to the formalism of the
Pabhosa which offers feonakayana i. e. ftaunakayana, this sign appears
only in words which have &a in Sanskrit, while in the Edicts it occurs
mostly and very irregularly in words, where the Sanskrit has tta or fa.
The confusion is owing to the negligent pronunciation and writing of
the clerk, who made the copy. His dialect probably contained two
sibilants, the dental and the palatal, and his alphabet had three, the
dental, the palatal and the lingual. His negligence in pronunciation
made him pronounce sa for Sa and vice versa, and his negligence in
writing made him use sa and So, indiscriminately. As stated above,
papers written in our times by half-educated clerks and others show ex-
actly the same confusion and for the same reasons. They pronounce
e. g. both sac and sac (satyam) and they write indiscriminately ^^,
H^ and ^^(.
72 Indian Studies. No III.
Hindus, their desire to set the letter up straight and to make
it perfectly regular in appearance. The forms with a round
limb to the right or left of the vertical (see above p. 41) of
course are cursive. The oldest among these five forms for ta
closely resembles the Taw from the earliest Sinjirli inscription
(Col. Ill, b), which belongs to the beginning of the eighth
century B. C., and still more that of Col. Ill, a, which occurs
on an Assyrian weight of the reign of Salmanassar1 and has
therefore been engraved before 725 B. C. As it thus appears
that Semitic forms, consisting of a long inclined downstroke
Avith a crossbar very slightly protruding on the left or with a
simple bar on the right, have been developed in very early
times, it is not improbable, that one of them occurred in the
alphabet which the Hindus borrowed. But the possibility that
the Indian sign is an independent development from the straight
Phoenician cross (Col. I), is not altogether excluded. For the
cross could not remain in the Brahma alphabet, because it
would have been undistinguishable from ka.
B. The Derivative Consonants and Initial Vowels.
The contrivances, by which the derivative signs, both
primary and secondary, for consonants and initial vowels have
been formed, are: —
(1) the transposition of one of the elements of a phonetic-
ally cognate borrowed sign,
(2) the mutilation of a borrowed letter or of another
derivative sign of similar phonetic value,
(3) the addition of straight lines, curves or hooks to bor-
rowed or derivative signs. If a hook is added the original sign
suffers a slight mutilation.
Two cases of transposition have already been mentioned
above under No 15 ; where it has been pointed out that the
sa and the Ghasundi sa come from the Bhattiprolu s. A
second case occurs, as Professor Weber has been the first to
recognise, in the dental da (No 4, Col. VI, a— b, f— g). The
As Professor Euting kindly points out to me, the inscription is found
Corp. Inscr. Sem., P. II, No 2c.
IV. The Derivation of the Brahml. 73
[70] two first forms, one of which occurs in Bhattiprolu as
well as on a Patna seal l and the other in the majority of the
Edicts, are derived from the two dha in Col. V, by dividing
the straight line and pushing the halves back to the ends of
the semicircle which remained. In the third actual form
(Col. VI, f) and the hypothetical one, Col. VI, g (required on
account of the next following sign) the semicircle has been
converted into a small square, left open on one side, and this
change is due to the liking for angular forms, mentioned
above p. 37.
The cases in which a borrowed or derivative sign has been
mutilated, are' those of the lingual tennis, tennis aspirata and
media, all of which Professor Weber has already explained cor-
rectly. The lingual da under No 4, Col. VI, c, which occurs
occasionally in Kalsl and commonly in the later inscriptions of the
Nanaghat and the other Western caves etc., is derived, by the
removal of the lower end, from the Bhattiprolu da (Col. VI, a),
which had not yet been turned from the right to the left. The
angular da (Col. VI, h) comes in like manner from an ang-
ular da (not yet turned to the left), of which the known in-
scriptions do not offer any example. The tha (No 9, Col. VI, a)
is of course the dental tha minus the central dot, and the ta
(No 9, Col. VI, b) has probably been obtained by halving the
tha, as Professor Weber conjectures. To a Hindu this process
probably appeared very natural. For he formed several aspi-
rates by adding curves. Hence he may be supposed to have
considered a round sign, denoting an aspirate, as equivalent to
an unaspirated letter plus a curve of aspiration. Thus the di-
vision of the sign would be quite legitimate. In the Edicts
both tha and ta are frequently made smaller than the other
letters.
Two other cases of the mutilation of borrowed letters
occur in the signs for initial /and U. It has been recognised
already by Mr. Prinsep that the three dots of / (No 16, Col. VI,
a— c, lower row) indicate the three corners of the triangular
E\ and this view, which has been generally accepted, is con-
firmed by the fact, that in the Edicts the position of the dots
Cunningham, Arch. Survey Rep., vol. XV, pi. Ill (first figure).
74 Indian Studies. No III.
of / generally agrees with the position of the angles of E. To
a Hindu phoneticist or grammarian the derivation of / from E
would appear a matter of course, because E is very commonly
[71] the representative of an Jin strong forms or its Guna. Hence
he expressed the latter by a lighter form of the former, just
marking the corners of the triangle.
The case of U (No 6, Col. VI, a) is somewhat different. It
has been customary to derive the sign directly from one of the
later forms of the Semitic Waic. Considering the facts, con-
nected with the linguals and with initial I, I would propose to
derive it either directly from the old Semitic Waw, turned topsy-
turvy, or from the Brahma va by a bisection of the circle at the
foot of the sign and the substitution of a straight line for the
irregular pendant, which remained. The several steps were,
therefore, ^ or J, ), J, and finally1 L. It is probable that
phonetic considerations, the observation of the frequent substi-
tution of n for va in weak verbal and nominal forms, as in
uliyate, upyate, supyate, upta, supta, usita, from vah, vap,
svap and vas, may have led to the adoption of this pro-
ceeding. The framers of the Brahma alphabet were, as pointed
out already, Brahmans, acquainted with phonetics and with
grammatical theories.
The last case of mutilation, I believe, occurs in the Anu-
svara (No 13, Col. VI, b) which is represented by a simple dot.
This is no doubt a substitute for the small circle (Col. VI, a),
which reappears very commonly in certain later epigraphic and
literary alphabets. I consider the circle to be a mutilated minute
ma, the upper angle of which was omitted,2 and I believe that
this conjecture is supported by the following facts. In the Edicts
and all other ancient inscriptions the Anusvara is placed rarely
at the top of the letter after which it is pronounced. Usually
1 The former actual existence of the third form is proved by the Jaugada
0 (No 6, Col. VI, f). In the second century A. D. and later, the U fre-
quently shows a curve at the foot instead of the straight line, ^ and
it is possible that this may be an ancient survival, not, as is usually
assumed, a modern development.
2 I must acknowledge that M. Halevy's ingenious, but erroneous, conjec-
ture, according to which the Brahma Anusvara is derived from the Kha-
rosthi ma, induced me to frame my theory.
IV. The Derivation of the Brahml. 75
and regularly it stands opposite the middle, but in a number
of cases it is found also to the right of the foot. Now vowelless
consonants always stand at the foot of the preceding sign in
the oldest Sanskrit or Mixed inscriptions from the times of the
[72] Kusana kings down to the fifth century A. D., when the Vi-
rama makes first its appearance. Moreover all such vowelless
consonants are made exceedingly small, even after the inven-
tion of the Virama, and they are very commonly mutilated at
the top.1 These facts would fully explain the use of a small
circle for a vowelless ma of the Asoka type, which then be-
came the general sign of nasalisation in the Brahma alphabet,
just as the Kharosthl ma was turned into the Kharo.sthl Anus-
vara. My theory, of course, rests on the assumption that the
Brahma alphabet was used from the beginning, not for Pra-
krit, but for Sanskrit, and this is made more than probable
by the occurrence of na in the Mahabodhi Gaya alphabet of
the masons, as well as by the arrangement of its letters on
phonetic principles, see above p. 33, likewise by the numerous
indications that the alphabet was elaborated by phoneticists or
grammarians, i. e., by Brahman schoolmen.
Short straight strokes marking the additional matra, are
added (originally on the left2) to the vowel-signs for A and U
in order to frame the signs for the long vowels A (No 1, Col. VI)
and U (No 6, Col. VI, d). In long / an additional dot appears
instead of the stroke which would not have agreed with the
character of the sign.3
Added to vowel-signs (originally on the right), short strokes
indicate a change of the quality of the sound. This is the way
1 See e. g. Epigr. Ind. II, p. 208, Mathura Inscr., New Ser., No 27, Dr. Fleet's
Gupta Inscr., Nos 3, 6, 11, etc., Dr. Hoernle's Bower MS. passim. In the
first mentioned inscription the m of siddkam is not much more than a
triangle, in the Gupta inscriptions and the Bower MS. m is regul-
arly U.
2 In the actually existing signs they appear on the right, because the
signs were turned on the change in the direction of the writing.
3 Dots appear for short horizontal bars also in other cases, e. g. in the
hyphens at the end of verses, which often look like, and have been
misread, as Visargas. Vice versa small horizontal strokes are substituted
for dots e. g. in the letter /, which in the inscriptions of the Nasik and
Karle caves sometimes consist of three short horizontal bars.
76 Indian Studies. No III.
in which O,1 No 6, Col. VI, f— g, has been formed out of U,
and in the first sign (Col. VI, f), the stroke stands in its
[73] original position, because the letter (Jaugada form) has not
been turned round. The AI (No 16, Col. VI, b, upper row)
appears to have been derived from E in the same manner, but
the letter has been turned from the right to the left. The
sounds u and o, as well as e and ai, appear to a Hindu and to
a Sanskritist closely connected, because in numberless cases o
is the Guna or representative of u in strong forms, and because
e and ai both appear in the strong forms of roots with i and in
derivatives from nouns with i and e. These phonetic or gram-
matical affinities no doubt influenced the formation of the signs.
Added to signs for consonants, either on the right or
across the top, a straight stroke likewise denotes a change of
quality viz. that the sign expresses the corresponding sound of
a different class or Varga. The stroke has its original position
in the Bhattiprolu I (No 12, Col. VI), which has not been
turned round. It appears on the left in the palatal ?1a,2 because
this has been turned. Its position is again the original one in
the guttural iia, Avhich in the Gaya alphabet and the Kusana
(see above p. 31) inscriptions is P*, and in which the foot of the
na has also been modified. Finally in na (No 14, Col. VI, b)
the bar goes across the vertical. The peculiarities of the last
two letters are probably due to a desire to avoid collisions
with na, ne and 0.
Aspiration is expressed by the addition of a curve in the
Bhattiprolu gha (No 3, Col. VI), and the ordinary Brahma signs
for dha (No 4, Col. VI, d), pha (No 17, Col. VI) and cha (No 18,
Col. VI, a — b) are derived in the same manner from da, pa and
CM. In the sign for cha both ends of the curve have been con-
nected with the vertical line of ca. There are numerous in-
stances, like that given in Col. VI, a, in which a difference
between the two halves of this letter is clearly discernible, and
the one half is angular, the other round. These, I think, are the
older forms. The second sign for cha (Col. VI, b) which consists
1 The sign -ft-, which is sometimes given for O in palaeographic works,
does not exist.
2 See above the remarks under No 14, p. 65.
IV. The Derivation of the Brahml. 77
of a circle bisected by a vertical line is in my opinion
cursive.
In the two signs for bha (No 2, Col. VI) and for jha
(No 1, Col. VI) an angle or hook serves the same purpose as
the curve of the other four aspirates, and in both cases the
original sign is mutilated in order to make the new form less
cumbersome. The ba has lost its base line and the ja its two
[74] bars. It seems not improbable, as has already been suggested
by others, that the angle or hook of aspiration may be a cur-
sive development from the letter ha.
In the lingual la, derived from the round da (No 4,
Col. VI, e) a small semicircle * has been added to the foot of the
original sign in order to indicate the change of the phonetic
value. Here also, I believe, we may recognise the influence
of the grammarians or phoneticists. For the sounds da and la
are frequently interchanged in the same word. Thus we find
already in the Vedas regularly a la for a da between two
vowels, as in lie for ide. In the later Sanskrit and in the Pra-
krits there are numerous variants like nadi and nail, nadikera
and nalikera and so forth, where it is often difficult to decide,
which is the original form. As the principle, on which the ordi-
nary la has been formed, differs from the more general one,
applied in the case of the Bhattiprolu letter, I consider it to be
of later origin.
C. The Medial Vowels.
Hitherto two systems for the notation of the medial vo-
wels have become known, that of the Edicts and all the later
Sanskrit and Prakrit inscriptions and that of Bhattiprolu. The
first, which is by far the older one, shows clearly the influence
of the grammarians and their ingenuity. As the vowel, ex-
pressed in the beginning of words by the representative of the
Semitic Aleph, occurs in Sanskrit nearly as frequently as all the
1 Possibly a sign which occurs in Jaugada and in the Pillar Edicts |J f. e.
da with a dot a the foot, may have the same value, as it is used in
words which have double forms with da and la or la e. g. dudl or duli,
edaka or elaka, Coda and Cola
78 Indian Studies. No III.
other vowels taken together,1 it was not expressed by any sign,
but considered to be inherent in all signs for consonants. This
device fully agrees with the system of neai'ly all the phonetic
and grammatical treatises, which, as Professor Max Mtiller has
shown so clearly, do not refer to written letters but only to
sounds.2 They almost invariably speak of the kakara, gakara
[75] and so forth. The commentators no doubt are right, when
they assert, that the vowel has been added in order to make the
pronunciation of the consonants possible, and the vowel a was
selected for this purpose on account of the frequency of its
occurrence. It seems impossible to assume that there is no
connexion between the two facts, and, as the grammarians
base their theories on spoken words not on written texts, I
think that they are the men who also in this case influenced
the formation of the Brahma alphabet.
As regards the other vowels, medial a is expressed by
placing to the right of the consonant the same short horizontal
stroke,3 used for the differentiation of the initial A from A, ap-
parently because the other portion, the short a, is already
contained in the consonant. The remaining ones are expressed
by the signs for the initial vowels or by modifications thereof,
1 See Professor Whitney's calculations in his Sanskrit Grammar, p. 73
(second edition).
2 History Anc. Sansk. Lit., p. 507 ff. This assertion has been hotly con-
tested by Professor Goldstiicker in his Introduction to the Manava Kalpa
Sutra, p. 13ff. But Professor Kielhorn, who has studied the Vyakarana
during so many years, informs me that he does not know of a single
passage even in the Bhasya, which indicates with certainty, that a
written text of Paniiii's grammar is referred to, or where the technical
terms of the grammarians and their theoretical speculations refer to
written signs; see also his remarks in Gurupujakaumudi p. 29 ff. It
seems, therefore, to be a fact that the grammatical and phonetic rese-
arches were begun either before the introduction of writing or indepen-
dently of writing, and that even those ancient authors, who like Panini,
mention alphabets and clerks, continued to work on in the old manner.
I must, however, add that Geheimrath von Bohtlingk dissents and believes
that the phrase yathanyasam in the Mahabhasya (e. g. I, 22, 1. 3) points
to a written text.
3 Originally the stroke, of course, stood on the left, and it is found in
this position on the Eran coin, where the letters run from the right to
the left, see the Grundriss, Tafel II. 28. I.
IV. The Derivation of the Brahml. 79
placed above or below the consonants. A very clear case is that
of the medial o in the syllable ko,1 given in two forms under
No 6, Col. VI, h— i. If the k, i. e. the portion of the sign
below the second bar, is removed, there remains in the eighth
sign a minute initial o of the type in Col. VI, f, and in the
ninth one of the type in Col. VI, g. Now in the Jaugada
version of the Rock Edicts, where the initial 0 has the top bar
to the right, the same is invariably the case with the medial o.
It, therefore, would seem that the writer was perfectly aware
of the connection of the two signs. But, in Asoka's time this
[76] feeling was dying out. For in Girnfir, where the initial 0
with the top-bar to the left alone is used, the medial o is made
in both ways, and in the second part of the Delhi Pillar Edict
VII, 2, 1. 2 we have once the cursive medial o in nigohani, where
both strokes are placed on the same level above the consonant.
Equally clear is the case of the medial u, which is the initial
U, put below the consonant. This is distinctly recognisable in the
sign dhu (No 6, Col. VI, b) which occurs repeatedly in the Kals! ver-
sion.2 Cursively it assumes the form, given in Col. VI, c or of p, with
the omission either of the vertical stroke or of the horizontal bar at
the end. On the same cursive principle u, which in ku etc. retains
the shape of £7(Grundriss, 1, 11, p. 37), is expressed by two strokes,
placed either horizontally at the side of the consonant (No 6, Col. VI,
e) or below the consonant, where they frequently form an acute
angle but are also placed parallel side by side. These facts seem to
indicate that Asoka's clerks had lost the remembrance of the origin
of the signs for medial u and w, and that they considered the
old forms, which they occasionally used, merely as permissible
variants without any special significance. In later inscriptions,3
however, reminiscences of the origin of the subscript u and ii are
found. Thus in the ancient £arada characters of the Baijnath
Prasasti and elsewhere pu is expressed by ^.
As regards the medial i, the small angle to the left of
the top of the consonant by which it is marked, seems to be
1 Compare also the (jo ~fc in mago. Qiruar, Ed. I. 1. 11, where a distinct 0
stands above ga.
2 E. g. in Kaisi, Edict III, 1. 8 (twice).
8 Compare also the Grundriss, gu in Taf. VII. 10. 20; bhu in Taf. VII. 30.
XII; tu in Taf. VII. 3(5. XXI; and bhu in Taf. VII. 30. XX-XXI.
80 Indian Studies. No III.
the result of a connexion of the three dots of the initial vowel
by means of two lines, see the ki No 16, Col. VI, d— e, lower
row. As long as the Brahma alphabet was written from the
right to the left, the ^-strokes, as well as all other vowel signs
of course stood to the left of the consonant. In the Kals! ver-
sion, Ed. XIII, 2, 1. 10, there are two signs, at the end of the
words anuvidhiyamti and anuvidhiyisamti, where the vowel
has this position. They look like A, because the vowel strokes
have been added to the middle of the consonant. A better
formed ti with the vowel on the left occurs in Allahabad,
Ed. I (end), and a similar hi on the Sohgaura copperplate, 1. 4.
The medial l does not seem to be connected with the initial I,
but to have been formed by the addition of the [77] straight
stroke, denoting also in other cases the lengthening of vowels,
which for convenience's sake in this case was made vertical.
Cursively the angle of medial i is converted in Girnar into a
shallow curve and medial I is expressed by a curve bisected
by a vertical stroke.
The sign for medial e, a straight or slanting line to the
left of the consonant, I take to be the remnant of a triangular
initial E, the outlines of which have been indicated by dots
in the ke, figured under No 16, Col. VI, a, upper row. I may
add that in the Edicts forms like \ are occasionally used
for ge, where the vowel sign seems to consist not of a line,
but of a hook put on the top of the letter. Such forms are
perhaps ancient survivals, dating from a time when the vowel
was represented by an angle, to which the triangle probably
was reduced in the first instance. The position of the
e-stroke is abnormal, as it stands to the left of, or before, the
letter, after which it is pronounced. The cause is no doubt,
that, if it had been placed to the right, it would have been
undistinguishable from medial long a.
In accordance with the form of the initial AI consisting
of e and a horizontal bar to the left of the top, the medial ai
is expressed by two bars to the left of the consonant, see the
syllable thai from the Girnar version, given under No 16,
Col. VI, c, upper row.
The absence of a medial vowel between two consonants
is expressed by the formation of a ligature, in which ordinarily
IV. The Derivation of the Brahml. 81
the second consonant or its most essential portion is attached
to the foot of the first. In the Girnar and Siddapur versions
however, the ligatures sta, tpa, vya1 as well as those contain-
ing a ra, like tra, pro, and vra show the inverse order and
are spelt tsa, pta, yva, rta and so forth, while all the others
like sta, mha etc. are formed regularly. Moreover, in the words
bramhana (Girnar IV, 1. 2) and drahyitavyarp. (Siddapur, 1, 1. 9) the
first vertical of ba and the two vertical strokes of da have
been converted into wavy ra-lines. These irregularities are no
[78] doubt due to an artistic feeling and the desire of the clerks to
produce regular, shapely signs. The combinations of the conson-
ants with medial vowels furnish analogies. Properly all the
vowels ought to stand to the right of the foot of the consonants.
If the majority is nevertheless placed at the top, that has been
done merely for the sake of convenience. Later inscriptions
also furnish a few isolated cases of an inversion of the order
of the elements of ligatures. Thus the name of Castana's fa-
ther is spelt on the coins Ysamotika instead of Syamotika and
Harsa's Banskhera Plate of A. D. 628/9 offers vannra for
varnna.
The cause of the formation of ligatures in order to ex-
press the absence of vowels must again be sought for in the
influence of the Sanskrit phoneticists on the development of
the Brahma alphabet. The Pratisakhyas and the later works
on phonetics and grammar all use the expression samyukta-
ksara "a conjunct syllable" for groups like kta, kra and so
forth. The combination of the signs in writing looks very
much like a practical illustration of the meaning of the term.
The manner in which the absence of a vowel after a final
consonant was probably expressed, has been stated in the re-
marks on the Anusvara, above p. 74 f.
The Bhattiprolu system of vowel-notation differs from the
ordinary one merely by marking the short a by the bar, which
denotes a in the Edicts, and the long a by the same bar plus
a vertical or slanting stroke, hanging down from it, e. g. Jt
1 At least in mjamjanato, Ed. Ill, 1. 6. The cases of the passive future
participles in tayva are doubtful, as they may have been pronounced as
they are written, compare Pali mayham and so forth. The Siddapur
version has tavya in drahyitavyam.
Buhler, Indian Studies. III.
Indian Studies. No III.
na and _fc na. This system, according to which the conso-
nants have no inherent a, seems to have been invented in
order to avoid the necessity of forming the ligatures, which
make the ordinary Brahma alphabet cumbersome and difficult
to read in its later developments, and in order to express final
consonants more conveniently. I believe it, therefore, to be of
later origin, especially as the other Bhattiprolu vowel-signs do
not differ from the ordinary ones. The invention must, of course,
have been made for writing Sanskrit, as the Prakrits have
few groups of dissimilar medial consonants and no final ones.
To sum up — the forty four letters1 of the ordinary Brah-
ma alphabet, traceable in the oldest inscriptions as well as the
variants of the Bhattiprolu in scrip- [79] tions, contain represen-
tatives of, and derivatives from, all the twenty two Semitic
characters, viz: —
Semitic
letters
AUph
Beth
Gimel
Daleth
He
Waw
Zain
Cheth
Theth
Yod
Kaph
Brahma letters
a (initial)
ba
ga
dha
ha
ja
gha
tha
ya
ka
Derivatives
a (initial and medial)
bha
gh (Bhattiprolu)
da, da
I dha
\la
u { (initial and medial)
jha
tha, ta
With respect to the missing A U and (A)fy it may be noted, that the
forms of AUin the Gupta and Pallava inscriptions, as well as those in
the Bower MS , show that it was derived from 0 by the addition of a
bar to the right of the vertical. But the medial au in the Bharahut Torana
inscription (Grundriss, I, 11, Taf. II. 28. XVIII) makes it probable that there
was a second form with the additional bar to the left. Regarding the
origin of the Visarga, which first occurs in the Kusana inscriptions, of the
Jihvamullya and Upadhmanlya, first traceable in the Gupta inscriptions,
I am not able to suggest anything.
Semitic
letters
Lamed
Mem
Nun
Samech
Ain
Phe
Tsade
Qoph
Resh
Shin
Taw
IV. The Derivation of the Brahml.
Brahma letters Derivatives
83
la
ma
I (Bhattiprolu)
m (Anusvara)
s (Bhattiprolu)
e (initial)
pa
ca
kha
ra
sa
ta
na
e (medial) ai (init. & med.)
i, I (initial & medial)
pha
cha
With the exception of the signs for the sibilants sa and
sa-sa, which in consequence of modifications, introduced, it
[80] would seem, independently by the Hindus,1 resemble later
Aramaic characters, the Brahma letters closely agree with or
are most easily derivable from the old types of the North-Semitic
alphabet. And the Brahma initial vowels A and E as well as
the consonants kha, ga, gha, tha, dha, ba and va point to par-
ticularly archaic prototypes, while ha and ta appear to be con-
nected with somewhat modified forms. It would, therefore, seem
that the Semitic alphabet became known to the Hindus at a
period when the angle of its Aleph opened wide and the ver-
tical crossbar protruded about equally on the two sides, when
the top of Beth was still closed, when ga consisted of an angle
open below, when Daleth had not yet developed a tail, when
Waw consisted of a semicircular head with a vertical depending
from the middle, when Cheth had three bars, when Theth and
Ain were quite or nearly circular and Qoph had a round head
with a vertical hanging dowii from it, but when the simplified
He consisting only of three strokes had been developed and
the left half of the original crossbar of Taw had nearly or
quite disappeared.
1 See the remarks made above p. 67 under No 15 and p. 71 under No 21.
6*
84 Indian Studies. No III.
According to the dates of the Semitic inscriptions, which
can come into question, those of Mesa's stone and the Assyrian
weights, this period must fall somewhere between circiter 890
and 750 B. C., probably more towards the lower than the re-
moter of the two limits. Hence the terminus a quo for the
introduction of the prototypes of the Brahma letters lies between
the beginning of the ninth century and the middle of the
eighth, or about 800 B. C. And it seems to me that some fur-
ther considerations make it probable that their actual impor-
tation took place at this early time.
As the Brahma ha goes back to a form of He, which is
not found in any Phoenician alphabet, but occurs on the As-
syrian weights, where also a Taw very similar to the Brahma
ta is found, the conjecture seems not altogether improbable
that the Semitic alphabet may have come to India through
Mesopotamia. And it would agree with such an assumption
that passages in ancient Indian works prove the early exist-
ence of a navigation of the Indian Ocean and the somewhat
[81] later occurrence of trading voyages, undertaken by Hindu
merchants to the shores of the Persian Gulf and its rivers.
The now well known Baveru Jataka,1 to which Professor
Minayeff first drew attention, narrates that Hindu merchants
exported peacocks to Baveru. The identification of Baveru
with Babiru or Babylon is not doubtful, and according to what
has been said, above p. 16ff., regarding the age of the mate-
rials of the Jatakas, the story indicates that the Vanias of
Western India undertook trading voyages to the shores of the
Persian Gulf and of its rivers in the fifth, perhaps even in the
sixth century B. C., just as in our days. This trade very pro-
bably existed already in much earlier times. For the Jatakas
contain several other stories, describing voyages to distant
lands and perilous adventures by sea, in which the names
of the very ancient Western ports of £urparaka-Supara and
Bharukacha-Broach are occasionally mentioned. References to
sea-voyages are also found in two of the most ancient Dhar-
1 No 339, see Fausboll, Jatakas, Vol. Ill, p. 126 ff. It has been trans-
lated by Professor Rhys Davids in the Babylonian and Oriental Record,
Vol. Ill, p. 7ff.
IV. The Derivation of the Brahml. 85
masutras. Baudhayana,1 Dh. S. II, 2, 2, forbids them to the
orthodox Brahmans and prescribes a severe penance for a
transgression of the prohibition. But he admits, Dh. S. I, 2, 4,
that such transgressions were common among the "Northern-
ers", or strictly speaking, the Aryans living north of the
author's home, the Dravidian districts. The other forbidden
practices, mentioned in the same Sutra as customary among
the Northerners, such as the traffic in wool and in animals Avith
two rows of teeth, (horses, mules, etc.), leave no doubt that the
inhabitants of Western and Northwestern India are meant.
It follows as a matter of course that their trade was carried
on with Western Asia. The same author, Dh. 6. I. 18. 14 and
Gautama, X. 33 fix also the duties, payable by shipowners to
the king. Even from still earlier times there is the story of
a shipwreck, the scene of which must have been the Indian
[82] Ocean. Numerous hymns of the Rgveda mention the mighty
deed of the twin brethren, the Asvins, who saved Bhujyu, the
son of Tugra, from the sea, "where, as one account says,2
there is no support, no rest for the foot or the hand, after
he had ascended the hundred-oared galley," of the two deities.
-The later Vedic literature contains also a few evidently
Semitic legends, among which that of the Deluge and Manu's
preservation in a ship, built by the advice of a miraculous
fish, is the most noteworthy,3 and it is possible, that they may
have been brought over from Mesopotamia by the early Ind-
ian navigators and traders. But this is of course a mere pos-
1 Sacred Books of the East, Vol. XIV, pp. 146, 200, 217. Later Smrtis e. g.
Manu VIII, 157, give rules regarding marine insurance and other matters
referring to sea-borne trade. Moreover, Manu III, 156 declares a Brahman,
who has gone to sea, to be unworthy of entertainment at a Sraddha.
2 R. V. I, 116. 5, see also the larger St. Petersburg Dictionary sub voce
Bhujyu, and Prof. Oldenberg, Vedische Religion, p. 214. I quite agree
with Professor Oldenberg regarding the interpretation of the myth, but
I would not venture to infer from the deeds of the Asvins and of their
Greek representatives, the Dioskouroi, that the Indo-European race ori-
ginally dwelt near the sea.
3 I am glad to see that Professor Oldenberg, Vedische Religion, p. 276,
also declares this myth to be borrowed from a Semitic source, in spite
of Prof. M. Muller's and Prof. Lindner's attempts to make it an Indo-
Aryan invention.
86 Indian Studies. No III.
sibility, and other explanations of their occurrence in the Brah-
manical literature may be and have been, suggested. The pas-
sages, adduced above, are however sufficient to prove that the
Indo-Aryans began to navigate the Indian Ocean in very re-
mote times, and it is, therefore, quite imaginable that they
themselves imported the Semitic letters from Mesopotamia. l
Between this importation and the complete elaboration of
the Brahma alphabet there lay, however, in all probability a
prolonged period. This, I think, appears from the following
considerations. One of the undeniable results of the pre-
ceeding enquiry is that the Brahma alphabet must be con-
sidered the work of Brahmans, acquainted with phonetic and
grammatical theories. The Pandit's hand is clearly visible in
the arrangement of the letters, used by Asoka's masons at
Mahabodhi Gaya, according to their organic value as vowels,
diphthongs, nasalised vowel, vowel with the spirant, gutturals,
palatals and linguals. And it is also visible at a much earlier
stage, in the very formation of the alphabet. Nobody but a
[83] grammarian or phoneticist would have thought of deriving five
nasals, one for each class of the Indian consonants, from the two
Semitic prototypes and of inventing in addition a sign to denote
the nasalisation of vowels, the Anusvara, or of forming two
spirants, ha and the Visarga. Nobody but a Sanskrit grammar-
ian would express the initial U by half the sign for va,z and
the phonetically very different, but etymologically allied sa
and sa by modifications of one sign, or derive the initial 0 from
U, /from Es and la from c/a.4 And only a grammarian would
invent the peculiar system of notation for medial vowels,
which throughout marks the distinction between short and long-
ones5 omits the short a, and expresses the long a by adding to the
consonants the mark, used for differentiating A from -4, and the
remaining medial vowels by combinations of the initial vowel-
1 Compare the case of the Tibetan alphabet, the elements of which the
Tibetan Thon - mi or Sambhota is said to have imported from Magadha
between A. D. 630—660, Jour. As. Soc. Bengal, vol. LVII, p. 41 f.
2 See above p. 74.
8 See above p. 66 f.
4 See above p. 77.
5 See Wackernagel, Altindische Grammatik, vol. I, p. LVII, Note 3.
IV. The Derivation of the Brahml. 87
signs, or of modifications thereof, with the consonants. This
is so complicated and so highly artificial that only a Brahman's
or Pandit's ingenuity can have worked it out.
There are also very good reasons for alleging that an Ind-
ian alphabet, elaborated by traders or other men of business,
clerks and accountants, would never have possessed a single
medial vowel. For until a very recent period, within the last fifty
years, the Indian traders never used any medial vowels in their
books or in their correspondence. Almost every child in Gujarat
knows the story of the letter,1 sent by a Vanio to his relatives,
which caused great grief and lamentation owing to the want of
the vowel signs. The letter, it is said, contained the following pas-
sage: oficfi ^n?T *re ^^R ^efi ere; W H On seeing it, the reci-
pients at once began to lament loudly. They interpreted it to
mean:— cfrptfr ^TT5T jpft *T%T ^% ^!TWt f% % "Uncle died to-
day and aunt beats her breast." A sympathising neighbour
inquired for the cause of the wailing. On being shown the
letter, he remarked that the outside did not bear the usual
superscription of announcements of deaths, viz. "Strip and
[84] read",2 and he suggested that the missive might be read: —
SRTSfit ^r5T*fK *nft ^ ^iTWt ^te % "Uncle has gone to Aj-
mlr and aunt is at Kot." On further enquiry this proved to
be correct.
The progress of vernacular education and the action of
the English lawcourts and of the native princes has of late
changed these habits of the mercantile classes. As the law-
courts refuse to take ledgers written without vowel-signs as'
legal evidence, as the native princes follow suit,3 and as the
schools now teach composition, the Vanias and accountants write
1 The story is a regular Indian "Joe Miller", and is commonly told by
the masters to the schoolboys. Dr. G. A. Grierson informs me that a
similar story is current in the Bengal Presidency.
2 A Hindu becomes impure on hearing of the death of a relative and is
obliged to throw away the clothes, which he wears when the news of
such an event comes. In order to obviate unnecessary loss, the announ-
cements of deaths bear on the outside the words, given above.
3 In 1875 Maharaja Ranbirsingh of Kasmlr told me that he had weaned
his clerks from the bad habit of writing their Takkarl or Dogra cha-
racters without vowels by refusing to pass accounts written in this
manner.
88 Indian Studies. No III.
at present more frequently in the same manner as the Brah-
mans do and have done always and almost without exception.1
With such propensities prevailing among the business
people of modern times, it is difficult to believe that those be-
longing to a very remote antiquity would have acted differently
and would have framed for their writing a vowel-system which
their descendants discarded. Nevertheless — though the Brah-
man schoolmen undoubtedly have framed the Brahma alpha-
bet,— the introduction of its elements, the Semitic signs, into
India is presumably due to the merchant class.2 For the Va-
nias naturally came most into contact with foreign nations.
Moreover, they were the men who most urgently wanted a
means for perpetuating the record of their daily transactions,
while the Brahmans possessed since very early times the sys-
tem of oral instruction for preserving their literary composi-
[85] tions and for teaching them to their pupils, to which they
have always adhered. Traces of the existence of this system are
found, as Professor Max Miiller has already pointed out, even
in the Rgveda, in the famous Frog - hymn, R.V., VII, 103,
5, where it is said of the bull-frogs, that the one imitates the
cry of the other, "just as a pupil repeats the words of his
teacher". Its full development, which is found in the later
Vedic works, both the Brahmanas and the Vedangas and has
been described repeatedly,3 must certainly be as early as
the period when the Semitic letters can have been imported,
or even more ancient. With this system the Brahmans can-
not have felt the necessity for writing so strongly as the men
of business, and it is also for this reason improbable that they
should have been the first Hindus who practised writing. Nay,
1 I have seen one Gujaratl inscription without vowels, which may be due
to a Brahman. It is incised on the right hand gate post of the temple
of Dharanldhar at Dehema in Northwestern Gujarat and omitting the
date, runs thus: rf^ T TffST ^cf T *R T T^ f T II Its meaning
was interpreted to me, as follows: rf^^T'H' '''fit^T ^Tpf^ % ^T^'fl'
TT^h" TTrWl "The Musalman army^came and the Rao of Vav was
defeated."
2 See also Westergaard, Zwei Abhandlungen, p. 37 f.
8 M. Miiller, History of Ancient Sanskrit Literature, p. 503 ff., compare
also A. Weber, Indische Studien, X, p. 128ff.
IV. The Derivation of the Brahml. 89
it may be even doubted whether they cared to undertake the
adaptation of the foreign invention very soon after it had be-
come known to the mercantile class.
Further, when they undertook it, the evolution of the 46
signs of the Brahml lipi from the 22 Semitic characters cannot
have been accomplished very quickly. The evidence of the
Bhattiprolu alphabet shows that in the case of several letters
more attempts than one were made, and the alphabet of the
Edicts, the ordinary Brahml lipi, likewise bears witness that
the signs were invented gradually. As has been pointed out
above, the dental dha yielded, by a slight transposition of one
of its lines, the dental da, from this the lingual da was derived
by the omission of the lower vertical stroke, and from the
lingual da came, by the addition of a curve, the lingual dha,
as well as, by the addition of the semicircle, the lingual la.
The series of the derivatives from va, from the dental tha,
the dental na, the Bhattiprolu s and from the initial E are
similarly complicated. It is incredible that in these cases the
whole series of derivatives should have been invented at one
time or even in quick succession, though no doubt the Brah-
mans had their system of phonetics, based on spoken works,
to guide them and to help them on.
[86] It would thus seem that a not inconsiderable interval
must lie between the first importation of the Semitic letters and
the complete elaboration of the Brahma alphabet. First the im-
ported characters remained in the hands of the traders and
the men of business, during which period, as perhaps may be
inferred from the treatment of the Arabic letters during the
Mahommedan period, none or very slight modifications were
introduced. Next came the transference of the foreign invention
to the Brahmans and finally its adaptation to the wants of the
Sanskrit language.
These considerations certainly show that the introduction
of the Semitic letters must fall centuries before the period when
the Brahma alphabet was in general use, i. e. 500 B. C. or
thereabouts. -And they thus confirm the approximate date,
deduced above from the age of the Semitic signs, which ap-
pear to have been the prototypes of the Indian modifications.
This date, I repeat, is merely approximate and I may add,
90 Indian Studies. No III.
provisional. New finds of ancient Semitic or Indian inscriptions
may, and very likely will, alter it. And I should not be sur-
prised, if such discoveries forced us to put the terminus a quo
for the introduction of the Semitic characters into India earlier
than is advisable on the evidence, available at present.
Finally, the fact that the Brahma alphabet is the work of
the Brahmans has also, it seems to me, a certain bearing on the
vexed question whether in ancient times writing was used for liter-
ary purposes. I believe that it enables us to answer this question
in the affirmative, of course with certain reservations. For the
Brahmans, though often considered mere dreamers, are in re-
ality very practical people, who, as far as my observation goes,
do not take and never have taken trouble with anything that
does not serve their purposes. As they adapted the Semitic
letters to the wants of their sacred language in a very thorough
manner, I consider it certain that they also utilised their in-
vention at once for their special aims, the cultivation of learn-
ing, and that they committed at least their scientific composi-
tions to writing. It is not necessary, nor even probable, that
in early times the MSS. were used otherwise than esoterically,
as auxiliaries for composition and for the preservation of the
texts, much in the manner suggested by Geheimrath von Bb'ht-
lingk, Professor Whitney and Dr. Burnell.1
Their Mantras and other sacred compositions may have
remained unwritten somewhat longer. That is no more than
might be expected, as the Brahmans had a great interest in
[87] keeping their "great medicine" secret. And there are also
several indications to this effect, such as the imprecations
against copyists of the Veda and the general feeling, even
among the heterodox sectarians, that sacred books ought to be
preserved only orally.
The Southern Bauddhas and the Jainas give expression
to this feeling by asserting that their sacred books were written
only many centuries after their composition. But it may be doubted,
whether their dates are always quite correct. The occurrence
of a petaki (literally "a Pitaka-possessor") a monk who knows
one or more Pitakas (see above p. 18), certainly proves that the
1 See Elements of South-Indian Palaeography, p. 10 and compare also the
Grundriss, I, 11, p. 3 f.
IV. The Derivation of the Brahml. 91
Buddhist scriptures were written, when the Bharahut Stupa was
built. Pitaka is only ca basket' or 'a box' and corresponds to
the modern dabado of cardboard or wood in which the Jainas
usually keep the MSS. of their parish libraries. As soon as the
Buddhists divided their scriptures into Pitakas,1 they must of
course have been written. If, as I believe, the inscription of the
petaki, which shows the same characters as the Edicts, be-
longs approximately to the same time as the latter, the traditional
date of the Ceylonese Buddhists, who say that their Canon was
first committed to writing about 88 B. C., must be considerably
wrong. The oldest MSS., actually found, are probably the
birch bark leaves, inscribed with Kharosthi letters, from the
topes of the Panjab.3 Next comes the Bower MSS. with the
characters of the oldest Gupta inscriptions, then follow the
Horiuzi palmleaf, the Bakhshali MS., the Cambridge Collection
from Nepal and the Bombay Collections of Jaina MSS. Older
documents than are accessible at present, both on birchbark
or palmleaves and on stone or metal, will no doubt be found,
as soon as the old historical sites of India are excavated in a
thorough and rational manner.
1 The term pitaka occurs in one of the latest portions of the Vinaya, the
Parivara, I, 1 (Oldenberg Vinaya pitaka, vol. V, p. 3), where also a tipe-
takl is mentioned.
2 Though often appealed to in proof of the late use of writing for literary
purposes (see e. g. Sacred Books of the East, vol. XIII, p. XXX Vff.), this
assertion of the Dipavamsa and Mahavamsa is, I fear, not worth much
more than the contradictory story of the Chinese Buddhists. The Chinese
boldly assert that the Canon was written on palm leaves immediately
after Buddha's death (Grundriss, I, 11, p. 89) and that in A. D. 489
a MS. of the Vinaya was extant, which bore 975 dots, marking the number
of the readings at the annual Pavarana since the time of Upali, who is
said to have entered the first dot (Jour. R. As. Soc., 1896, p. 436 f.). Like
similar, certainly incorrect, stories of the Brahmans and others regarding
their scriptures, the tradition of the two Pali chronicles may be taken
merely as the product of the well founded belief that the Buddhists,
imitating the Brahmans, preserved their scriptures orally for a prolonged
period. But even if it is considered to be historical, it refers only tc
Ceylon not to India.
8 One small fragment with the letters mi, dha and ya (?) is figured in
H. H. Wilson's Ariana Antiqua, Plate III, No 11.
Appendix I.
The Origin of the Kharosthl Alphabet.
[44] *• Though the origin of the Kharosthl alphabet is much
easier to explain than the derivation of the Brahml and though
the general lines for the enquiry have already been settled by
others, yet a somewhat fuller review of the whole question,
than the narrow compass of my Grundriss der indischen Pa-
laeographie permits, will perhaps not be superfluous. The very
considerable progress, which has been achieved, is chiefly due
to the discussions of the Kharosthl by Mr. E. Thomas in his
edition of Prinsep's Essays, vol. II, p. 147 ff., by Dr. Isaac
Taylor in The Alphabet, vol. II, p. 256 ff., and by Sir A. Cun-
ningham, who has also settled the value of many of its signs,
in his book on The Coins of Ancient India, p. 3 Iff.
Sir A. Cunningham's remarks refer to the first point which
requires consideration in all questions of this kind, viz. the
true character of the script, the origin of which is to be deter-
mined. He has emphatically recalled to the memory of the
palaeographists that the Kharosthl is an Indian alphabet, and
by an ingenious utilisation of his finds of ancient coins in the
ruins of Taxila he has shown that the Kharosthl held always,
during the whole period for which epigraphic evidence is avail-
able, only a secondary position by the side of the Brahma al-
phabet even in Northwestern India. It is rather curious that
the reminder regarding the essentially Indian character of the
alphabet should have been necessary, as even a superficial
1 The bracketed figures refer to the pages of the first edition of this
article in the Wiener Zeitschrift fiir die Kunde des Morgenlandes, (Vienna
Oriental Journal) vol. IX.
The Origin of the Kharosthl Alphabet. 93
considera- [45] tion of its letters teaches that lesson. Its full
system of palatals and linguals cannot be designed for any
other language than Sanskrit or an ancient Prakrit, the only
forms of speech which possess five sounds of each of the two
classes mentioned. If this has been sometimes forgotten and
even Bactria has been considered as the cradle of the Kharosthl,
the cause is no doubt the loose way in which it used to be
called the "Bactrian, Bactro-Pali or Indo-Bactrian" alphabet,
which appellations are due to its occurrence on the coins of
Greek kings, who, originally ruling over Bactria, conquered
portions of Northwestern India. Sir A. Cunningham very pro-
perly points out, op. cit, p. 35, that not a single Kharosthl
inscription has been found north of the Hindu Kush and that
in Bactria a different alphabet seems to have been used. He
further proposes to substitute for "Indo-Bactrian" the Indian
term "Gandharian", which would have been suitable in every
way, if in the mean time the old Indian name had not been
found. The districts, in which the largest number of Kharosthl
inscriptions have been found, are situated roughly speaking
between 69°— 73°, 30' E. L. and 33°— 35° N. L., while single
inscriptions have turned up southwest near Multan, south at
Mathura and east at Kangra, and single letters or single words
even at Bharahut, in Ujjain and in Maisur. This tract, to
which the Kharosthl inscriptions of the third century B. C.
are exclusively confined, corresponds to the Gandhara country
of ancient India, the chief towns of which were Puskalavatl-
Hashtnagar to the west of the Indus and Taxila or Shah Deri to
the east of the river. And it is here, of course, that the
Kharosthl alphabet must have originated.
In addition, Sir A. Cunningham has shown that the Kha-
rosthl held always a secondary position and was used even in
the earliest times side by side with the Brahmi. This is proved
by the evidence of his coins from Taxila, several of which
bear only Brahma inscriptions or Kharosthl and Brahma in-
scriptions, with letters of the type of Asoka's Edicts. The an-
alysis of the legends, which I have given ante p. 48 f., shows
that those of four types have been issued by traders' guilds
and that one is probably a tribal [46] coin, belonging to a sub-
division of the Asvakas or Assakenoi, who occupied portions
94 Appendix I.
of the western bank of the Indus at the time of Alexander's
invasion. This result considerably strengthens Sir A. Cun-
ningham's position, as it indicates a popular use of the Brahma
alphabet in the very home of the Kharosthl.
The next step which is required, is to find the class of
alphabets, to which the prototypes of the Kharosthl belonged.
This problem is settled, as Mr. Thomas has first pointed out,
by the close resemblance of the signs for na, lia, va and ra
to, or identity with, the Nun, Beth, Waw and Resh of the
transitional Aramaic alphabet, and requires no further discussion.
Then comes the question, how the Hindus of Northwestern
India can have become acquainted with the Aramaic characters
and which circumstances may have induced them to utilise
these signs for the formation of a new alphabet. Dr. Taylor,
The Alphabet, vol. II, p. 261 f., answers this by the suggestion
that the Akhaemenian conquest of Northwestern India, which
occurred not very long before B. C. 500 and led to a pro-
longed occupation, probably carried the Aramaic or, as he
calls it, the Iranian, Persian or Bactrian, alphabet into the
Panjab and caused its naturalisation in that province. Though
it seems to me, just as to Sir A. Cunningham, impossible to
accept Dr. Taylor's reasoning in all its details, I believe with
Sir A. Cunningham that he has found the true solution of this
part of the problem. For even if the doubtful and often disputed 1
conquest of western Gandhara by Cyrus about B. C. 530 and
the equally doubtful and disputed continuance of its occupation
during the reign of Cambyses were historical, the introduction
of the Aramaean letters into the Indian province could only
date from the reign of Darius. According to all accounts Darius
first organised the administration of the Akhaemenian empire
and first sent Satraps with their staff of subordinate officials
into the provinces. It is obvious that only such an administra-
tive organisation could cause the spread of the official alphabet
in the remoter portions of the empire.
One argument in his favour is the occurrence of the Old
Persian word dipi "writing, edict" in the Northwestern versions
1 Disputed e. g. by Lassen, Niese, J. Oppert and G. Rawlinson, assumed to
be historical by Droysen, Dunker and others.
The Origin of the Kharosthl Alphabet. 95
of the Edicts and of its derivatives dipati "he writes" and
dipapati "he causes to write", which are not found in any
other Indian language. Dipi is undoubtedly as Dr. Taylor
himself has stated an Old Persian loanword, and all the three
words mentioned point to a Persian influence, dating from the
Akhaemenian period. And the Sanskrit and Pali lipi or libi
"writing, written document", which does not occur in the Vedic
and Epic literature, nor in the ancient works of the Buddhist
Canon of Ceylon, but appears first in Sutras of Panini, a na-
tive of Gandhara (traditional date circiter 350 B. C.), furnishes the
same [47] indication, since in all probability, as Dr. Burnell con-
jectured, it is a corruption of di-pi, favoured by a fancied connexion
with the verb lip, limpati "he smears" (see above, 21 f.). Equally
valuable is a second point, the fact that the territory of the
Kharosthl corresponds very closely with the extent of the por-
tion of India, presumably held by the Persians. Dr. Taylor
and Sir A. Cunningham very justly lay stress on the statement
of Herodotus (III, 94, 96) who asserts that the Persian satrapy
of India paid a tribute of 360 talents of gold dust. They na-
turally infer that the Indian possessions of the Akhaemenians
must have been of considerable extent, as well as that they must
have included the greater portion of the Panjab.
But there remain still two gaps which must needs be
filled up. The Akhaemenian theory requires it to be shown
that the ancient Persians actually used the Aramaic letters and
that peculiar circumstances existed which compelled the Hindus
to use these letters. The second point is at present particularly
important, because the literary evidence regarding the use of
writing in India1 (with which the epigraphic evidence fully
agrees) proves that the Hindus were by no means unlettered
in the fifth and sixth centuries B. C., but possessed and exten-
sively used an alphabet, which probably was a form of the
Brahmi lipi. As long as it was possible to maintain that the
Hindus became acquainted with the art of writing not earlier
than 400 B. C., it was, of course, easy to understand, that the
use of the Aramaic letters by the conquerors of Northwestern
India should have acted as a natural incentive for their Hindu
1 Ante p. 5ff.
96 Appendix I.
subjects to form out of these characters an alphabet suited
for their own language. But the case becomes different, if it
must be admitted that the Hindus possessed already a script
of their own before the Persian conquest. With this admission
it becomes neccessary to show that there were special circum-
stances which forced them to use the alphabet of their conquerors.
Both the points just discussed are explained, it seems to
me, by certain discoveries, made of late years in Semitic pa-
laeography. M. Clermont-Ganneau's important articles in the
Revue archeologique [48] of 1878 and 1879 have shown that
the Aramaic language and writing, which already in the times
of the Assyrian empire occur in contracts and on the official
standard weights, were frequently employed for official cor-
respondence, accounts and other official purposes during the
rule of the Akhaemenian kings in many different provinces
of their empire. Egypt has furnished Aramaic inscriptions on
stones and potsherds as well as Aramaic Papyri, addressed to
Persian governors; in western Asia and in Arabia both inscrip-
tions and numerous Satrap coins with Aramaic legends have
been found, and even Persia has yielded an Aramaic inscription
(of which unfortunately no trustworthy facsimile exists) at Senq-
Qaleh, midway between Tabriz and Teheran.1 And, I may
add, there is also a scrap of literary evidence to the same
effect. A statement in the Book of Ezra IV. 7, points to the
conclusion that the Aramaic language and writing was well-
known in the Imperial chancellerie at Susa. For it is said that
a letter, addressed by the Samaritans to Artaxerxes, "was
written", as the Revised Version of the Bible has it, "in the
Syrian (character) and in the Syrian tongue". The Samaritans
would hardly have adopted the "Aramlt" in addressing their
liege lord, if it had not been commonly used in official cor-
respondence, sent out from, or into, the Imperial Secretariat.2
1 See Ph. Berger, Histoire de VEcriture dans VAntiquite, p. 218ff., where
M. Berger pertinently remarks with respect to the last inscription, that
it puts us on the road to India.
2 As Prof. Euting kindly points out to me, a similar inference has already
been drawn from the above passage by the authors of the Kurzgef. Com-
mentar z. d. heil. Schriften d. N. u. A. Test., hg. v. H. Strack und O.
Zockler; Alt. Test, Abth. 8, p. 159.
The Origin of the Kharosthi Alphabet. 97
The custom itself, no doubt, has to be explained by a strong
infusion of Aramaeans, or of men trained in the learning of
the Aramaeans, in the lower grades of the Persian Civil Ser-
vice, among the scribes, accountants, treasurers and mint-masters,
and this is no more than might be expected, when a race like
the Persian suddenly comes into the possession of a very large
empire and becomes the heir of an older civilisation.
Under these circumstances it appears natural to assume
that the Persian Satraps carried with them also into India their
staff of [49] subordinates, who were accustomed to the use of
the Aramaean letters and language. And this would fully ex-
plain, how the Hindus of the Indo-Persian provinces were
driven to utilise the characters, commonly employed by the
scribes and accountants of their conquerors, though they al-
ready possessed a script of their own. The Kharosthi alphabet
would appear to be the result of the intercourse between the
offices of the Satraps and of the native authorities, the Indian
chiefs and the heads of towns and villages, whom, as the ac-
counts of the state of the Panjab at the time of Alexander's
invasion show, the Persians left in possession in consideration
of the payment of their tribute. The Hindus probably used at
first the pure Aramaic characters, just as in much later times
they adopted the Arabic writing for a number of their dialects,
and they introduced in the course of time the modifications,
observable in the Kharosthi alphabet, for which process the
additions to the Arabic alphabet, employed for writing Hindi,
furnish an analogy, perhaps not perfect but nevertheless worthy
of notice.
In support of these conjectural combinations three further
points may be adduced. First, the Kharosthi alphabet is not
a Pandit's, but a clerk's, alphabet. This appears to me evident
from the cursive appearance of the signs, which has been fre-
quently noticed by others, from its (according to Indian views)
imperfect vowel-system, which includes no long vowels, from
the employment of the Anusvara for the notation of all nasals
before consonants and from the almost constant substitution of
single consonants for double ones. The expression of all long
vowels by separate signs, which occurs in no other ancient
alphabet but the Brahml lipi, was no doubt natural and de-
Buhl er, Indian Studies. III. 7
98 Appendix I.
sirable for the phoneticists or grammarians, who developed that
alphabet.1 But it is a useless encumbrance for men of business,
whose aim is rather the expeditious despatch of work than
philological or phonetic accuracy. Hence, even the Indian
clerks and men of business using the Brahml, have never paid
much attention to their correct use, though they were in- [50]
structed by Brahmans in the principles of their peculiar alphabet.2
If, therefore, these signs, which have only a value for school-
men, do not occur in the Kharosthl, the natural inference is
that this alphabet was framed by persons who paid regard
only to the requirements of ordinary life. The other two pecu-
liarities mentioned, the substitution of the Anusvara for all na-
sals, standing before consonants, and the substitution of ka for
kka, of ta for fta and so forth and of kha for likha, of dha
for ddha and so forth, are clearly the devices of clerks, who
wished to get quickly through their work. If thus the Kha-
rosthl appears to be an alphabet, framed with particular regard
to the wants of clerks, that agrees with and confirms the as-
sumption, put forward above, according to which it arose out
of the official intercourse between the scribes of the Satraps
and those of the native chiefs or other authorities.
More important, however, is the second point, which is
intimately connected with the details of the derivation of the
Kharosthl. The originals of the Kharosthl letters are, it seems
to me, to be found in the Aramaic inscriptions, incised during
the rule of the earlier Akhaemenian kings. The whole ductus
of the Kharosthl with its long verticals or slanting downstrokes
is that of the Saqqarah inscription of 482 B. C. and the pro-
bably contemporaneous larger Teima inscription, which Pro-
fessor Euting assigns to circiter'bQO B. C. It is also in these
inscriptions that most of the forms occur, which apparently
have served as models for the corresponding letters of the
Kharosthl. One or perhaps two seem to rest on forms found
in the somewhat later Lesser Teima, Serapeum and Stele Vati-
cana inscriptions, while three are connected with .older letters
on the Assyrian Weights and the Seals and Gems from Babylon.
1 Ante p. 86 f.
2 Ante p. 43 f., note 3.
The Origin of the Kharosthi Alphabet. 99
The accompanying Comparative Table, Plate II,1 illustrates
the details of the derivation, as I understand it. Cols. I and II have
been reproduced by photozincography from Professor Euting's
Tabula Scripturae [51] Aramaicae, Argentorati 1892, and give
the twenty Aramaic signs, which, as I believe, have been uti-
lised by the Hindus, Theth and Ain being rejected by them.2
In Col. I the fat signs belong to the Teinia inscription (Euting,
Col. 9) with the exception of No 1, I, b and No 9, I, b— c,
which come from the Stele Vaticana (Euting, Col. 12). The
thin signs have been taken from the Saqqarah inscription
(Euting, Col. 11) with the exception of No 4, I, a; No 9, I, a;
No 10, 1, b and No 20, I, a, which are from the Assyrian
Weights and the Babylonian Seals and Gems (Euting, Cols. 6,
8), as well as of No 17, I, a — b, which are from the Serapemn
inscription (Euting, Col. 12), and of No 10, I, a, which Pro-
fessor Euting has kindly added on .once more looking over
the Babylonian Aramaic inscriptions.3
The signs of Col. II have all been taken from Professor
Euting's Cols. 14 — 17, and represent the chief types on the
Aramaic Papyri, which M. J. Halevy4 and others believe to
be the prototypes of the Kharosthi. They have been given in
my Table chiefly in order to show that they are not suited
for the derivation. Col. Ill gives the oldest forms of the bor-
rowed Kharosthi letters according to Tafel I of my Grundriss
der Indischen Palaographie, and Col. IV with the signs, which
I consider to be derivatives invented by the Hindus, comes
from the same source.
1 Arranged by Dr. W. Cartellieri and etched by Messrs. Angerer & Goschl
of Vienna.
2 According to Dr. Taylor these two characters are also, reflected in the
Kharosthi. But the sign opposite Theth in his Table, The Alphabet,
vol. II, p. 236, is a late vra, and Ain, cannot be 0, as he doubtfully
suggests. M. Halevy identifies Theth with the letter, which used to be
read tha, but is in reality tha and a derivative from fa, see below.
3 In this as well as in other respects I have to acknowledge Professor
Euting's kind assistance, who sacrificed a good deal of time in order to
verify the Semitic signs, which I had selected for comparison, in the
Plates of the Corp. Inscr. Sem. and carefully went with me through my
Table during a personal interview in Strassburg.
4 Journ. Asiatique 1885, p. 251 ff.
7*
100 Appendix I.
Before I proceed to give my remarks on the details of
the derivation, I will restate the general principles which have
to be kept in mind for this and all other similar researches.
[52] (1) The oldest actually occurring signs of the alphabet
to be derived (in this case the Kharosthi) have to be compared
with the supposed prototypes (in this case actually occurring
Aramaic signs) of the same period (in this case of ca. 500 — 400
B. C.).
(2) Only such irregular equations of signs are admissible
as can be supported by analogies from other cases, where
nations are known to have borrowed foreign alphabets. Thus
it is not permissible to identify the Kharosthi sign for ja with
the Aramaic ga on account of a rather remote resemblance
between what the modern researches have shown to be a se-
condary form of the Kharosthi palatal media and the guttural
media of the Aramaeans.
(3) The comparison must show that there are fixed prin-
ciples of derivation.
The latter are given chiefly by the unmistakable tenden-
cies underlying the formation of the Kharosthi signs,
(1) A very decided predilection for forms, consisting of
long vertical or slanting lines with appendages added do the
upper portion,
(2) An antipathy against such with appendages at the
foot of the verticals, which in no case allows a letter to con-
sist of a vertical with an appendage at the foot alone;
(3) An aversion against heads of letters, consisting of
more than two lines rising upwards, as well as against top
lines encumbered with transverse or pendant strokes.
These tendencies required two Aramaic letters, Lamed,
(No 11, I and III) and Shin (No 19, I and III) to be turned
topsy-turvy, and caused in the Shin the development of a long
vertical out of the short central stroke, as well as mutilations
of some other signs. And it would seem that the aversion
against appendages at the foot is probably due to the desire
to keep the lower ends of the matrkds free for the addition
of the medial u, the Anusvara and the ra-strokes which are
ordinarily added here, while the top lines were kept free from
transverse or pendant lines on account of the signs for medial
The Origin of the Kharosthl Alphabet. 101
i, e and o. Some other changes, such as turnings from the
right to the left, have been made in order to avoid collisions
with other signs, while again other rnodifi- [53] cations are purely
cursive or due to considerations of convenience in writing.
As regards the details, I have to offer the following re-
marks regarding the Borrowed Signs.
No 1. The identity of A with AUpli is evident enough
(Thomas, Taylor, Halevy). The long stretched shape of the
Kharosthl letter, which leans to the right, makes it in my
opinion more probable that it is a simplification of a sign like
that from the Saqqarah inscription in Col. I, a, than that it
should be connected with the diminutive letters in Col. I, b
and in Col. II, which are inclined the other way.
No 2. Ba is, of course, a slightly modified form of the
Beth in Col. I, a— b (Thomas, Taylor and Halevy). The up-
ward bulge next to the vertical has been introduced in order
to make the letter with one stroke of the pen, and the bent
line at the foot is represented by a prolongation of the vertical
in accordance with the principle stated above. The Beth of
the Papyri (when cursive forms are used as in Col. II, b — c
and in Professor Euting's Col. 15 b — c, 16 b— d) is more ad-
vanced than the Kharosthl ba.
No 3. The identity of ga (Col. Ill) with Gimel (Cols. I
and II) has been recognised by Dr. Taylor alone. The loop
on the right has been caused by the desire to make the letter
with one stroke of the pen. It may be pointed out as an an-
alogy that in the late Kharosthl of the first and second cen-
turies A. D. cursive loops are common in ligatures with ra
and ya and that there is a looped /a, exactly resembling a ga,
on the Bimaran vase in the word Mumjavata. The Aramaic
prototype may possibly have been set up straighter than the
forms given in Cols. I and II, and it may be noted that such
forms occur already on the Mesa stone and in other old in-
scriptions, see Euting, Cols. 1 and 3.
No 4. Da (Col. Ill) comes, as has been asserted by all
my predecessor's, from a Daleth like that in Col. I, a, which is
found, as Professor Euting informs me, already on an Assyrian
Weight of circiter 600 B. C. The cursive simplification of this
letter was therefore ancient in Mesopotamia. It re-occurs in
102 Appendix I.
the Papyri, with a slight [54] modification, compare especially
Euting, Col. 14 b. The hook at the foot of the da, (Col. Ill, b),
which occurs twice in the Asoka Edicts and survives in the
later inscriptions, seems to have been added in order to distinguish
the letter from na (No 13, III, a).
No 5. The identity of ha (Col. Ill) with He has not been
recognised hitherto. But it seems to me derived from a round
He, like the Teima form in Col. I, a, with the transposition
of the central vertical to the lower right end of the curve,
which is particularly clear in the letter, given in Col. Ill, b,
a not uncommon form in the Asoka Edicts. A similar trans-
position of an inconvenient pendant, due to the consideration
for the medial i, e and o, will be noticed below under No 17.
The He of the Papyri, though not rarely round at the top,
shows nearly always a continuation of the central bar on the
outside of the topline, and hence is less suitable for comparison.
No 6. Va has preserved, as all previous writers have
acknowledged, exactly the form of the Waw in the Teima in-
scription, which re-occurs on various later documents as the
Ostraka from Elephantine and the Cilician Satrap coins, and
which is foreshadowed by the letter of the ancient Assyrian
Weights in Euting's Tabula Col. 6. The Papyri again offer a more
advanced round form, which is common in the Kharosthl in-
scriptions, incised during the first and second centuries of
our era.
No 7. Dr. Taylor alone derives ja. (Col. Ill, a — b) from
Zain, apparently relying on the similar Pehlevi letter. The
form in Col. Ill, a, which is found repeatedly1 in the Mansehra
version and survives in the legends of the Indo-Grecian and
Saka coins, is, however, without doubt the oldest, and derived
from a Zain, like those of the Teima inscription (Col. I, a— b)
in which the upper bar has been turned into a bent stroke
with a hook rising upwards at the left end. In the second ja
(Col. Ill, b) the lower bar has been dropped in order to keep
the foot of the sign free. The Pehlevi letter probably is an
analogous development. The Zain of the Papyri (Col. II) is
*' Edict IK, 9 in raja, IV, 16 in raja, V, 19 in raja, V, 24 in praja,
VIII, 35 in raja, XII, 1 in raja.
The Origin of the Kharosthi Alphabet. 103
again [55] much more advanced and unfit to be considered
the original of the Kharosthi sign.
No 8. With respect to the representative of the Cheth I
differ from all my predecessors. The Aramaic letter, such as
it is found in the Saqqarah inscription (Col. I, a — c), in Teima
and various other documents1 is exactly the same as. the Kha-
rosthi palatal sibilant sa. The pronunciation of the Indian sa
comes very close to the German ch in ich, lick etc.,2 and
hence the utilisation of the otherwise redundant Cheth for the
expression of sa appears to me perfectly regular and normal.
No 9. The derivation of ya (Col. Ill) from the Aramaic
Yod has been generally assumed, and it has been noticed that
the Kharosthi sign is identical with the late Palmyrenian and
Pehlevi forms (Euting, Cols. 21—25, 30—32, 35—39, 58), which
of course are independent analogous developments, as well as
that it resembles the Yod of the Papyri (Col. II, c and Euting,
Cols. 14 — 17), where however the centre of the letter is mostly
filled in with ink. Still closer comes the first sign (Col. II, b)
from the Stele Vaticana, and it may be that a form like the
latter is the real prototype. But I think the possibility is not
precluded, that the Kharosthi ya may be an Indian modification
of a form like the more ancient Assyrian Aramaic sign in
Col. I, a, which differs only by the retention of the second bar
at the right lower end. The rejection of this bar was necessary
in accordance with the principles of the Kharosthi, stated above,
and may therefore be put down as an Indian modification.
The height of the Kharosthi ya seems to indicate that its pro-
totype had not yet been reduced to the diminutive size, which
it usually has in the Papyri, but which is not yet observable
in the otherwise differing letters of the Teima and Saqqfirah
inscriptions.
No 10. The connexion of ka (Col. Ill) with the Aramaic
Kaph is asserted by M. J. Halevy, but he compares the sign
of the Papyri [56] (Col. II), which is very dissimilar. I think,
there can be no doubt that the Kharo.sthT letter is a modification
1 It occurs even in the Papyri though these offer mostly more advanced,
rounded forms.
2 Prof. A. Kuhn long ago expressed his belief that etymologic-ally An is
derived from ka through a palatal %a.
104 Appendix I.
of the Babylonian Kaph in Col. I, b, which was turned round
in order to avoid a collision with la and further received the
little bar at the top for the sake of clearer distinction from pa.
The sign in Col. I, a, which likewise comes from Babylon, has
been added in order to show the development of that in Col. I, b,
from the oldest form.
No 11. Lamed, consisting of a vertical with an appendage
at the foot had, as stated above, to be turned topsy-turvy in
order to yield the Kharosthi la, with which Dr. Taylor and
M. Halevy have identified it. Moreover, the curve which then
stood at the top was converted into a broken line1 and at-
tached a little below the top of the vertical, in order to avoid
a collision with A. The signs of the Papyri (Col. II) are mostly
far advanced and cursive, so that they can not be considered
the prototypes of the Kharosthi la.
No 12. The Kharosthi ma (Col. Ill, a— c) is, as has been
generally recognised, not much more than the head of the
Aramaic Mem in Col. I. The first two forms, which are common
in Asoka's Edicts and the second of which occurs also on the
Lido-Grecian coins, still show remnants of the side-stroke and
of the central vertical or slanting stroke. But they have been
placed on the left instead of on the right. The mutilation of
the letter is no doubt due, as has been suggested by others,
to the introduction of the vowel signs, which would have given
awkward forms, and the fact of the mutilation is indicated
by its size, as it is always much smaller than the other
Kharosthi signs. The curved head appears in the Saqqarah
Mem, which I have chosen for comparison, as well as on Ba-
bylonian Seals and Gems (Euting, Col. 8, e) and in the Car-
pentras inscription (Euting, Col. 13, c), and the later forms
from Palmyra prove that it must have been common. The
Mem of the Papyri are again much more cursive and unsuited
for comparison.
[57] No 13. Regarding na (Col. Ill, a), which is clearly the
Nun of the Saqqarah (Col. I, a— b) Teima, Assyrian and Ba-
bylonian inscriptions, it need be only pointed out that the
1 The la of the Edicts almost invariably shows the broken line. The
later inscriptions offer instead a curve open below.
The Origin of the Kharosthi Alphabet. 105
forms of the Papyri .are also in this case further advanced
than those of the Kharosthl. The na, given in Col. HI, b, is
a peculiar Indian development, rather rare in the Asoka Edicts.
No 14. The identity of sa with the Aramaic Samech (Col. I)
has hitherto not been recognised. Nevertheless the not uncom-
mon form of sa with the polygonal or angular head, given in
Col. Ill, permits us to assert that also in this case the Gan-
dharians used for the notation of their dental sibilant the sign
which one would expect to be employed for the purpose. The
top stroke and the upper portion of the right side of the Kha-
rosthl sa correspond very closely to the upper hook of the
Samech of Teima, being only made a little broader. The little
slanting bar in the centre of the Samech may be identified
with the downward stroke, attached to the left of the top line
of sa} and the lower left side of sa appears to be the cor-
responding portion of the Samech, turned round towards the
left in order to effect a connexion with the downward stroke.
These remarks will become most easily intelligible, if the com-
ponent parts of the two letters are separated. Then we have
for Samech ^ and for sa ^. The forms, in which the right
portion of the head of sa is rounded, are of course cursive.
The Teima form of the Samech with the little horn at the left
end of the top stroke is unique in the older inscriptions. But
the Palmyrenian letters (Euting, Cols. 24—29, 32-33, 37,
39 — 40), though otherwise considerably modified, prove that
the Samech with an upward twist must have been common.
Finally, the corresponding Nabataean characters (Euting, Cols.
46 — 47), are almost exactly the same as the Kharosthi sa and
show that the changes, assumed above, are easy and have
actually been made again in much later times. The signs of
the Papyri are again far advanced and unsuited for com-
parison.
No 15. The identity of pa with Phe is plain enough
(Thomas, Taylor, Halevy). The Semitic letter (Col. I) has been
turned round [58] in order to avoid the resemblance to A. The
form with a hook, attached to the right top of the vertical
(Col. Ill, a) occurs still a few times in the Mansehra version
of the Edicts. Usually the hook or curve is placed lower, as
in Col. Ill, b, and it may be noted that in the Mansehra pa
106 Appendix I.
it is attached nearly always very high up, in the Shahbazgarhl
letter not rarely lower.
No 16. On phonetic grounds it may, of course, be ex-
pected that Tsade should have been used for the Indian ca.
But the recognition of the real Kharosthi representative has
been impeded by the circumstance that the earlier tables of
the alphabet neglect to give the form of ca, which comes clos-
est to the Semitic letter, viz. that with the angular head (Col. III).
The tables give only the ca with the semicircular top, though
the other form is by no means rare in the Edicts and is used
also in the cha (Col. IV) of the same documents and even
survives in the late Kharosthi inscriptions of the first and se-
cond centuries of our era. If the angular ca is chosen for
comparison, it is not difficult to explain how the Kharosthi
sign was developed. The Hindus made the top of the Tsade
(Col. I, a — b) by itself, separating it from the remainder of
the vertical, and omitted in accordance with the principles of
their writing, which do not admit more than two strokes at
the tops of letters (see above p. 52) the small hook on the
right of the angle. Next, they placed the lower part of the
vertical under the point of the angle and in doing so added
a small flourish to the top of this line, which in course of
time became an important element of their sign. The Tsades
of the Papyri (Col. II) come very close to the Kharosthi ca and
the second even shows the small projection on the left, just
below the top. Nevertheless they are only independent an-
alogous developments. For in both, the long line on the left
has been made continuous with one stroke of the pen and the
hook or curve on the right has been added afterwards. More-
over, in the sign of Col. II, b, it is very plain that the small
projection on the left of the main line, which makes the letter
so very like the Kharosthi ca, has been caused by a careless
continuation of the right hand hook across the vertical.
[59] No 17. The utilisation of the ancient Qoph for the
expression of kha in the Brahma alphabet suggests the con-
jecture that the curious Kharosthi sign for kha may be derived
from the corresponding Aramaic character. And in the Serapeum
inscription the Qoph (Col. I) has a form which conies very
close to the Kharosthi kha. Only the upward stroke on the
The Origin of the Kbarosthi Alphabet. 107
left is shorter and there is still a small remnant of the original
central line of the ancient North-Semitic character. The smaller
Teima inscription1 (Euting, Col. 10) has a Qoph, in which the
central pendant has been attached to the lower end of the
curve (compare above the case of the Kharosthi ha). These
two forms, it seems to me, furnish sufficient grounds, for the
assumption, that in the earlier Aramaic writing the component
parts of the looped Qoph (Col. II, c) were disconnected and
arranged in a manner, which might lead to the still simpler
Kharosthi sign, where the central pendant seems to have been
added to the upstroke on the left in order to gain room for
the vowel-signs. To this conclusion points also the first cor-
responding sign of the Saqqarah inscription (Euting, Col. 11, a)
though the top has been less fully developed and the ancient
central pendant has been preserved much better.2
No 18. Ra (Col. Ill) has been recognised as the repre-
sentative of Resh by all previous writers. But it deserves to
be noted that the sign, which comes nearest to the Kharosthi
letter is the character from Saqqarah, given in Col. I, b.3 The
Papyri offer mostly more advanced forms with top lines sloping
downwards towards the right.
No 19. Regarding Shin (Col. I) and its Kharosthi counter-
part, the sign for the lingual sibilant *a (Col. Ill), see above
p. 100. I may add that round forms of Shin appear already
on the Babylonian Seals and Gems (Euting, Col. 8).
No 20. The oldest representatives of the Semitic Taw ap-
pear in the dental tha (Col. IV, a), which consists of the old
Assyrian [60] Aramaic Taw (Col. I, a) of the 8th century B. C.,4
or of a slight modification of the very similar Saqqarah letter
(Col. I, b) (turned round from the right to the left) plus
the bar of aspiration on the right, about which more will be
said below, and in the lingual ta (Col. IV, b— c), where the
second stroke on the right in b and on the left in c denotes
the organic difference or, as the Hindus would say, the diffcr-
1 Compare the end of 1. 1 of the facsimile in M. Ph. Berger's Histoire de
TEcriture, p. 217.
2 Compare also the sign from the Lion of Abydos, Euting, Col. 7.
3 Compare also Euting, Col. 7, b.
4 Ante p. 72.
108 Appendix I.
ence in the Varga. In the second form of ta (Col. IV, c) the
bar, which originally stood at the side, has been added at the
top, and out of such a form the dental ta (Col. Ill) appears
to have been developed. Its top line has been lengthened con-
siderably and the downstroke has been shortened and bent in
order to avoid a collision with va and ra. The steps, which
led to its formation, are therefore (1) /" or -J*, (2) "^, (3) *J.
With respect to the Derivative Signs, my views are as follows.
(1) The aspiration is expressed by a curve, by a hook
or by a straight stroke, which latter, as the case of bha (No 2, Col. IV,
a— b) shows, is a cursive substitute for the curve. At the same time
the original form of the unaspirated letters is sometimes slightly
modified. The curve appears on the right of the ga in gha
(No 3, Col. IV) at the top of da in dha (No 4, Col. IV, a) with-
out any change in the original forms. In bha (No 2, Col. IV, a)
it is attached to the right of ba; the wavy top of which is
converted into a simple straight stroke, from the middle of
which the vertical line hangs down. The same sign shows also
frequently in the Asoka Edicts a hook for the curve and as
frequently a cursive straight stroke (No 2, Col. IV, b), slanting
downwards towards the right. The hook alone is found in tha
(No 20, Col. IV, d),1 which has been derived from the preceding
form of ta (No 20, Col. IV, c) by the addition of a hook open-
ing upwards. The straight stroke alone is found, on the left
of the original letter and slanting downwards, in jha (No 7,
Col. IV), and likewise on the left but rising upwards,2 in pha
(No 15, Col. IV). In tha (No 20, Col. IV, a) [61] the stroke of
aspiration appears on the right. It has the same position in
chha (No 16, Col. IV) and in dha (No 4, Col. IV, c). But in
the former sign the small slanting stroke at the top of the
vertical on the left has been straightened and combined with
the sign of aspiration into a bar across the vertical. In dha
the whole head of the unaspirated letter (No 4, Col. IV, b) has
been flattened down and reduced to a single stroke, which
together with the sign of aspiration forms the bar across the
top of the vertical.
1 The sign in the table is really tho.
2 There are also examples, in which the stroke is made straight.
The origin of the Kharosthl Alphabet. 109
With respect to the origin of the mark of aspiration I
can only agree with J)r. Taylor, who explains it as a cursive
form of ha, The, Alphabet, vol. II, p. 260, note 1. The manner,
in which it was attached in each particular case, seems to have
been regulated merely by considerations of convenience and
the desire to produce easily distinguishable signs. The way in
which the hook or curve of aspiration has been used in the
Brahma alphabet is analogous. There too, it is added very ir-
regularly sometimes to the top, sometimes to the middle and more
frequently to the foot of the letters, where properly it ought
to stand.1 If the Kharosthl characters never show it at the foot,
the cause is no doubt the desire to keep the lower ends of the
signs free from encumbrances, as has been noticed above p. 100.
The device for expressing the lingualisation in ta (No 20,
Col. IV, b — c) and na (No 13, Col. IV, a) is very similar to that
sometimes used in the Brahma alphabet, in order to indicate
the change of the Varga or class of the letter. A straight
stroke, added originally on the right, serves this purpose in
the Bhattiprolu la, in the Brahma na, na and ha.2 The case
of the Kharosthl ta has been stated above in the remarks on
the representatives of Taw. With respect to na it is sufficient
to point out that it has been developed from the na No 13,
Col. Ill, b, by a slight prolongation of the right hand stroke.
The case of the lingual da (No 4, Col. IV, b) is doubtful. Pos-
sibly it may be derived from an older dental da, like that
[62] in No 4, Col. I, a, by the addition of a short vertical straight
line on the right, which coalesced with the vertical of the da
and thus formed the sign with the open square at the head.
But it is also possible that the Aramaic alphabet, imported into
India, possessed several variants for Daleth, and that the heavier
one (No 4, Col. I, b) was chosen by the Hindus to express the
heavier lingual da, while the lighter or more cursive one was
utilised for the dental da.
The origin of the remaining two Kharosthl consonantic
signs, the palatal na (No 13, Col. IV, b, c) and of the Anusvara
in mam (No 12, Col. IV) has been already settled by Mr. E.
1 Ante p. 76 f.
a Ante p. 76.
110 Appendix I.
Thomas. He has recognised that the palatal na consists of two den-
tal no,, joined together., and it may be added that in the Asoka
Edicts sometimes the right half and sometimes the left half is
only rudimentary, as shown by the two specimens given in
the Table. He has also asserted that the Anusvara is nothing
but a subscript small ma, which proposition is perfectly evident
in the form given in the table, less apparent, but not less true
in other cases, for which I must refer to Tafel I. 29. IV of
my Grundriss der indischen Palaeographie.
As regards, finally, the Kharosthl vowel system, and the
compound consonants (not given in the accompanying table) I
can only agree with Mr. E. Thomas, Professor A. Weber and
Sir A. Cunningham, that they have been elaborated with the
help of the Brahma alphabet. Among the vowel signs the
medial ones have been framed first and afterwards only the
initial /, U, E, 0 (No 1, Col. IV, a— d). They consist merely
of straight strokes, which (1) in the case of i go across the
left side of the upper or uppermost lines of the consonant, (2)
in the case of it slant away from the left side of the foot, (3)
in the case of e stand, slanting from the right to the left, on
the top line of the consonant (mostly on the left side) and (4)
in the case of o stand below the top line (compare iho, No 20,
Col. IV, d) or slant away from the upper half of the vertical
as in 0. The position of the four medial vowels thus closely
agrees with that of the corresponding signs of the Brahma al-
phabet, where i, e and o stand at the top of the consonants
and u at the foot. This circumstance [63] alone is sufficient
to raise the suspicion that there is a direct connexion between
the two systems of vowel-notation; see add. p. 124. And the
suspicion becomes stronger, if some further facts are taken into
consideration. In the Brahma alphabet of the Asoka Edicts
the medial e and u are mostly expressed by straight strokes.
The medial o, too, consists at least in one case, Delhi Sivalik
Pillar Edict, VII. 2, 1. 2 (nigohani) of a straight bar across the
top of the consonant, and has the same form frequently, on the
Persian sigloi (see below p. 113) and in the Bhatjjiprolu in-
scriptions. Again the medial i of the Girnar version is expressed
by a shallow curve, which in many instances is not distinguishable
from the medial a. Thus even the oldest Brahma documents
The Origin of the Kharosthi Alphabet. Ill
furnish instances, in which all the four vowels, expressed in
the Kharosthi by straight strokes, have exactly the same form,
and it is very probable that in the ordinary writing of every
day life these cursive forms were in the case of o and i much
more frequent than the Edicts show, as well as that they go
back to earlier times than the third century B. C. If, finally,
the fact is added, that the Kharosthi, like the Brahml con-
siders the short a to be inherent in all consonants and does
not express it by any sign, it becomes difficult to avoid the
inference, drawn already by Professor Weber, that the Kha-
rosthi system of medial vowels has been borrowed from the
older alphabet.
The marking of the initial 7, U, E, 0 (No 1, Col. IV, a— d)
by A plus the corresponding medial vowel-sign is, of course,
an independent invention of the fraraer or framers of the Kha-
rosthi and probably due to a desire to simplify the more cum-
bersome system of the Brahml, which first developed the initial
vowels, next used them in combination with the consonants
and finally reduced their shapes in such combinations to simple
strokes and curves.1 Similar attempts have been repeatedly
made on Indian ground. The modern Devanagarl has its ^ft
and ^ since the thirteenth or fourteenth century, the modern
Gujarat! has its E, AI, 0 and AU, consisting of A plus the
medial vowel-signs, and [64] the Tibetan alphabet, framed out
of the Vartu letters of the seventh century A. D., expresses
even I and U by A plus i and u. These examples show
that the idea at all events came naturally to the Hindus and
that it is unnecessary to look for a foreign source of its origin.
The rules for the treatment of the compound consonants
again agree so fully with those of the Brahml, especially with
those adopted in the Girnar version, that they can only be
considered as copies of the latter.
(1) Double consonants like kka, tta, and groups of un-
aspirated consonants like kkha, ttha etc., are expressed by the
second element alone, except in the case of two nasals of the
same class, where "the first may be optionally expressed by the
Anusvara as in amna or ana. Three times, however, a double
Ante p. 77ft'.
112 Appendix I.
ma is used in the word samma0 (samyak-pratipatti), Shahbaz-
garhi Ed. IX. 19, XL 23 and XIII. 5.1
(2) Groups of dissimilar consonants are expressed by
ligatures of the signs, except if the first is a nasal, for which
the Anusvara is used throughout.
(3) In the ligatures the sign for the consonants, to be
pronounced first, stands above and the next is interlaced with
the lower end of the first, except in the case of groups with
ra, where ra is almost invariably placed below.2 The forms
of the Kharosthl ligatures are shaped exactly like those of the
B rah mi and, like these, illustrations of the grammatical term
samyuktaksara "a conjunct syllable". The neglect of non-
aspirates, preceding aspirates, and of the double consonants,
with the exception of the nasals, which can be marked with-
out trouble by the Anusvara, is, as already pointed out, a
clerks' trick and the same as that used in the Brahmi lipi3
of the Prakrit inscriptions. The treatment of ra in groups is
closely analogous to that adopted in Girnar, where this letter
or its cursive representative always occupies the same position,
whether it must be pronounced before or after the consonant
with which it is combined. There is, however, this [65] dif-
ference that in the Girnar Brahmi ra stand always at the top
and in the Kharosthl invariably at the foot. The one writes
e. g. via for rta and tva, and the other tra both for rta
and tra.
These remarks at all events suffice to show that a rational
derivation of the Kharosthl from the Aramaic of the Akhae-
menian Period, based on fixed principles, is perfectly possible
and the attempt has this advantage that it shows some letters,
as da, ka and ta, to be closely connected with Mesopotamian
forms, which a priori might be expected to have been used
by the writers of the Satraps, ruling over the extreme east
of the Persian empire. If the ruins of the eastern Persian provin-
ces are ever scientifically explored and ancient Aramaic inscrip-
1 In the third case Sir A. Cunningham's copy of the Shahbazgarln Edicts
in the Corpus Inscr. Ind., vol. I, PI. II, gives the mma correctly.
2 There is only one exception in the Mansehra version Ed. V, 24, kar^a-
bhikare.
3 Compare also the Grundriss, I, 11, § 14.
The Origin of the Kharosthi Alphabet. 113
tions are found there, forms much closer to the Kharosthi will
no doubt turn up.
The third and last point, the existence of which has been
indicated above, furnishes perhaps the most convincing proof
for Dr. Taylor's theory. It is simply this, that Mr. E. J. Rapson
has discovered of late on Persian silver sigloi, coming from
the Panjab, both Kharosthi and Brahma letters. Mr. Rapson
was good enough to show me specimens, belonging to the
British Museum, during my late visit to England, and I can
vouch for the correctness of his observation. I think, I can
do not better than quote his paragraph on the Persian coins
in India from the MS. of his contribution to Mr. Trubner's
Grundriss der Indo -Arischen Philologie und Altertumskunde,
which will appear in Vol. II, Section 3 B: —
§ 7. "During the period of the Achaemenid rule (c. 510—331
B. C.) Persian coins circulated in the Panjab. Gold double
staters were actually struck in India, probably in the latter
half of the 4th cent. B. C. [Babelon, LRS Perses Achemenides,
pp. IX, XX, 16, PI. II, 16-19; 27]. Many of the silver sigloi,
moreover, bear countermarks so similar to the native punch
marks1 as to make it seem probable that the two classes of
coins were in circulation together; and this probability is in-
creased by the occurrence on sigloi, recently acquired by the
British Museum, of Brahma and Kharosthi letters."2
[66] This appears to me sufficient to establish the con-
clusion that the Kharosthi did exist in India during the Akhae-
menian times and did not originate after the fall of the empire.
At the same time we learn that before 331 B. C. the Kha-
rosthi and the Brahma letters were used together in the Pan-
jab, just as was the case in the 3rd and 2nd centuries B. C.
In conclusion I may offer a suggestion regarding the name
of the script of Gandhara. The Buddhist tradition derives the
term Kharosthi from the name of its inventor who is said to
have been called Kharostha "Ass'-lip". I am ready to accept
this as true and historical, because the ancient Hindus have
1 Babelon, op. cit., p. XI attributes these countermarks to other provinces
of Asia.
2 Compare now his article in the Journal Royal Asiatic Society 1895,
p. 865 ff.
Buhler, Indian Studies. III. 8
114 Appendix I.
very curious names— apparently nicknames.1 Thus we find al-
ready in the Vedas three men, called £unahsepa, Sunahpuccha
and /Sunolaiigula "Dog's-tail", and Sunaka "Little-Dog" is the
progenitor of a very numerous race. Again a Kharljahgha
"She-Ass'-Leg"' is according to a Gana in Panini's Grammar
likewise the father of a tribe or family.
1 But compare now the interesting article of Professor A. Ludwig in the
Gurupujakaumudl p. 68. Professor A. Ludwig takes kharot.tha to be the
original form of the name and kharostha a false transliteration into
Sanskrit. And be considers kharottha to be the Indian representative
of a possible, though not actually found, Aramaic haruttha Kfimin
"engraving, writing1'. In favour of Professor A. Ludwig's view that
kharostha may be due to the false transliteration of a foreign word
it may urged that its derivative kharostht, more usually spelt kharostt
and even kharosti or kharostri (Mahavastu p. 135, 1. 5), occurs only in
Northern Buddhist texts and that these are full of similar blunders in
the conversion of Pali words into Sanskrit. If the actual and fre-
quent occurrence of haruttha should be proved hereafter, I should be
quite ready to give up my conjecture in favour of his. Regarding other
derivations of the name Kharostha see, A. Weber, Indische Streifen,
vol. Ill, p. 8f.
Appendix II.
Tlie Origin of the ancient Brahma Numerals.
In my Grundriss der Indischen Palaographie, p. 77 f., I
have briefly discussed the various theories regarding the origin
of the ancient system of numeral notation found in the older
inscriptions and MSS. which are written in Brahma characters.
And I have expressed the opinion that in spite of serious difficulties
Dr. Burnell's suggestion, according to which it has been derived
from an Egyptian source, seems for the present more probable than
any of the other attempts at an explanation of its origin. As
Dr. Burnell's remarks on this point in his Elements of South
Indian Palaeography, p. 65 f., are only general and very brief,
a more detailed comparison of the two Egyptian systems which
can come into question, the hieratic and its immediate derivative,
the demotic, will not be superfluous. In order to facilitate it
the accompanying Plate III1 exhibits in Col. I the most im-
portant forms of the hieratic numerals according to Professor
Euting's table, given under No LXXIV in the Palaeographic So-
ciety's Oriental Series, in Col. II the demotic signs according to
the plates, appended to Professor Brugsch's Deinotische Gram-
matik, and in Cols III— IV the Indian numerals according to
the originals from which Cols I— IV of Tafel IX of my Grund-
riss have been compiled. Among the figures for 6, Col. Ill, c,
shows however an additional sign, that of the Sahasrain Edict,
which has been omitted in the Grundriss.
The resemblance of the principles of the Egyptian and
Indian systems is, if not complete, at least very great. Both
1 Drawn by Mr. Bo'hm and etched by Messrs Angerer and GOschl of
Vienna.
8*
116 Appendix II.
have separate signs for 1—9, 10—90, 100 and 1000. In both
the numerals 1 — 3 are expressed by strokes, either vertical or
horizontal1 or by combinations thereof and the symbols begin
with 4. In both the signs for 200 and 300 consist of that for
100, united respectively with the signs for one and two.2 The
not very important differences are (1) that the Indians form
2000 and 3000 on the same principle as 200 and 300, while
the Egyptians add in these cases the signs for two and three
to the symbol for 1000; (2) that the Indians form 400-900
and 4000—9000 by the combinations of 100 with 4—9 and of
1000 with 4—9, while the Egyptians have at least for 400 the
combination 100 + 3; (3) and that the Egyptians have a sepa-
rate sign for 10,000 which is wanting in the Indian system.
The first two discrepancies may possibly be due to the for-
malism of the Hindus, which may have induced them to reject
the vacillation in the Egyptian system and to rigorously ad-
here to one and the same principle.
If we turn to the comparison of the several symbols
beginning with 4, it is evident that the oldest Indian forms
of eight out of the total of seventeen come close to the
hieratic or to both the hieratic and the demotic. It is also
evident that those differences, which are observable, are due
either to the desire to simplify the cumbersome Egyptian
signs or to the tendency to transform them into Brahma letters
and syllables.3 The five of Col. V, a, appears to be derived
from the hieratic sign of Col. I, which has been turned from
the left to the right, while the side-limb has been attached
lower in order to obtain an approach to the Brahma tra. The
six of Col. Ill, a, likewise comes close to that of Col. I, the
slight alteration being made in order to obtain the looped
Brahma ja, from which latter the signs in Col. Ill, b — c, and in
Col. V, a looped sa and phra or phuy seem to have been de-
veloped in their turn. The seven of Cols IV — V looks like
1 Horizontal strokes occur in the Egyptian signs for 2 and 3, referring
to the days of the month.
2 The strokes no doubt represent an original repetition of the symbols
for 100, and it is as if the Romans wrote CI and CH for CC and CCC.
3 Regarding this tendency and its ultimate effects, see the Grtindriss,
p. 75 ff.
The Origin of the ancient Brahma Numerals. 117
a modification of that in Col. I, a, made in order to obtain
a sign similar to gra or gu, the later Indian letter-symbol.
The nine of Cols IV — V agrees almost exactly with the hier-
atic and demotic signs in Cols I— II. The fifty of Col. Ill, b,
is produced by a slight simplification of the symbols in Cols
I— II, while the fifty of Col. Ill, a, has been turned round from
the left to the right. More strongly modified and more re-
mote from the hieratic signs are the Indian symbols for 60
and 70 in Col. V, the second of which has been converted into
a Brahma p il. Finally the thousand of Cols IV — V, especially
the second, look like derivatives from the corresponding Egyp-
tian signs in Cols I — II, which however have been turned topsy-
turvy and slightly altered in order to produce the Brahma syl-
lables ro, cu and dhu.
The list of closely similar signs will also include the hun-
dred, if it may be assumed that the Indian signs of Col. V,
which look like modifications of the hieratic in Col. I, in reality
are older than those of the Afioka Edicts and of the Nanaghat
inscription in Cols III— IV. And it seems to me possible to
defend such an assumption. For the Andhra and Ksatrapa
signs for 100, which are also found very frequently in the
Sanskrit inscriptions of the 5th — 8th cent, A. D. from Western
India as well as in the Kalinga landgrants of the 8th cent.,
in all probability represent the syllable hi.1 Its sa has a form
which corresponds to the oldest Semitic Shin2 with two angles
but has been turned topsy-turvy, and which is older than the &* of
the third century B. C.3 Further, with the assumption that the
hundred of Col. V is really the oldest, it becomes possible to
explain the origin of those in Col. Ill — IV. As the Asoka
sign opposite 200 4 in Col. Ill, a, clearly shows, they represent the
Brahma syllable su, and su is in Prakrit the regular represcn-
1 See the Grundriss, p. 77 and note 20, where two inscriptions are referred to,
in which more modern forms of Su or Sa appear in the hundred.
2 See above Plate I, 21, Cols I— II.
3 See above Plate I, 21, Col. V, as well as Tafel II, 37, I— II, XI etc. of
the Grundriss, and compare the remark made above p. 71.
4 Equivalent to the ordinary su with an unusual elongation of the vertical,
which seems to do duty for the additional horizontal stroke, commonly
found in 200 on the right side.
118 Appendix II.
tative of a Sanskrit §u. The process of the development of the
Indian hundreds would therefore be as follows. The Hindus
first converted the hieratic hundred into an archaic su (Col. V).
Next they substituted its phonetic Prakrit representative su
for it (200, Col. HI, a) and finally they again modified the form of
su in order to indicate that it has not a phonetic but a nu-
meral value (200, Col. Ill, b— c; 100—700, Col. IV).
With the admission of another conjecture the cases of
close resemblance will extend to a tenth sign. It is undeniable
that the Indian sign for 40 in Col. V is almost exactly identical
with the Egyptian symbols for 30 in Cols I— II. As the Indian
30 shows a remote similarity to the Egyptian 407 it is tempting
to assume that the Hindus made the signs for 30 and 40 ex-
change their places, be it through negligence or for some
other reason.
The remaining signs differ much more. But it is quite
imaginable that the four and eight of Col. I may have be con-
verted respectively into the ka of Col. Ill l and the hra or hu
of Col. V, that the ten of Col. I, being turned from the left to
the right, became the thu of Cols IV — V, and that the twenty
of Col. I by a considerable simplification yielded the tha of
Col. V.2 The most difficult signs are, as Dr. Burnell has also
recognised, those for 80 and 90. There is no actual resem-
blance between the Egyptian and the Indian forms. But it
deserves to be noted that in both the hieratic and the Indian
systems they apparently form a separate group, in which the
higher numeral is differentiated from the lower one by the ad-
dition of a second line, standing in the hieratic sign below
and running in the Indian ninety horizontally across the middle.
1 The four of Col. V. (compare also those of 400 and 4000 in Col. IV),
which may be read ki and pka, are in my opinion later developments
from the simple ka. The apparent vowel or pa -mark at the top is
probably merely formed out of a flourish, which originally indicated
that the letter had not a phonetic value; compare the late rnka, nkd
in Tafel IX, Col. XXIV -XXV of the Grundriss, where a similar striving
at differentiation is perceptible, and the remarks in the Grund-
riss, I, 11, p. 75.
2 On the supposition that this is the older form, the tha of Col. IV in
20,000 might be regarded as a phonetic substitute.
The Origin of the ancient Brahma Numerals. 119
The results of this comparison, the nearly complete identity
of the principles of the two systems and the closer or remoter
resemblances between the great majority of their symbols, raise,
it seems to me, a strong presumption in favour of Dr. Bumell's
theory, which, however, has to be modified by the admission
that the hieratic signs rather than the demotic are the parents
of the Indian Brahma numerals and that the tendency to frame
out of them Brahma letters or syllables and again to differentiate
these from the ordinary letters is already visible in a number
of cases. And I believe that this tendency is due to the fact
that the Hindus since ancient times were accustomed to express
numerals by such words as rupa ='1, bhuta = 5 and so forth.1
In order to convert Dr. Burnett's theory into an absolute cer-
tainty, the discovery of more ancient signs of the third and earlier
centuries B. C. is required as well as the discovery of historical or
traditional information regarding an ancient intercourse between
India and Egypt. For the present this is entirely wanting and
the only way, in which one could try to account for the in-
troduction of the Egyptian numerals into India, would be to
conjecture that the early Indian navigators and merchants might
have reached countries which stood under Egyptian influence
or might have met on their voyages with Egyptian traders. But
such a conjecture is, of course, precarious, as long as it is not
supported by collateral proof.
See the Grundriss, I, 11, p. 80 ff.
Addend a.
P. 9, 1. 28. Another case of a letter of defiance (panna)
sent to a king by his adversaries is mentioned in Jataka,
No. 23, Fausboll, vol. I, p. 178 (Rhys Davids).
P. 10, 1. 12. Promissory notes (panna) and their redemption
by payment are mentioned in the introduction to Jataka No 40,
Fausboll, vol.1, p. 227, 1. 3f., and p. 230, 1. Iff. (Rhys Davids).
P. 11,1. 14. According to Jataka No 388 (Fausboll, vol. Ill,
p. 292) the future Buddha caused the judicial rules to be written in
a book (pot thaka) and recommended that, in future, cases should be
decided, after reference to it. A book (potthqka) is mentioned also in
the Uddalaka Jataka No 487, Fausboll, vol. IV, p. 487, 1. 17 f, where
Uddalaka's preparations, intended to captivate the king, are de-
scribed as follows: "But he himself took with him eight or ten
disputant Pandits, placed a lovely book (potthaka) on a char-
ming reading desk (adhdraka) and sat down, surrounded
by his pupils, on a prepared seat which was furnished with
a support for the back1'. Here the book can only be a MS.
of a literary work, and the reading desk is probably one of
those little tripods, consisting of three laquered pieces of wood,
which are commonly used by the Jaina Yatis at their vdcands.
The whole description is merely an accessory without any im-
portance for the story and may be an interpolation, as its
rather modern look suggests.
P. 31, 1. 5. From Mr. Halhed's Grammar of the Bengal
language, p. 17 ff. (Calcutta, 1778), to which Dr. B. Liebich
has drawn my attention, it appears that about the end of the
last century the Bengal schoolmasters still used a set of twelve
tables, including chiefly compound tetters, which may be re-
motely connected with Hiuen Tsiang's twelve chang and Huilin's
Addenda.
121
twelve fan. Mr. Halhed calls them the twelve Phola, which
name according to the Jonesian transliteration would be Phala
and corresponds to the Sanskrit phalaka, 'board, tablet', and
he states that they severally are kya, kra, kna, kla, kva, kma,
kr, kl, rka, hka, ska and siddhi. He adds that siddhi is an
abbreviation of siddhir astu1 and that this Phala consists of the
sixteen vowels. Mr. Halhed also gives the contents of two
other Phalas in full, which I copy here in transcription, as his
grammar is rather rare.
The Phala nka includes:
nka
nkha
nga
ngha
nna
nca
ncha
nja
njha
nna
nta
ntha
nda
ndha
nna
nta
ntha
nda
ndha
nna
mpa
mpha
mba
mbha
mma
nya
ra
iila
nva
—
Ma
nsa
nsa
hha
nksa} or 34 signs,
and Phala ska:
ska
skha
dga
dgha
Mr a
§ca
scha
bja
bjha
jiia
sta
stha
Ida
bdha
hna
sta
stha
bda
bdha
hna
spa
spha
dba
dbha
hma
hya
ra
hla
hva
—
tsa
tsa
tsa
tha
tksa,
or again 34 signs.
Though it is evident that the twelve Phala are not identical
with Hiulin's twelve fan, Mr. Halhed's statements show at all
events that a syllabary in twelve sections was actually used
in India, at least in Bengal. Probably the division is an old
one and has been taken over from one compilation into the
other, though the tables underwent changes in other respects.
This is a common Mangala in Sanskrit books and inscriptions, and
stated by Itsing (A Record of the Buddhist Religion, p. 170, Takakusu)
to be a name of the whole Indian syllabary. An other work quoted by
Mr. Takakusu, (op. cit. p. 171 note) the Siddhakosha of A. D. 880, gives
Siddhdm (sic) as the name of the sixteen vowels.
122 Addenda.
Full certainty on the exact character of the Indian syllabaries
and their history can only be obtained by an examination of the
various works, called lipiviveka, mat rkaviveka , varnamala
and so forth, mentioned in the publications, connected with
the Search for Sanskrit MSS., and in the Catalogues of European
libraries. The kindness of Dr. Grierson, who made enquiries
regarding the actual occurrence of Huilin's twelve tables through
Mr. Prothero, Educational Inspector of Patna, enables to
add, that the indigenous schools of Bengal proper still teach
the compound letters, but do not teach the combinations of
the vowels with the ligatures. But it appears that this is not
the case in Bihar, where only the common cursive Kaethl
(Kdyastha-lipi) is taught. There, as one of the Deputy In-
spectors, Mr. Soinnath Jharkhundi says, the instruction in the
varnamala stops, when the boys have mastered the vowels A,
A ... Ah, the consonants ka, kha . . . ha, and the Bartarii
ka, ka . . . kau, kam, kah and so forth, which latter corresponds
exactly to the Barakhadl of Western India. Further enquiries
in Gujarat have only had a negative result and have elicited
the answer that no tables for compound consonants are known.
Regarding another more extensive syllabary in 18 tables,
see Itsing, op. cit, p. LXff. and p. 170ff. (Takakusu).
P. 32, 1. 6. Read a round-topped ga on No 14 instead of
on No 13.
P. 38, 1. 16. For plate V, No 2 read plate X, No 2.
P. 91, 1. 13. The kindness of Dr. S. von Oldenburg has
put me in possession of a photograph of a portion of the Kha-
rosthl MS. brought by M. Petroffski from Khotan, and he has
generously given me permission to say here a few words about
it. The photograph contains a part of a new version of the
bramhanavagga of the Dhammapada in a dialect of North-
western India, in many respects closely connected with that of
the Shahbazgarhl rock edicts of Asoka, but in some respects
more advanced in the direction of the later Prakrits. With the
Asoka Edicts the language of the MS. shares the clear distinc-
tion between the three Sanskrit sibilants, the preservation of
ra in groups, the substitution of o for final atn and various
characteristic forms like bramana (brammana) for brdhmana
or bramhana. Advanced forms are e. g. niha'i (nihai) for
Addenda. 123
nidhaya, dana (danna) for danda, china (chinna) for chinda,
with which latter Pali forms like punnarlka for pundarlka may
be compared.
The principles of its spelling in no way differ from those
of the epigraphic Kharosthl. The long vowels are not marked,
the Anusvara does duty for all nasals in compound consonants,
single non-aspirate consonants stand for double ones, and before
aspirates the corresponding non-aspirate is left aut. The Bud-
dhists of the Northwest, therefore, found it unnecessary to have
recourse to the more accurate spelling of the Pandits, which
their brethren in the South have adopted.
The characters show the higly cursive type of the Kusana
period and come very close to those on the Wardak vase, in-
cised during the reign of Huviska. The wavy lines in the
side-limbs of ka, pa and bha are however more fully developed.
On the other hand some very cursive forms of ka and bha,
in which the side-limbs of these letters are attached to the top-
lines are wanting in the thirty lines accessible to me. The
Padas of the Slokas carefully divided and at the end of each
Sloka, which almost invariably fills a line, stands a mark re-
sembling the circular Indian nought, the first sign of inter-
punctuation found in a Kharosthl document.
With respect to the exact probable date of the MS., it is
difficult to say anything certain, as the question when the fa-
mous three Kusana kings reigned is not yet settled. If M. S.
Levi (Journ. Asiatique, 1897, p. 1 ff.) is right in contending that
even Bazdeo -Vasudeva belongs to the middle of the first cen-
tury, the Petroffski MS. cannot be much later than the begin-
ning of our era. But, though I fully agree with M. Levi in
believing that Kaniska is not the founder of the feaka era,1
I do not yet venture to give an unqualified adhesion to his
theory, the full proof for which has still to be furnished. For
the present I would only say this much that the Petroffski
MS. is certainly the oldest Indian MS., yet discovered, and that
it perhaps was written in the first century A. D. and certainly
See my remarks on this subject and on the reasons why for practical
purposes I have adopted the theory of Messrs Fergusson and Oldenberg,
in the WZKM. I, 169.
124 Addenda.
not much later. I believe that, like the Bower MS., it was
written in India — as the dialect and the characters suggest, in
Gandhara — and that it was carried by some Buddhist monk
into Chinese Turkestan.
P. 110. And it ought to be noted, that while no good
reason is apparent why u should have been placed at the foot
in the Kharosthl, it is patent that the sprawling / and /_ of the
Brahmi was not fit to be placed at the top of the consonants,
but better suited the position at the foot, where, in letters not
ending in verticals, it could be abbreviated, without the risk of
confusion with e, a and ai.
Plate I.
Comparative Table
of
the oldest Semitic and the Brahma Alphabets.
g: Is Asoka, Bkattiprolu and cognate Inscriptions
I 1
J3 Original letters Derivatives
I
D
m
IV
v
•VI
1
<
<
»
>r
2
<9
5
*0
ODD
rf
3
A
^
A
t
4
^
^
a D
O C1 d 4 > *< r"
5
3
5j
AA
L U U
6
Y
AA
L 9D LQ 11 f ?
7
I
1C
C P f £
/^
8
B
N
*m
L L
9
0
^
0
OC
10
f
^
*d1
JLi J/
11
y
y
t _f_
12
J
^T
^
JA
b
13
"1
tX
*t>
^ ^
*o .
14
9
3
*'\
±
"h I
IS
^
$
'^
• ^
±
if 1-i J»b
16
o
0
0
DQ<0^{
•: :• /.tff ::
17
j?
P
^
L
b
18
h-
f^
*b
d d 4
cb d>
19
9
9
2 1
20
^
<1
s;vn
21
w
w
V^
A^ X\/Js
22
t
X
£/
AAA
Plate II.
Comparative Table
of
the Perso- Aramaic and the Kharosthi.
Kharosthl
Inscrip- Borrowed
tions PaP?n Letters Derivatives
I
II
in
IV
1
f H
^
7
<n 71
2
J#
2?J
7
% x
3
A
^
f
^
4
> H
*i>v
5 ^
7 ^ 7
5
1\ "A
JH\
1 \
6
7
7)7
~]
7
fc ^
w
!t T(
y
8
v^rl
Krw
n
9
a- ^
A4>S
A
10
7 ?
w
7
11
at
u«
7
12
^
^
*-» V ^
±L
13
;;
^ij
5 T
P V V
14
*i
t^^
*7
15
j
?1^
r ^
?i
16
»
^
T
f
17
"bV,
/>>>
<^
18
i-T
y»
"7
19
1^
^^
T
20
A/
/y»
•7
t f-=n
Plate III.
Comparative Table
of
Egyptian Indian Numerals.
Hieratic
Demotic
%*t*
£~~
l^3§
<jj W «
"S
CO
Naraghat
inscriptioi
2nd cent. B.
Jill
Wl
I
II
III
IV
v
1
J
1
•
—
2
*i
"I
:
II
3
K\
Uj
J5
4
yiin
+
f t
1
i
h 'i
t
^
^ * <r
*f
1 t\
"^^j
1
1
**>*=>
-2-
h y
^
^f
P
^
10
/€
/x
c*
ex: o<
20
v\
/-^
€
30
X
j:
rv7
40
x-«-
/
y,
SO
1
\
G 3
60
UL
"/
j
70
^
1
$
.80
im
^
CD
0
90
A
\
0
100
_^>
^4
^
°1 °3
200
^
^ T-P^
K
T
300
_Ji*
^J2
If
400
j}«5
uu
Kf
500
J2
•fl
!7V
700
^3r»
?n
tooo
£
^
T
1
2000
>*
J
T
3000
jj^
j*j
T
4000
-^
- ^i
Tf
f1
20000
lb
70000
^
A u s z u g
aus dem
Verlagskatalog von Karl J. Triibner in Strassburg.
IV. (fcrientattfrfje f 6itoto0te.
Andreas, F. K., Iranische Schriftkuncle siche: Grundriss der iranischen
rhilologie.
Bacher, Dr. Wilh. (Professor an der Landes-Rabbinerschule zu Budapest)*
Die Agada der Babylonischen Amoraer. Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte
der Agada und zur Einleitung in den Babylonischen Talmud, gr. 8°.
XVI, 151 S. 1878. ^/4 4
Fur Alle, welche sich mit der Litteratur- und Culturgeschichte der Juden vom Beginn
des dritten nachchristliohen Jahrhunderts bis zum Ende des Alterthums bcschaftieen
wollen, ist Bachers Sc-hrift ein unentbchrliches Hulfsmittel. Theolog. Litteraturztg. 1879 3.
Man vergleiche auch die Rezension im Literarischen Centralblatt 1879, Nr. 15.
— — ®te 2lgaba bet Xannaiten.
I. SBanb: 35on -£riCel bi§ 5lfi6a. SSon 30 tor fct§ 135 ttacfi b g. 3 8°
457 @. 1884. (ji s — ) Sergriffen.
II. SBonb: Son TOa§ £ob Bt3 3"m 5lbf^IuB bet SWif^no. (135 bi§
220 nati) ber getoSljttl. ^eitredjn.) 8°. VIII, 578 ©. 1889. Ji 10 —
S)te 2Igaba bet potafttnenfifc^en 3lmotaet.
I. SBanb: Sont 3l6jc^tu§ bet 3Jlifdjna Bi3 sum lobe Sorfjartani. (220 6i8
279 narf) bet geto. ^eittet^nitng.) 8°. XVI, 587 ©. 1892. Jt, 10 —
II. 33anb: £ie ©^iilet ^oii)anan§. gt. 8°. VI, 545 @. 1896. UZ 10 —
Abraham Ibn Esra als Grammatiker. Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte
der Hebraischen Sprachwissenschaft. 8°. 192 S. 1882. Jl. 4
Die Bibelexegese der jiidischen Religionsphilosophen des
Mittelalters vor Maimuni. gr. 8°. VIII, 156 S. 1892. M 4 —
Varianten zu Abraham Ibn Esra's Pentateuch-Commentar aus dem
Cod. Cambridge. Nr. 46. 8°. IV, 108 S. 1894. (In hebr. Sprache). M. 3 -
DieBibelexegeseMosesMaimuni's. 8°. XVI,176S. 1897. M. 4 —
— siehe auch : Sa'di's Aphorismen.
Baines, A., Indian Ethnography (Grundriss der indo-arischen Philologie
und Altertumskunde II. Band, 5. Heft.) (In Vorbereitung.)
Bartholomae, Chr., Altiranisches Worterbuch. (In Vorbereitung.)
Vorgeschichte der iranischen Sprachen. — Awestasprache und Altpersisch.
Siehe : Grundriss der iranischen Philologie.
Benfey, Theodor, Vedica und Verwandtes. kl. 8°. 177 S. 1877. Jt 6 —
Inhalt: I. ri bezeichnet in den Veden sowol den kurzen als langen Vokal. II. Rig-
veda X. 170, = Atharvaveda XVIII. 1,8. III. Nediyams nedishtha. IV. 1st Rigveda VII.
44,3 ma^ccator oder ma^gcator in der Samhita zu lesen? V. Ist Rigveda III. 53,19
spandane oder syandane, Rigveda IV. 3,20 aspandamano oder asyandamano zu lesen?
VI. Wie kam der Verfasser der Isten Varttica zu Panini VII. 3,87 dazu, eine Wurzel
spa<; mit langem a anzunehmen? VII. <;vanin oder cjvani'. VIII. jajhjhhatis Rigveda.
V. 52,6. IX. Ze'j; TcX^wv. X. Karbara oder Karvara gefleckt, scheckig. Indoger-
manische Bezeichnung der dem Beherrscher der Todten gehorigen Hunde. IX. Wahrung
meines Rechtes (betreffend die Entdeckung der urspriinglichen Stelle des Accents im
Indogermanischen). Index.
Prof. Th. Benfey has just published, under the title Vedica und Verwandtes a series
}f a number of very nice and subtle question
t terms in the Vedas and exhibiting fully the av
learning and critical acumen. Academy No. 267, Juni 16, 1877.
of papers mainly of a number of very nice and subtle questions of verbal criticism and
explanation of different terms in the Vedas and exhibiting fully the authors profound
Vedica u. Linguistica. kl. 8°. 278 S. 1880. (Ji 10 50)
(In den Verlag von Kegan Paul, Trench, Triibner & Co. in London ubergegangen.)
Bhandarkar, R. G., The Path of Devotion or Bhaktimarga, the
Vaisnava, Saiva, Sakta and Saura Sects. (Grundriss der indo-
arischen Philologie und Altertumskunde III. Band, 6. Heft).
(In Vorbereitung.)
16 VERLAGSKATALOG von KARL J. TRUBNER in Strassburg.
Bloomfield, M., Vedic Literature (Sruti) : Atharvaveda (Grundriss der
indo-arischen Philologie und Altertumsknnde II. Band, Heft Ib).
(In Vorbereitung.)
Brockelmann, Carl, Das Verhaltniss von Ibn-El-Atirs Kamil Fit-
Ta'rihzuTabarisAhbarErrusulWalmuluk. (Diss.) 8°. 58 S. 1890.
Jt 1 80
Das Buch von der Erkenntniss der Wahrheit oder der Ursache aller
Ursachen. Aus dem syrischen Grundtext ins Deutsche iibersetzt von
Karl Kayser, Licentiat der Theologie und Pastor. 8°. XXIII, 367 S.
1893. (Nur in 200 Exemplaren gedruckt.) Jl. 15 —
Biihler, Georg, Indische Palaographie von circa 350 a. Chr. — circa
1300 p. Chr. (Grundriss der indo-arischen Philologie und Altertumskunde
I. Band 11. Heft). Lex. 8°. IV, 96 S. mit 17 lithogr. Tafeln in besonderer
Mappe. 1896. JK 18 50
s jetzt nicht zusammenhangend bearbeitet
- The Sources of Indian History : Literature and Inscriptions
(Grundriss der indo-arischen Philologie und Altertumskunde II. Band,
3. Heft a). (In Vorbereitung.)
- Political History of India from the earliest times to the Mahom-
medan conquest with a chapter on chronology (Grundriss der indo-
arischen Philologie und Altertumskunde II. Band, 9. Heft).
(In Vorbereitung.)
— Indian Studies, No. III. On the Origin of the Indian Brahma
Alphabet. Second Edition, revised. Together with two Appendices on
the Origin of the Kharosthi Alphabet and of the so-called Letter-Nume-
rals of the Brahmi. With three plates. Gr. 8°. XIII, 124 S. 1898.
< und M. A. Stein, Indische Geographic (Grundriss der indo-arischen
Philologie und Altertumskunde II. Band, 4. Heft). (In Vorbereitung.)
J. Jolly and Sir R. West, Sociology, clans, castes, consti-
tution of villages and towns, forms of government and ad-
ministration. — Economics, tenures, commerce and banking,
handicrafts (Grundriss der indo-arischen Philologie und Altertumskunde
II. Band, 6. und 7. Heft). (In Vorbereitung.)
Burgess, J., Architecture, Sculpture and Painting in India (Grund-
riss der indo-arischen Philologie und Altertumskunde III. Band, 11. Heft).
(In Vorbereitung.)
Cappeller, Carl (Professor des Sanskrit an der Universitat Jena), Sanskrit-
Worterbuch, nach den Petersburger Worterbiichern bearbeitet. Lex.-8°.
VIII, 541 S. 1887. Broschirt JL 15 — , in Halbfranz geb. Jk 17 —
(Ankiindigung siehe: III. Indogerm. Sprachwissenschaft.)
— A Sanskrit-English Dictionary. Based upon the St. Petersburg
Lexicons. Lex. 8°. VIII, 672 S. 1891. Geb. in engl. Leinwand Ji. 21 —
Den ausschliesslk-hen Vertrieb fur England und die Kolonien haben : Luzac & Co.
in London, fur die Vereinigten Staaten : Ginn & Co. in Boston ubcrnommen.
— siehe auch: Pracandapandava und Vamanas Stilregeln.
Catalog der Universitats- und Landesbibliothek in Strassburg s. Katalog.
Clementina, herausgegeben von Paul de Lagarde. 8°. 200 S. 1865.
(Ji. 8 — ) Vergriffen.
(Aus dem Verlag von B. G. Teubner in Leipzig in den meinigen iibergegangen.)
IV. Orientalische Philologie. 17
Clementis Roman! Recognitiones Syriace. Edidit Paulus Antonius
de Lagarde. Lex.-8°. pp. VIII, 167. 1861. (Ji 20 — ) Jt 14 —
(Aus dem Verlag von B. G. Teubner in Leipzig in den meinigen iibergegangen.)
Ehni, J., Der vedische Mythus des Yama, verglichen mit den analogen
Typen der persischen, griechischen und germanischen Mythologie. 8°.
VI, 216 S. 1890. JL 5 _
Ethe, C. H., Neupersische Litteratur siehe: Grundriss der iranischen Philologie.
Euting, Julius, Sechs phonikische Inschriften aus Idalion. 4°
17 S. mit 3 Taf. 1875. Jt 4 _
Abgesehen von der Bereicherung, welche der phonizische Sprachschatz durch die
Kntzifi'erung dieser Inschriften erfahrt, wird durch dieselben die Geschichte Cyperns im
2. und 3. Jahrhundert y. Ghr. wesentlich erhellt. Die darunter befindliche bilinguis (in
cyprischer und phonizischer Sprache) durfte in ihrer ersten genauen Darstellung der
cyprischen Schriftzeichen auch fur klassische Philologen Interesse darbieten.
— Erlauterung einer zweiten Opferverordnung aus Carthago.
Herrn Prof. Dr. H .J. Fleischer zur Feier seines fiinfzigjahrigen Doctor-
jubilaums als Gruss dargebracht. 8°. 10 S. Mit 1 Tafel. 1874. UK 1 60
Durch dieses Bruchstiick erfahrt unsere Kenntnis des phonizischen Cultus und Sprach-
schatzes manche schatzbare Erweiterung. Literar. Centralblatt.
-- Sammlung der Carthagischen Inschriften, herausgegeben mit
Unterstiitzung der k. Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin. Band I.
Tafeln 1—202 und Anhang, Tafel 1—6. In 4°. 1883. Jt 60 —
— — siehe auch: Katalog und Qolasta; ferner XI. Alsatica, XV. Vermischtes.
Evangelien, Die vier, arabisch aus der Wiener Handschrift herausgeg. von
Paul de Lagarde. 8°. XXXII, 143 S. 1864. (UK 5 — ) ^ 3 50
(Aus dem Verlag von B. G. Teubner in Leipzig in den meinigen iibergegangen.)
Pranke, 0., Grammatik des klassischen Sanskrit der Grammatiker,
der Litteratur und der Inschriften, sowie der Mischdialekte (epischer und
nordbuddhistischer). (Grundriss der indo-arischen Philologie und Altertums-
kunde I. Band, 5. Heft.) (In Vorbereitung.)
— Paligrammatiker, Paligrammatik (Grundriss der indo-arischen
Philologie und Altertumskunde I. Band, 7. Heft). (In Vorbereitung.)
Fiirst, Julius (Rabbiner), Glossarium graeco-hebraeum oder der
griechische Worterschatz der jiidischen Midraschwerke. Ein Beitrag zur
Kultur- und Altertumskunde. 8°. 216 S. 1891. Ji 7 —
Garbe, Richard, Samkhya und Yoga (Grundriss der indo-arischen Philo-
logie III. Band, 4. Heft). Lex. 8°. 54 S. 1896. MB —
«Wir spenden der in sehr praciser Form alles Wissenswerthe bietenden Schrift in
ihren beiden Theilen die verdiente Anerkennung.» Literar. Centralblatt 1896. Nr. 51.
— — siehe auch : Vaitana Sutra.
Geiger, Wilhelm, Grammatik und Litteratur des Singhalesischen
(Grundriss der indo-arischen Philologie I. Band, 10. Heft). (In Vorbereitung.)
— — Afganisch. — Baluci. — Geographic von Iran. Siehe: Grundriss der
iranischen Philologie.
Geldner, Carl F., Studien zum Avesta. 1. Heft. 8°. IX, 181 S. 1882.
(Nicht mehr erschienen.) «* 5
-- Vedische Litteratur (Sruti): Die drei Ve den (Grundriss der indo-
arischen Philologie II. Band, 1. Heft a). (In Vorbereitung.)
_ _ Awestalitteratur siehe: Grundriss der iranischen Philologie.
Goldschmidt, Prof. Siegfr., Prakrtica. 8°. 32 S. 1879. Ji 1 —
— — siehe auch : Eavanavaha.
Grierson, G. A., The Aryan Vernaculars of Modern India and their
Literature (Grundriss der indo-arischen Philologie und Altertumskunde
I. Band, 9. Heft). (In Vorbereitung.)
n er enzenen etrage entste, aurc zu vermeen, ass ie einzelnen
hnitte gleich nach ihrer Ablieferung einzeln gedruckt und ausgegeben werden. Durch
gemeinsamen Titel und ein ausfuhrliches Namen- und Sachregister am Schluss
Bandes werden die einzelnen Hefte zu einem gemeinschaftlichen Ganzen zusammen-
18 VERLAGSKATALOG von KARL J. TRUBNER in Strassburg.
Grundriss der indo-arischen Philologie und Altertumskunde, unter Mit-
wirkung von A. Baines-London, It. G. Bhandarkar-Puna, M. Bloomfield-
Baltimore, J. Bwr^ess-Edinburgh, 0. Franke-Konigsherg, It. (?«rie-Tiibingen,
W. GW^er-Erlangen, K. Geldner-Berlin, G. A. Gnerson-Calcutta,, A. Hille-
brandt- Breslau , H. Jacobi-Ronn, J. Jo/Zy-Wurzburg, H. Kern-Leiden,
E. .Kw/m-Munchen, C. It. Lanman-Cambridge (Mass.), E. Z/eMwan«-Strass-
burg, B. Liebich-Breslau, A. Macdonell-Oxtord, B. Meringer-Vfien, R. Pischel-
Halle, E. J. Rapson-London, J. S. <S>pe«/er-Groningen, M. A. Stein-Lahore,
G. Tftibaut-Mlahahad. A. Venis-Benares, Sir R. West-London, M. Winter-
wj'te-Oxford, Th. Zctchariae-Halle. Herausgegeben von Georg Buhler.
In diesem Werk soil zum ersten Mai der Versuch gemacht werden, einen Gesamt-
iiberblick iiber die einzelnen Gebiete der indo-arischen Philologie und Altertumskunde in
knapper und systematischer Uarstellung zu geben. Die Mehrzahl der Gegenstande wird
damit iiberhaupt zum ersten Mai eine zusammenhangende abgerundete Behandlung er-
fahren; deshalb darf von dem Werk reicher Gewinn fur die Wissenschaft selbst erhofft
werden, trotzdem es in erster Linie fur Lernende bestimmt ist.
Gegen dreissig Gelehrte aus Deutschland, Oesterreich, England, Holland, Indien und
Amerika haben sich mit Hofrat G. Buhler in Wien vereinigt, um diese Aufgabe zu
losen, wobei ein Teil der Mitarbeiter ihre Beitrage deutsch, die ilbrigen sie englisch
abfassen werden. (Siehe nachfolgenden Plan.)
Besteht schon in der raumlichen Entfernung vieler Mitarbeiter eine grossere Schwierig-
keit als bei anderen ahnlichen Unternehmungen, so schien es auch geboten, die Unzu-
traglichkeit der meisten Sammelwerke, welche durch den unberechenbaren Ablieferungs-
termin der einzelnen Beitrage entsteht, dadurch zu vermeiden, dass die einzelne
Abschnitte gleich nach ihrer Ablieferun
einen
jedes
gefasst.
Das Werk wird aus drei Banden Lex. 8° im ungefiihren Umfang von je 1100 Seiten
bestehen. Der Subskriptionspreis des ganzen Werkes betragt durchschnittlich 65 Pf. pro
Druckbogen von 16 Seiten; der Preis der einzelnen Hefte durchschnittlich 80 Pf. pro
Druckbogen. Auch fur die Tafeln und Karten wird den Subskribenten eine durchschnitt-
liche Ermassigung von 20% auf den Einzelpreis zugesichert. Ueber die Einteilung des
Werkes giebt der nachstehende Plan Auskunft.
Plan des Werkes:
NB. Die mit * bezeichneten Hefte sind bereits erschienen.
Band I. Allgemeines und Sprache.
1. Geschichte der indo-arischen Philologie und Altertumskunde von
Ernst Kuhn.
2. Vorgeschichte der indo-arischen Sprachen von R. Meringer.
3. «) Die indischen Systeme der Grammatik, Phonetik und Etymologic
von B. Liebich.
* b] Die indischen Worterbiicher (Kosa) von Th. ZctcMriae. Subskr.-
Preis Ji 2. — , Einzelpreis Ji. 2.50.
4. Grammatik der vedischen Dialekte von C. R. Lanman (englisch).
5. Grammatik des klassischen Sanskrit der Grammatiker, der Litte-
ratur und der Inschriften, sowie der Mischdialekte (epischer und
nordbuddhistischer) von 0. Franke.
*6. Vedische und Sanskrit-Syntax von J". S. Speyer. Subskr.-Preis
Jl>. 4. — , Einzelpreis Ji. 5. — .
7. Paligrammatiker, Paligrammatik von 0. Franke.
8. Prakritgrammatiker, Prakritgrammatik von R. Pischel.
9. Grammatik und Litteratur des tertiaren Prakrits von Indien von
G. A. Grierson (englisch).
10. Grammatik und Litteratur des Singhalesischen von Wilh. Geiger.
*11. Indische Palaeographie (mit 17 Tafeln) von G. Buhler. Subskr.-
Preis Jl. 15.—, Einzelpreis Ji 18.50.
Band II. Litteratur und Geschichte.
1. Vedische Litteratur (Sruti).
a) Die' drei Veden von K. Geldner.
b) Atharvaveda von M. Bloomfield (englisch).
IV. Orientalische Philologie. 19
Grundriss der indo-arischen Philologie etc. (Fortsetzung).
2. o) Epische Litteratur von H. Jacobi.
b) Klassische Litteratur (einschliesslich der Poetik und der Metrik)
von H. Jacobi.
3. Quellen der indischen Geschichte.
«) Litterarische Werke und Inschriften von G. Buhler (englisch).
*b) Indian Coins (with five plates) by E. J. Rapson (englisch).
Subskr.-Preis Jz 5. — , Einzelpreis UK 6. — .
4. Geographic von G. Buhler und M. A. Stein.
5. Ethnographie von A. Baines (englisch).
™nG.Buhler,J. Jolly unA Sir R. West (englisch).
*8. Recht und Sitte (einschliesslich der einheimischen Litteratur) von
J. Jolly. Subskr.-Preis Jt 6.50, Einzelpreis Jt &.—.
9. Politische Geschichte bis zur muhammedanischen Eroberung von
G. Buhler (englisch).
Band III. Religion, weltliche Wissenschaften und Kunst.
1. *o) Vedic Mythology by A. A. Macdonell (engl). Subskr.-Preis
Ji 7.50, Einzelpreis Ji 9.—.
b) Epische Mythologie von M. Winternitz.
*2. Ritual-Litteratur, Vedische Opfer und Zauber von A. Hilhbrandt.
Subskr.-Preis Ji8.—, Einzelpreis ^59.50.
3. Vedanta und Mimamsa von G. Thibaut.
*4. Samkhya und Yoga von R. Garbe. Subskr.-Preis Ji. 2.50, Einzel-
preis UK 3.—.
5. Nyaya und Vaisesika von A. Venis (englisch).
6. Vaisnavas, Saivas, Sauras, Ganapatas, Skandas, Saktas von R. G.
Bhandarkar (englisch).
7. Jaina von E. Leuinann.
*8. Manual of Indian Buddhism by H. Kern (englisch). Subskr.-Preis
JL 5 50, Einzelpreis Ji 7.—.
9. Astronomic, Astrologie und Mathematik von G. Thibaut.
10. Medizin von J. Jolly.
11. Bildende Kunst (mil Illustrationen) von J. Burgess (englisch).
12. Musik.
Grundriss der iranischen Philologie, unter Mitwirkung von F. K. Andreas,
Chr. Bartliolomae, C. H. EtU, K. F. Geldner, P. Horn, H. Hiibschmann,
A V. W Jackson, F. Justi, Th. NSldeke, C. Salemann, A. Scan,
F. H. Weissbach, E. W. West und V. Zukovskij herausgegeben von
Wilh. Geiger und Ernst Kuhn.
Der Grundriss der iranischen Philologie wird in Lieferungen von ^'ch^«<
^^^^^
Plan des Werkes:
1 BanEinleitung. Geschichte der iranischen Philologie Prof.
Dr. E. Kuhn.
of-D, fir.
\2. Awestasprache und Altpersisch Prof. Dr. Chr.
(3. Mittelpersisch Akademiker Dr. C. Salemann.
4 Neupersische Schriftsprache Pnvatdozent Dr. P. Horn.
5. Die iibrigen modernen Sprachen und Dialekte.
A. Afyanisch / Prof Dr w Geiger.
B. Baluci \
C. Kurdisch Prof. Dr. A. Soctn.
20 VERLAGSKATALOG von KARL J. TRUBNER in Strassburg.
Grundriss der iranischen Philologie (Fortsetzung).
D. Ossetisch Prof. Dr. H. Hiibschmann.
P.' E™Gilaki etc. | "*»*« *•
G. Dialekte in Persien Prof. V. ZukovsMj.
II. Band.
Abschnitt II. Litteratur. •
1. Awestalitteratur Prof. Dr. C. F. Geldner.
2. Die altpersischen Inschriften Dr. F. H. Welssbach.
3. Die Pahlavilitteratur Dr. E. W. West.
4. Das iran. Nationalepos Prof. Dr. Th. Noldeke.
5. Neupersische Litteratur Prof. Dr. C. H. Etht.
Abschnitt III. Geschichte und Kultur.
1. Geographie von Iran Prof. Dr. W. Geiger.
2. Geschichte Irans von den altesten Zeiten bis zum Ausgang
der Sasaniden Prof. Dr. F. Justi.
3. Geschichte Irans in islamitischer Zeit Privatdozent Dr. P. Horn.
4. Die iranische Religion Prof. Dr. A. V. W. Jackson.
5. Mlinzen, Gemmen Privatdozent Dr. P. Horn.
6. Schriftkunde Dr. F. K. Andreas.
Bis jetzt erschienen: I. Band. 1. Lieferung Jl 8 — , 2. Lieferung Ji 4 50
II. „ 1., 2. und 3. Lieferung a Jt. 8 —
Hillebrandt, Alfred, [Indische] Ritual-Litteratur. Vedische Opfer und
Zauber (Grundriss der indo-arischen Philologie III. Band, 2. Heft).
Lex.-8°. 189 S. 1897. Jt 9 50
Holtzmann, Adolf, Agni nach den Vorstellungen des Mahabharata. 8°.
36 S. 1878. Jt,. 1 —
Arjuna. Ein Beitrag zur Reconstruction des Mahabharata. 8°.
69 S. 1879. Ji 1 60
, £>ie 2)en?toiirbigfeitcn <Sd)afj 2atna^'§ be§ 6rften bon
(1515—1570). 3lu§ bem Driginaltej:t sum erften 2Me iiberje^t unt>
ntit (Sttautetungen berfe^en. It. 8°. 156 @. 1891. Jk 3 —
Grundriss der neupersischen Etymologic (Sammlung indo-
germanischer Worterbiicher, IV. Band). 8°. XXV. 384 S. 1893. Jt 15 —
Geschichte der neupersischen Schriftsprache. — Geschichte Irans in isla-
mitischer Zeit. — Miinzen, Gemmen von Iran. Siehe : Grundriss der iranischen
Philologie.
Hiibschmann, H., Persische Studien. 8°. 288 S. 1895. Jl 10 —
Jnhalt: 1. Beitrage zu Horn's Grundriss der neupersischen Etymologic.
2. Neupersische Lautlehre.
— — Etymologie und Lautlehre der ossetischen Sprache. (Samm-
lung indogerm. Worterbiicher, I. Band.) 8°. VIII, 151 S. 1887. Jt 4 —
— — Die ossetischc Sprache siehe: Grundriss der iranischen Philologie.
— — Das indogerman. Vocalsystem siehe: III. Indogerm. Sprachwissenschaft.
Huth, Dr. Georg (Privatdozent an der Universitat Berlin), Die tibetische
Version der Naihsargikaprayac. cittikadharmas. Buddhistische
Suhnregeln aus dem Pratimokshasutram. Mit kritischen Anmerkungen
herausgegeben, iibersetzt und mit der Pali- und einer chinesischen Fassung,
sowie mit dem Suttavibhanga verglichen. (Diss.) 8°. 51 S. 1891. Jt 2 —
Geschichte des Buddhismus in der Mongolei. Aus dem Tibe-
tischen des Jigs-med nam-mk'a, herausgegeben, iibersetzt und erlautert.
I. Teil: Vorrede, Text, kritische Anmerkungen. gr. 8°. X, 296 S.
1892. Jt 20 —
II. Teil: Uebersetzung. Nachtrage zum ersten Teil. gr. 8°. XXXII,
456 S. 1896. Ji 30 —
IV. Orientalische Philologie. 21
Jackson, A. V. W., Die iranische Religion siehe: Grundriss der iranischen.
Philologie.
Jacobi, H., Epische Litteratur Indiens. — Klassische Litteratur
Indiens einschliesslich der Poetik und der Metrik (Grundriss der indo-
arischen Philologie und Altertumskunde II. Band, 2. Heft a und b).
(In Vorbereitung.)
Jensen, P., Die Kosmologie der Babylonier. Studien und Materialien.
Mit einem mythologischen Anhang und drei Karten. gr. 8°. XVI, 546 S.
1890. Ji 40 —
. . . Jensen hat in ausgezeichneter Weise nicht nur das gesamte Material verwertet,
er hat sich auch, ehe er an seine Arbeit ging, eingehend unter der Leitung eines tttch-
tigen Astronomen mit den betreffenden astronomischen Fragen bekannt gemacht. Der
Lohn seiner muhevollen Arbeit waren nicht unerhebliche Resultate, welche meist durch
Epping's und Strassmaier's «Astronomisches aus Babylon* ihre Bestatigung gefundea
haben. Von allgemeinem Interesse ist besonders der Nachweis, dass der grossere TeiF
der Tierkreisbilder, ja wahrscheinlich alle, aus Babylonien stammt. . . Hochst dankens-
wert sind die Abschnitte der «Weltsch6pfung und Weltbildung* und iiber die «Sintflut»
. . . Aber mit dem Hinweis auf den religionsgeschichtlichen Ertrag der Arbeit, der hier
nur angedeutet werden konnte. ist ihre Bedeutung nicht erschopft, nicht geringer ist ihr
Wert fur die philologische Forschung. Jensen beherrscht in ausgezeichneter Weise das
Material, und bei seiner tuchtigen philologischen Schulung, seinem Scharfsinn und seiner
hervorragenden Kombinationsgabe war es nicht anders zu erwarten, als dass er unsere
Erkenntnis um ein gutes Stuck fordern wiirde ; man mag im Einzelnen da und dort
anderer Meinung sein, im Grossen und Ganzen ist diese Arbeit unbestreitbar eine ttich-
tige Leistung, die kein Historiker oder semitischer Philologe ohne Nutzen aus der Hand
legen wird. Die dem Buche beigegebenen Karten: Lauf der Venus, der babyloniscb.fr
Tierkreis und die Welt nach babylonischer Vorstellung fordern wesentlich das Ver-
standnis. Die Ausstattung des Werkes ist mustergiiltig.
Literar. Centralblatt 1890. Nr. 15. W. N.
Die Verlagshandlung erlaubt sich ferner auf die ausfflhrlichen Besprechungen in der
Zeitschrift fur Assyriologie V, 1 (Zimmern), der Theologischen Literatur-
zeitung 1890 Nr. 7 (Budde), der Revue critique 1890 Nr. 25 (Halevy) und der Bei-
lage zur Allgemeinen Zeitung 1890 Nr. 34 zu verweisen.
Hittiter und Armenier. 17 Bogen mit 10 lithographischen Tafeln
und einer Karte. <& 25 —
Inhalt: I. Das Volk und das Land der Hatier. — II. Die Inschriften der Hatier.
A) Verzeichnis der Inschriften. B) Uebersetzungen der Halfte des inschriftlichen Mate-
rials mit Commentar. — III. Das Schriftsystem der Hatier. A) Die Sehriftzeiehen und
ihre Verwendung. B) Das Vorbild der hatischen Schrift. C) Der palaeo-armenische
Ursprung der hatischen Schrift. — IV. Die Sprache der Hatier und das Armenische.
A) Grammatisches: a) zur Formenlehre, b) zur Syntax. B) Lexikalisches: a) Appellative,
b) Nomina propria. C) Der Lautbestand der hatischen Sprache im Verhaltnis zu dem
des Indogermanischen und des Armenischen. — V. Zur hatisch-armcnischen Religion.
A) Hatische Gotterzeichen. B) Hatische Gotternamen. C) Hatische Cotter. D) Einfluss
des syrischen Cultus auf den der Hatier. E) Die Religion der Hatier und die der Ar-
menier. — VI. Zur hatisch-armenischen Geschichte.
Jolly, Julius, Recht und Sitte [in Indien] einschliesslich der einheimischen
Litteratur (Grundriss der indo-arischen Philologie und Altertumskunde
II. Band, 8. Heft). Lex.-8°. 160 S. 1896. ^ 8 -
«Der Verfasser bietet uns das zu einer Uebersicht uber die gesammte indische Rechts-
und Sittengeschichte verarbeitete reife Ertriigniss seiner eigenen wie der Mitforscher
Untersuchungen in einer bis dahin unerreichten Vollstandigkeit. Nach Massgabc von
Jolly's bisherigen Beitragen zur Theorie und Geschichte des indischen Rechts durfte man
Bedeutendes erwarten. Dennoch ist man uberrascht zu sehen, mit wie grosser Selb-
standigkeit und Sicherheit im Urtheil die ganze weitschichtige Materie . . . zur Darslellung
gebracht wird.» Literar. Centralblatt 1896. Nr. 36.
Meclizin in Indien (Grundriss der indo-arischen Philologie und
Altertumskunde III. Band, 10. Heft). (In Vorbereitung.)
- siehe auch : Biihler, Jolly und West.
Justi,F., Geschichte Irans von den altesten Zeiten bis zum Ausgang der Sasa-
niden. Siehe: Grundriss der iranischen Philologie.
Katalog der kaiserlichen Universitats- und Landesbibliothek in Strassburg
Arabische Literatur. [Verfasst von Dr. Julius Eutmg.] 4° VIII,
111 S. 1877.
Festschrift zur 400jahr. Jubelfeier der Eberhard-Karls-Universitat zu Tubingen.
22 VERLAGSKATALOG von KARL J. TRUBNER in Strassburg.
Katalog der kaiserlichen Universitats- und Landesbibliothek in Strassburg.
Orientalische Handschr iften Theil I: Hebraische, arabische,
persische und tiirkische Handschriften, bearbeitet von Dr. S. Landauer.
4°. IV, 75 S. 1881. Jl. b —
Kautzsch, E. und A. Socin, Die Aechtheit der moabitischen Alter-
th timer, gepriift. Mit 2 Tafeln. 8°. VIII, 191 S. 1876. Jl. 4 —
Nach dem fast einstimmigen Urteil aller Kritiker und Sachverstandigen (Noldeke^
Deutsche Rundschau, Miirz 1876 ; S p r e n g e r , Academy, March 11, 1876 ; Ch. C 1 e r m o n t -
Ganneau, Revue critique 11 mars 1875; Jenaer Literaturzeitung Nr. 15, 1876 etc. etc.)
ist es den beiden Verfassern gelungen, den Beweis zu liefern, dass die in Berlin befind-
lichen moabitischen Altertiimer modern e False hungen sind. Jedenfalls bildet das
Buch den wichtigsten aller bisher erschienenen Beitrage zur Losung dieser Streitfrage
und besitzt bleibenden Wert durch die darin betindlichen eingehenden Untersuchungen
iiber alttestamentliche Geschichte, Religion und Archaologie.
Kayser, Karl, siehe: Buch von der Erkenntniss der Wahrheit.
Kern, H., Manual of Indian Buddhism (Grundriss der indo-arischen
Philologie und Altertumskunde III. Band. 8. Heft). Lex. 8°. 138 S. 1896.
JL 7 -
.... «Es ist Kern gelungen, seine Aufgabe mit grossem Geschick zu losen. Den
gerade in der buddhistischen Forschung der Neuzeit sich anmeldenden schiidlichen Folgen
der Isolierung durch eine die verschiedenen Arbeiten einander naher bringende Thatigkeit
entgegenzuwirken, ist ein grosses Verdienst des vorliegenden Manual, das darum im
Rahmen des «Grundrisses.> auch so angesehen seine voile Existenzberechtigung hat.
Literar. Centralblatt 1897. Nr. 2.
Kuhn, Ernst, Geschichte der indo-arischen Philologie und Alter-
tumskunde (Grundriss der indo-arischen Philologie und Altertumskunde
I. Band, 1. Heft). (In Vorbereitung.)
— Geschichte der iranischen Philologie siehe: Grundriss der irauischen
Philologie.
Lagarde, Paul de, Anmerkungen zur griechischen Uebersetzung
der Proverbien. 8°. VIII, 96 S. 1863. (Jt 3 — ) Vergriffen.
(Aus dem Verlag von B. G. Teubner in Leipzig in den meinigen iibergegangen.)
— siehe auch : Clementina. — dementis Roman! Recognitiones Syriace. —
Evangelien, die vier. — Libri Veteris Testament} Apocryphi Syriace. — Ono-
mastica sacra. — Ferner unter VI. Klass. Philologie, Neulatein: Scaligeri
Poemata. — Titus Bostremis.
Landauer, Dr. S., siehe: Katalog der K. Univ.- n. Landesbibliothek in Strassburg:
Orientalische Handschriften.
Lanman, C. R., The Grammar of the Vedic Dialects (Grundriss der
indo-arischen Philologie und Altertumskunde I. Band, 4. Heft).
(In Vorbereitung.)
Leumann, E., Jain a (Grundriss der indo-arischen Philologie und Alter-
tumskunde III. Band, 7. Heft). (In Vorbereitung.)
tibersicht iiber die Avashyaka-Literatur mit Excerpten aus der
Silanka-Handschrift und einer photographischen Reproduktion derselben
sowie mit einer Pratika-Liste zum Viseshavasyakabhashya. Gross-Folio.
Etwa 12 Bogen Text und 35 Tafeln in Lichtdruck. (Unter der Presse.)
Leumann, E. u. J., Etymologisches Sanskritworterbuch (Sammlung
indogermanischer Worterbiicher, V. Band). (Unter der Presse.)
Libri Veteris Testament! Apocryphi Syriace, e recognitione Pauli Antonii
de Lagarde. 8°. pp. XXXIX, 272. 1861. (JL 20 — ). Jt 14 -
Liebich, B., Die indischen Systeme der Grammatik, Phonetik und
Etymologic (Grundriss der indo-arischen Philologie und Altertumskunde
I. Band, 3. Heft a). (In Vorbereitung.)
Macdonell, A. A., Vedic Mythology (Grundriss der indo-arischen Philo-
logie und Altertumskunde III. Band, 1. Heft a). Lex. 8°. 177 S. 1897.
Ji. 9 —
IV. Orientalische Philologie
Meringer, R., Vorgeschichte der indo-arischen Sprachen (Grund-
riss der indo-arischen Philologie und Altertumskunde I. Band, 2. Heft).
(In Vorbereitung.)
Noldeke, Theodor, Das iranische Nationalepos. Besonderer Abdruck
aus dem Grundriss der iranischen Philologie. 8°. 82 S. 1896. Ji. 4 50
Das neue vorliegende Heft des iranischen Grundrisses (vgl. lauf. Jahrg. Nr. 12. S)>.
ringt zuniichst den Abschluss der meisterhaften Studio von Noldeke iiber das
Schahname. Wer es beim Les«n des ersten, im ersten Hefte des zweiten Bandes ent-
425 d. Bl.) br
haltenen Theiles noch nicht gemerkt hat, der wird jetzt zugeben miissen. dass in Zukunft
eine wissenschaftliche Beschiiftigung mit der epischen Dichtung im Allgemeinen oder
mit der alteren Epik eines Einzelvolkes nicht moglich ist, wenn man nicht diese Dar-
stellung des iranischen Nationalepos grilndlich durchgearbeitet und sich zu eigen gemacht
hat. Sie stellt sich wiirdig neben die ebenfalls tief eindringenden und neue Ziele er-
schlicssenden Untersuchungen Comparetti's iiber das finnische Nationalepos. Schon was
Noldeke selbst an Parallelen aus dem altgriechischen, altgermanischen und anderen
volksthiimlichen Epen anfiihrt, wird jedem classischen und germanischen Philologen sehr
erwiinscht und anregend sein. Literar. Centralblatt 1896, Nr. 43.
Onomastica sacra edidit P. de Lagarde. Zvvei Theile in einem Band. 1870.
8°. VIII, 304, 160 S. (Ji. 15 — ). (JI. 10 — ) Vergriffen.
(Aus dem Verlag von B. G. Teubner in Leipzig in den meinigen ubergegangen.)
Pfungst, Dr. Arthur, Das Sutta Nipata siehe: Sutta Nipata.
Pischel, R., Prakritgrammatiker, Prakritgrammatik (Grundriss der
indo-arischen Philologie und Altertumskunde I. Band, 8. Heft).
(In Vorbereitung.)
Pracandapandava. Ein Drama des Rajacekhara. Zum ersten Male
herausgegeben von Carl Cappeller. 8°. 50 S. 1885. Ji 3 50
Qolasta oder Gesange und Lehren von der Taufe und dem Aus-
gang der Seele. Mandaischer Text mit sammtlichen Varianten nach
Pariser und Londoner Manuscripten ; mit Unterstiitzung der deutschen
morgenlandischen Gesellschaft autographirt und herausgegeben von
Dr. Jul. Euting. Stuttgart 1867. gr. Fol. 40 Bogen. (Friiherer Laden-
preis M. 100 — , ermiissigt auf Ji. 75 — .) Vergriffen.
Rapson, E. J., Indian Coins. (Grundriss der indo-arischen Philologie und
Altertumskunde II. Band. Heft 3 b.) With 5 plates. Lex. 8°. 52 S. 1898.
JL 6 —
Ravanavaha oder Se tub and ha. Prakrit und Deutsch herausgegeben von
Siegfried Goldschmidt. Mit einem Wortindex von Paul Gold-
schmidt und dem Herausgeber. Erste Lieferung. Text und Wortindex
enthaltend. 4°. XXIV, 194 S. 1880. — Zweite Lieferung: Ubersetzung.
4°. 136 S. 1884. (<& 43 — )
Sabbag, Miha/il, Die Brieftaube. Schneller als der Blitz, fliichtiger als
die Wolke. Aus dem Arabischen. Nebst einem Anhange : Beitrage zur
Geschichte der Taubenpost. 8°. 55 S. 1879. (UL 1 50) Vergriffen.
Grammatik der arabischen Umgangssprache in Syrien und
Aegypten. Nach der Miinchner Handschrift herausgegeben von H. 1 hor-
becke. 8°. X, 80 S. 1886. •* 4
Sa'di's, Muslicheddin, Aphorismen undSinngedichte. Zum ersten Male
herausgegeben und iibersetzt von Dr. W. Bacher. Mit Beitragen zur
Biographic Sa'di's. Mit Subvention des Autors durch die Kaiserl. Aka-
demie der Wissenschaften in Wien. 8°. LXXIV, 200 S. 1879. Ut 6 -
Der Verfasser bietet im vorstehenden Werke don Freunden porsischor Literatur zum
ersten Male in deutscher fmetrischer) Bearbeitung die Aphorismen Sadis. 1J Ueber-
setzung parallel lauft der Urtext, der, sehen wir von dor Calcn tacr und Caw nporer Aus-
gabe dor (1,'Hiunn (werko .li.-s Dichtcrs ab, jetzt zum ersten Male aus cmor ourop Oft
hervorgeht, In dor voran^oschickton Biographio erhalten wir in anziehender Se&ttderang
ein farbenreiches Bild von dem wechselvollen Leben dieses Hauptvertreters der d.dak-
tischen Poesie der Perser. Literar. Centralbl. 18,9, Nr. 4
Salemann, C., Mittelpersisch. - Pamirdialekte. - Mazandaraui, Gilaki etc.
Siehe : Gmndriss der iranischen Philologie.
24 VERLAGSKATALOG von KARL J. TRUBNER in Strassburg.
Scherman, Dr. Lucian, Philosophische Hymnen aus der Rig- und
Atliarva-Veda-Sanhita verglichen mit den Philosophemen der alteren
Upanishad's. 8°. VII, 96 S. 1887. M. 2 50
-Seybold, Chr., Die arabische Sprache in den romanischen Landern. Siehe :
Grundriss der romanischen Philologie unter VIII. Roman. Philologie.
Silanka siehe Leumann, E.
Socin, A., Die kurdische Sprache siehe: Grundriss der iranischen Philologie.
— siehe auch: Kautzsch n. Socin.
Speyer, J. S., Vedische und Sanskrit-Syntax (Grundriss der indo-
arischen Philologie und Altertumskunde I. Band, 6. Heft). Lex. 8°. 96 S.
1896. ^ 5 —
Stackelberg, Reinh., Beitrage zur Syntax des Ossetischen. 8°. V,
99 S. 1886. Ji 3 —
Stein, M. A., Indische Geographic siehe: Biihler und Stein.
Sutta Nipata, Das. Eine Sammlung von Gesprachen, welche zu den kano-
nischen Biichern der Buddhisten gehort. Aus der englischen Uebersetzung
von Prof. V. Fausboll in Kopenhagen. (Sacred books of the East, vol.
X.) Ins Deutsche iibertragen von Dr. Arthur Pfungst. 1. Lief. 8°.
X, 80 S. 1889. Jt 1 50
Thibaut, G., Vedanta und Mimamsa. — Astronomie, Astrologie
und Mathematik in Indien (Grundriss der indo-arischen Philologie
und Altertumskunde III. Band, 3. und 9. Heft). (In Vorbereitung.)
Thorbecke siehe: Sabbag, Arab. Grammatik.
Vaitana Sutra, Das Ritual des Atharvaveda. Aus dem Sanskrit iiber-
setzt und mit Anmerkungen versehen von Dr. Rich. Gar be. 8°. V,
116 S. 1878. M 4 —
Vamanas Stilregeln, bearbeitet von Carl Cappeller. Lex. 8°. XII, 38 S.
1880. Jk 1 50
Venis, A., Nyaya and Vaiseshika (Grundriss der indo-arischen Philologie
und Altertumskunde III. Band, 5. Heft). (In Vorbereitung.)
"Weissbach, F. H., Die altpersischcn Inscliriften siehe : Grundriss der iranischen
Philologie.
West, E. W., Pahlavi-Literature siehe: Grundriss der iranischen Philologie.
West, Sir R., siehe: Biihler, Jolly und West.
Winternitz, M., Epische Mythologie Indiens (Grundriss der indo-arischen
Philologie und Altertumskunde III. Band, 1. Heft b). (In Vorbereitung.)
Zachariae, Theodor, Die indischen Worterbucher (Kosa) (Grundriss
der indo-arischen Philologie und Altertumskunde I. Band, 3. Heft b).
Lex. 8°. IV. 40 S. 1897. M 2 50
Znkovskij, V., Die persischen Dialekte siehe: Grundriss der iranischen Philo-
logie.
V.
Dtimichen, Dr. Johannes (Professor an der Universitat Strassburg), Bau-
geschichte des Denderatempels und Beschreibung der ein-
zelnen Teile des Bauwerks nach den an seinen Mauern befmdlichen
Inschriften. kl. fol. 50 S. und 57 Tafeln Inschriften nebst 2 Planen.
1877. U* 60 —
Der Herausgeber des,vorstehenden Werkes, einer der fruchtbarsten und thatigsten
Aegyptologen in der Veroffentlichung unbekannter und wichtiger Inschriften des agypti-
schen Altertums, hat sich durch diese neue Publikation wiederum ein besonderes Ver-
dienst um die von ihm mit Liebe und Eifer gepflegte Wissenschaft erworben. Den Kern
der Arbeit, um welchen sich eine erschopfende Anzahl teils bekannter, teils unbekannter
Texte als erklarendc oder analoge Beispiele gruppieren, bilden die von dem Herausgeber
auf seiner letzten agyptischen Reise mit grossen Miihen und Kosten freigelegten unteren
Rander der Aussenwande des hochberuhmten Tempels von Dendera (Tentyra der Alten),
welche eine vollstandig erhaltene Bauurkunde unter Angabe der Maasse aller Sale,
Zimmer, Treppen etc. des Tempels enthalten.
Prof. Brugsch in den Gottinger gel. Anzeigen vom 28. Marz 1877.
Die Oasen der libyschen Wiiste. Ihre alten Namen und ihre
Lage, ihre vorziiglichsten Erzeugnisse und die in ihren Tempeln ver-
ehrten Gottheiten, nach den Berichten der agyptischen Denkmaler. Mit
19 Tafeln hieroglyphischer Inschriften und bildlicher Darstellungen in
Autographic des Verfassers. 4°. VI. 34 S. 1878. Jt 15 —
Der Verfasser giebt die Losung eines schwierigen geographischen Ratsels, die ihm
vollstandig gelungen ist. Alle spateren Arbeiten uber die Gesehichte und alte Geographic
der Oasen werden an D.'s wichtige Arbeit und die in ihr niedergelegten Resultate anzu-
kniipfen haben. G. Ebers im Literar. Centralblatt 1877, Nr. 20.
Ueber die Tempel und Graber im alten Agypten und ihre
Bildwerke und Inschriften. Vorlesung, gehalten am 19. November 1872
in der kaiserl. Universitat zu Strassburg. 8°. 32 S. 1872. Jk — 60
M. Dumichen resume fort nettement pour 1'instruction du public une foule d'idees
courantes dans la science. Revue critique.
Zur Erinnerung an Richard Lepsius. 8°. 23 S. 1884. Jl 1 —
Faselius, Aug., Altagyptische Kalenderstudien. gr. 8°. IV, 82 S.
1878. •* 2 40
Lauth, Prof. Dr. Jos., Agyptische Chronologie, basiert auf die voll-
standige Reihe der Epochen seit Bytes-Menes bis Hadrian-Antonin durch
3 voile Sothisperioden = 4380 Jahre. Autographiert. 8°. VI, 240 S.,
o Tafeln. 1877.
Moses-Hosarsyphos Sali' Hus Levites-A'Haron f rater Ziphorah-
Dabariah conjux Miriam-Bellet soror Elisheba-Elizebat fratria. Ex monu-
mento inferioris Aegypti per ipsum Mose abhinc annos MMMCD dedicate
nunc primum in lucem produxit Franc. Jos. Lauth. Cum duabus tabulis
et uno photogrammate. 4°. lithogr. 248 S. 1879. Ji 25 —
Spiegelberg, Wilhelm (Privatdozent der Agyptologie an der Universitat
Strassburs), Rechnungen aus der Zeit Setis I. (ca. 1350 v. Chr.) mit
anderen Rechnungen des neuen Reiches herausgegeben und erklart.
2 Bande folio. 1896.
70 '
Inhalt des Textbandes (VIII, 100 S.) I. Gesehichte der Papyri Rollin II Aenssero
BeschaiTenheit der Handschriften. III. Datierung und Lokalisierun? der Handsch
IV. Zur Palaeographie der Papyri Rollin. V. Character und Inhalt der Rechnungen
VI. Uebersetzunl der Rechnungen. VII. Kommentar. VIII. Anhanp, en haltpnd cine chro
nologisch geordnete Liste von Namen Sgyptischer Kriegs- nnd Handcls«rhifr« und emcn
Warentarif der erwahnten Epoche der agyptischen Gesehichte. Lino b n.lic Uber da,
Wertverhaltnis von Gold, Silber und Kupfer, in welcher msbcsondero die
Wertverhaltnis von Gold, Silber und Kupfer, in wecer mscsonero ie an
Entwertung des Silbcrs im Pharaoncnreich ziffernmassig nachgew1esen ist, bildet den
Schluss der Arbeit.
26 VERLAGSKATALOG von KARL J. TRUBNER in Strassburg.
Spiegelberg, Wilhelm, Rechnungen aus der Zeit Setis I. (Fortsetzung).
Der Tafelband (mit 43 Tafeln) enthalt die bearbeiteten Papyri in Autographic und'
Lichtdruck nebst einer hieroglyphischen Umschrift der samtlichen Texte.
«Dass die von Hrn. Pleyte schon 1868 sehr unvollkommen herausgegebenen und
erklarten Rechntfngen der Papyri Rollin der Bibliotheque nationale zu Paris in ver-
besserter Form und in einer dem heutigen Standpunkt der agyptologischen Wissensehaft
entsprechenden Weise behandelt wtirden, erschien schon lange als ein Bedurfnis. Auch
Ref. hat fur die Novembersitzung 1895 der Bibl. Archaeol. Society eine Arbeit tiber einen
Teil der Papyri Rollin, die Backerrechnungen eingereicht, die bereits gedruckt in einem
der nachsten Hefte der Proceedings dieser Gesellschaft erscheinen wird. Herr Dr. Spiegel-
berg hat es sich aber zur Aufgabe gemacht. samtliche Rechnungen dieser Papyri in
corrector Weise herauszugeben und zu kommentieren. Dabei ist dem selben die . . . Ver-
lagshandlung durch wurdige Ausstattung zu Hilfe gekommen Ein Verdienst hat
sich Spiegelberg erworben, dass er den von Pleyte falsch Ra-nefer-cheper-ka gelesenen
Konigsnamen als den Tutmes I Ra-aa-cheper-ka, an einer andern Stelle als den Ame-
nophis II erkannte, und dass er eine Rcihe agyptischer Worter teils neu, teils priiziser
bestimmtc ...» Literarisches Centralblatt 1896, Nr. 11.
« . . . . The author's aims are high, and his method excellent. No fragment seems to
have proved too small and worn for him to attempt its decipherment ; and where he
attempts he succeeds. By his present work, for which in every other respect but that
of metrology he was so admirably qualified, he has again laid all Egyptologists under
great obligations ... F. LI. Griffith, The Academy, 1896, Okt. 10.
« Les Papyrus Rollin do la Bibliotheque Nationale ont deja ete publics et commentes
en partie par, Pleyte, en 1868. L'ouvrage a rendu bon service en son temps, mais les
progres de PEgyptologie ont ete si rapides, depuis lors, que beaucoup des donnees qu'il
renferme ne peuvent plus etre considerces comme exactes. M. Spiegelberg a repris les
manuscrits deja examines par Pleyte, il y a joint d'autres fragments qui etaient inedits
pour la plupart, et il a donne du tout une transcription et une interpretation excellentes
sur la plupart des points. » G. Maspero. Revue critique 1897, N° 5.
— — Arbeiter und Arbeiterbewegung im Pharaonenreich unter den
Ramessiden (ca. 1400—1100 v. Chr.). Eine kulturgeschichtliche Skizze.
Lex. 8°. IV, 25 S. Mit 1 Tafel und 2 Abbildungen. 1895. ^ 1 —
Die Agyptische Sammlung des Museum-Meermanno-Westreenia-
num im Haag. Hrsg. u. erLautert. 4°. 29 S. Mit 5 Tafeln. 1896.
Ji 0 -
M. DaMont-Schauberg, Strassburg.
3V 012001
RECD YRL AUC 02
A 000018534 8
Uni\
S