Indian Antiquary Vol 11

SR No.: 032503
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Jas Burgess
Publisher: Swati Publications
Publication Year: 1984
Total Pages: 396
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 19 MB

Page 297

SEPTEMBER, 1882.)
MISCELLANEA.
269
in their books never used all the signs of the alphabet, and certainly no vowel signs, till com- pelled to do so by the English Courts. Again no Pråksit-speaking official or writer would dream of distinguishing between 1 and I because to him the two letters were interchangeable and meant the same thing, na or na, according to the country to which he belonged, or according to the dialect which he spoke. But all these forms would be necessary to a Brahmanical Grammarian who had in his fine polished school. language carefully to distinguish between ng, n, *, n, m, the anusvira , and the anundsiku 6, and who according to his belief gained heaven, or went to another place-as he pronounced his sacred texts rightly, or wrongly. Hence I say the differentiation of the nasals shows the influence of the Brahmanical grammatical schools.
(6) The same inference may be drawn from the existence of the three sibilants L, M, and E (Khálsi and Pantaleon's coin); all three go back to one original form, which consists of two little semi-circles, and differ only in the arrangement of these elements. Now Semitic alphabets have two sibilants: whose interest was it to have three P Of course it was necessary for the Sanskṣit grammarians and for nobody else. In Prakrit only two sibilants exist, and they are used very promiscuously, according to dialects. A merchant would not be such a fool as to burden himself with such useless ballast.
(c) A similar inference may be drawn from the careful system of short and long vowels.
(d) Likewise from the invention of the La & which is peculiar to the Andhra inscription, because the sound occurs only south of the Vindhya range.
But if it be granted that the Maurya and Andhra alphabets have been developed by Brah. mans, does not that show that they must have been long in use before the time when we first find them?
This inference as to a very early cultivation of the art of writing in India, at a time indeed much anterior to 300 B.C., is strengthened by the consideration of the Northern (Baktro-Arion) alphabet, which was clearly worked up by the same class of people who fashioned the southern system of characters. Take, for example, the system of vowel notation, and the system of oom. pound letters, which follow exactly the same principles as those of the Southern alphabet.
As regards the Indian numerals, my views are as follows: 1. The Indian numerals, consisting of separate
Ind. Ant. vol. VII, p. 241.
signs for the units, the tens, the hundreds, and the thousands, are all syllables, which are pronounced as such, not signs for which the numerals were pronounced. The reading of these syllables has in general been given correctly by Bhagwanlal, except for the signs - = = n; the former three must be read w, a, and u-u, and the last m (Fleet's discovery). As regards the reading of 4,7 (3), 4 (is), it is doubtful as yet whether the pronunciation was phu, gu, hu, or phra, gra, hra. I now incline to the latter view (though I cannot find any distinct proof of it), because the a certainly appears in the hundreds. The proofs are:
(1) The most certain evidence for the ancient times is furnished by the Råpnåth and Sahasram Edicts. In the former 200 is clearly d, while in the latter is y used. It is impossible to see in the first sign anything else but the syllable si (not su), as the elongation of the right-hand stroke of the 8 shows that something else than the simple su is intended, and the natural explanation is that the second u sign, which makes the vowel long, has been attached at the top in. stead of below, instead of k. A similar plan fox the expression of long is adopted in Dr. Burgess's new inscriptions of Purushadatta from the Stupa at Jagayyapetta. There tú is several times written and the stroke indicating the length of the vowel attached to the top of the t. The cause of this proceeding, as well as the uncouth appearance of the 3 in Y (Sahasrdın), is the desire to distinguish by the form of the syllables, the cases where they have numeral values, from those where they have merely an etymological value as parts of numerals.
(2) The second proof is the fact that several syllables change their shapes according to the change of the letters in the various alphabets (Bhagwânlal)," always with this proviso, that mostly some slight difference is allowed to remain between the form of the syllables as numerals, and those used as parts of words. The change shows that the people pronounced the syllables as syllables, and the differences which frequently occur are due to the reason above given.
(3) The third proof is that a few signs show such variation as can be explained by phonetic changes, which in the language, too, are of very frequent occurrence. The clearest case is that of the syllable for 100. In the Aboka edicts we have su, and the same occurs in the Andhra, and a great many other inscriptions; but the Western Kshatrapas and others use y, which is clearly bu . Now in all Indian languages there
Ind. Ant. vol. VI, p. 44.