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INDIAN
BRANCH
363 appeared in Kashmir and in north-eastern Punjab, and the earliest known inscriptions are dated A.D. 804.
This script corresponds letter for letter with the Deva-nagari, although their shapes differ greatly. A general feature of the Sarada is the stiffness and thickness of the strokes, which, according to Dr. Buehler, give the signs "an uncouth appearance and a certain resemblance to those of the Kushana period." In the later development, owing to the use of long top-strokes, the heads of several letters are closed. Each Sarada letter is given a separate name, for instance adau a for a, khoni kho for kha, kol vethi ksha for ksha, and so forth.
Proto-Bengali Character
The proto-Bengali was a peculiar cursive script with circular or semicircular signs, hooks or hollow triangles attached to the left of the tops of the vertical strokes. "The triangle itself is a modification of the topstroke with a semi-circle below," and this form is connected with the common form of "the thick top-strokes, rounded off at both ends."
The proto-Bengali character developed, according to Buehler, out of the Nagari as used in Eastern India in the late eleventh century A.D.
A different opinion about the origin of this script has been recently expressed in the excellent monograph of S. N. Chakravarti, Development of the Bengali Alphabet from the Fifth Century A.D. to the End of the Muhammadan Rule ("JOURN. OF THE ROYAL ASIAT. Soc. OF BENGAL," Vol. IV, 1938, pp. 351-391). According to Chakravarti, in the seventh century A.D. out of the eastern variety of the lapidary North Indian character two branches developed, an eastern and a western, the latter becoming the Siddhamatrka character, while the former, represented by the Faridpur grant of Samacharadeva, progressed in the direction of the proto-Bengali character, developed independently during the seventhninth centuries, became influenced in the tenth century by the Nagari, and at the end of the same century became the proto-Bengali script.
The earliest proto-Bengali inscription is the Bangarh grant of Mahipala I (c. A.D. 975-1026). The earliest proto-Bengali manuscripts belong to the eleventh-twelfth centuries A.D.
Early Nepali or Newari Character
The early Nepali or Newari character was strictly connected with the proto-Bengali,
Newari (another form of the word "Nepali"), a non-pronominalized Himalayan language, belonging to the Tibeto-Himalayan branch, was the state language of Nepal until 1769 when the Gurkhas overthrew the Newar dynasty. Newari has a considerable literature consisting of commentaries on, or translations of Sanskrit Buddhist works, dictionaries, grammars, dramatic works, and so forth.
