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THE ALPHABET "The talipot palm leaves, which are long and narrow, were the only writing material in ancient Odra as in other parts of the sea-coast provinces of southern India. The local scribes employing an iron stylus to scratch the letters were compelled to avoid long straight lines, and particularly the characteristic horizontal matra of the Deva-nagari and scripts. Indeed, any scratch in the direction of the longitudinal fibre, running in the palm leaves from the stalk to the point, would split the palm leaf, which is excessively fragile. Thus, this gave rise to the rounded shapes of the Oriya letters. Moreover, in order to make the signs plainer, ink is rubbed over the surface of the leaf and it fills up the scratches that form the letters.
The curves, which take the place of the horizontal top-lines of the Devanagari, form the greater part of the single signs and are the same in nearly all letters, while the central part of the letter, by which one is distinguished from another, has been so reduced inside, that it is difficult to see, and therefore at first glance the majority of the letters appear to look alike.
The Oriya writing (Fig. 153, col. 15, and Fig. 164) can be distinguished nowadays into three main varieties: (1) One is called Brahmani and is mainly used in palm-leaf manuscripts; it owes its name to the Brahmans of Orissa, who are generally the writers of the sastras or religious works.
(2) Another, called Karani, having originated among the Karans is now generally used in writing out documents.
(3) In parts of Ganjam (the ancient Utkala), in the Madras presidency, the Oriya characters have become more rounded than in Orissa proper, owing to the greater influence of the Telugu script, used by the neighbouring people.
Maithili Character Bihari is another sister language to Bengali; it is spoken by over 37 million people in Bihar, Chota Nagpur, in the eastern districts of the U.P. and in Oudh. Originally it was confined to the districts of the Gangetic plain, but in mediaeval
কোঃনামকঁড়ে বেইমক্ষিকঠেচ্চিত্র ক ধসমমমডেমশিষ্ণদীতখনjজল্প
Fu Tho Ashton
Filh G to MRT
Tay Zenfon 1 # Trong und
Fig. 165 Specimens of Maithili (1) and Manipuri (2) scripts
