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NOVEMBER, 1895.]
ORIGIN OF THE KHAROSHTHI ALPHABET.
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class, where the first may be optionally expressed by the anusvára as in anña or aña. Three times, however, a double ma is used in the word samma' (samyal-pratipatti), Shahbâzgashi Ed. IX. 19, XI. 23, and XIII. 5.
(ii) Groups of dissimilar consonants are expressed by ligatures of the signs except if the first is a nasal, for which the anusvára is used throughout.
(iii) 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 g coups with ra, where ra is almost invariably placed below.24 The forms of the Kharôshthi ligatures are shaped exactly like those of the Brahmi and, like these, illustrations of the grammatical term sany uletákshara "a conjunct consonant." The neglect of non-aspirates, preceding aspirates, and of the double consonants, with the exception of the nasals, which can be marked without trouble by the anasvára, is, as already pointed out, a clerks' trick and the same as that used in the Brahmi Lipi. 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 difference that in the Giroar Brabm ra stands always at the top and in the Kharôshțhi invariably at the foot. The one writes, e. g., rta for rta and tra, and the other tra both for ria and tra.
These remarks at all events sumoq to show that a rational derivation of the Kharoshtht from the Aramaio of the Akhæmonian Period, based on fixed principles, is perfectly possible, and the attempt has this advantage that it shews some letters, as da, lea and ta, to be closely connected with Mesopotamian forms, which à 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 provinces are ever scientifically explored and ancient Aramaic inscriptions are found there, forms much closer to the Kharðshthi 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 Kharðshthi and Brahma letters. Mr. Rapson was good enough to shew me specimen's, 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 no better than quote his paragraph on the Persian coins in India from the MS. of his contribution to Mr. Trübner's Grundriss der Inulu-Arischen Philologic und Aterthumskunde, which will appear in Vol. II. Section 3 :
" (5) During the period of the Achæmenid 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 century B. C. [Babelon, Les Perses Achéménides, pp. ix., XX., 16, PI. II. 10-19; 27.] Many of the silver sigloi, moreover, bear countermarks so similar to the native punch marks as to make it seem probable that the two classes of coins were in circulation together; and this probability is increased by the occurrence on sigloi, recently acquired by the British Museum, of Brahma and Kharoshth letters."
This appears to me sufficient to establish the conclusion that the Kharðshthi did exist in India during the Akhæmenian times and did not originate after the fall of the empire. At the same time we learn that before 331 B. C. the Kharoshthi and the Brahma letters were used together in the Pañjab, just as was the case in the 3rd and 2nd centuries B. C. (sce above).
In conclusion, I may offer a suggestion regarding the name of the script of Gandhâra. The Buddhist tradition derives the term Kharðshthi from the name of its inventor, who is said to have been called Kharôshtha or " Ass'-lip.” I am ready to accept this as true and historical,
24 There is only one exception in the Mansehra version, Ed. V. 24, karabhikare. 28 Babelon, op. cit. p. xi., attributes these countermarks to other provinces of Asia.
