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$ 27.]
INDIAN PALEOGRAPHY.
V. THE SOUTHERN ALPHABETS.
$ 27. - Definition and varieties. [60] With BURNELL and FLERT, I understand by the term "southern alphabets" the scripts of plates VII. and VIII, which, developed out of the characters of the Andhra period, have been generally used since about A. D. 350 in the territories south of the Vindhya, and most of which still survive in the modern alphabets of the Dravidian districts.
Their most important common characteristics are: -
(1) The retention of the ancient forms, open at the top, of gha, pa, pha, sa aud sa, of the old me, and of the tripartite ya which is looped only occasionally, especially in the Grantha.
(2) The retention of the long stroke on the right of la, which however is mostly bent towards the left.
(3) The da with the round back.
(4) The curves, originally open at the top, at the ends of the long verticals of A, A, ka, na and ra, as well as of the subscript ra and of medial u and .
(5) The medial ? with a curled curve on the left, with occasional exceptions occurring in ks.
Proparation of Plates VII. and VIII:
PLATE VII.
Cuttings from frosimiles. Col. I, from FLERT, Gapta Inscriptions (CIL. 3), Col. XIV, from plate at IA, 10, 58; with A, U, and No.5, pl. 3 B ; with E from No. 62, pl. 38, B.
ccha from platos at IA, 7, 161, and ky from plate at IA. 6, Cols. II, III ; from F.GI (CII. 8), No. 18, pl. 11. 72, and la from plato at IA. 8, 4. Col. IV; from plate at IA. 7, 63. Col. V ; from plate at IA. 5, 205 ; with A, A, U, ghā,
Col. XV, from plate at IA. 10, 104, FLEET's No.94; dhau, hā, kpa, fta, from plato at IA. 6, 9, and ita from with I (3, XV, b), Age, A1, and from FLUT's Nou. 19, plate at IA. 7, 68.
100, plate at IA. 10, 164, and a from Flaxt's No. 95, Col. VI, from F.GI (CII, 3), No. 88, pl. 24.
plate at IA. 10, 101. Col. VII; from F.GI (CIT. 3), No. 39, pl. 25.
Col. XVI; from plates at IA, 8, 21 ff. Col. VIII; from plate at EL. 8, 20, No. 1; with I, fia,
Col. XVII; from plato at IA. 13, 187. ba, fica, brā, lya, from No. 3, at p. 22. Col. IX, from plate at IA. 18, 78.
Col. XVIII ; from plater at IA. 8, 320. Col. X ; from F.GI (CIZ. 8), No. 55, pl. 84; with U Col. XIX; from plate at IA. 13, 123. and AU from No. 41, pl. 27, and Ū from Ajapta No. 8. Col. XX; from plates at IA, 5, 50 ff. B.ASRWI. 4, pl. 57.
Col. XXI ; from plates at IA. 5, 151 1. • Col. XI; from F.GI (CII, 3), No. 56, pl. 35. Col. XII; from plate at IA. 7, 35.
Col. XXII; from HOLTZBCE'S SII. 2, pl. 10. Col. XIII; from plate at IA. 7, 37; with I, riba, jye,
Col. XXIII; from HULTZCL'S SII. 2, pl. 9. nām, taā, from plate at IA. 6, 24.
Col. XXIV; frum HULTZSCH'S SII. 2, pl. 11. PLATE VIIT.
Cutting from facsimies. Col. I, from platos at IA. 12, 158 ff.
Col. XI; from plate at I A. 18, 144. Col. II; from plato at IA. 11, 126, Flex's No. 128. Col. XII; from plato at EI. 3, 18. Col. III; from plates at IA. 12, 14.
Col. XIII; from HOLTZCE'S SII. 2, pl. 13. Col. IV, from plates ut IA. 13, 186 ff.
Col. XIV; from plate at EL. 3, 76. Col. V; from plates at IA. 7, 18.
Col. XV; from plate at EL. 3, 14. Col. VI; from platos at IA. 14, 50 ff.
Col. XVI; from HULTZBCH'S SIT. 2, pl. 12. Col. VII, from plato at IA. 6, 188; with 4, U, cā, Cols. XVII, XVIII; from HULTZBCH'S SII. 2, pl. 4. and fa from plate at IA. 9, 75.
Cola, XIX, XX; from plate at EI. 3, 72, the lower Col. VIII; from plates at IA, 11, 12 A.
part. Col. IX ; from plate at EL. 3, 62.
Cols. XXI, XXII: from plato at EI. 3, 72, the upper Col. X, from plato at IA. 13, 275.
I part.
