Page:A Comparative Grammar of the Modern Aryan Languages of India Vol 1.djvu/88

66 the letter. Let, however, ଉ be compared with उ (i.e., उ without the Mâtrâ), ଡ with ड (ड), and the connexion will be at once visible.

Like the Bengalis, the Oṛiyas have adopted the custom of writing the top stroke of medial e and o before the letter to which it is attached, instead of above it, as Bengali কে ke, কো ko. This practice is, however, found in some Devanagari MSS., and is sometimes used in Gujarati. Being also a high-polite Sanskrit sort of language in the eyes of its expounders, Oṛiya has been duly provided with symbols for the grammarian’s letters ऋ, ॠ, ऌ, and ॡ, and has also some very formidable snake-like coils to express the various forms of nexus. Some of these are as clumsy as Singhalese, and take as long to execute as it would to write a sentence in English. Moreover, the forms used in conjunctions of consonants are not the same as those used when alone. Thus, the character which when single is read o, when subscribed to ण or ष is read ṇ (ण); that which alone is th, when subscribed to ञ is ch.

Without going through the whole alphabet letter by letter, it may suffice to say in general terms that the Oṛiya characters show signs of having arisen from a form of the Kutila character prevalent in Central India, and that its love of circular forms, common to it and the neighbouring nations, is due to the habit of writing on the Tâlpatra, Talipot, or palm-leaf, with an iron style.

§ 20. Next to the alphabets comes the question of the pronunciation of the various sounds. The vowels, with one or two exceptions, appear to retain the same sound as in Sanskrit. I say appear, because although the Devanagari character affords