Page:The Origin of the Bengali Script.djvu/123

Rh the right end, two circles below the wedge, and another curve below them. ''Cf. iva (L. 18) and iha'' (L. 55).

(c) We find an almost similar form in the Māndā inscription, viz., a wedge at the top, two circles below it, one on each side and finally a comma below them. ''Cf. iti'' (L. 4).

(d) We find the modern Bengali fromform [sic] in the Bodh-Gayā inscription of Aśokacalla. ''Cf. iti'' (L. 5).

(e) In the Manuscripts from Cambridge we have the transitional form, which is the same as that used in the Deopārā praśasti.

The changes between the transitional form of the Deopārā praśasti and the Cambridge Manuscripts and the final one of the Bodh-Gayā inscription of Aśokacalla are not easy to trace with the materials at present at our disposal, but they can be guessed with a tolerable degree of certainty. First of ail the loop on the right in the transitional form became detached to the bottom and was produced below. Then the loop on the left gradually became smaller until it disappeared altogether or became a dot. The right limb then gradually assumed a vertical position. We find the fully developed form in the 10th century in a Bengali manuscript of Kṛṣṇa-Kīrttana of Caṇḍīdāsa which is certainly not later than the 15th century A.D. ''Cf. Kaile'' (L. 2). (See photo of fol. 179.)

4. Ī:—

(a) The initial form of the long Ī is very rare. The form used in the Kamauli grant of Vaidyadeva is certainly of southern origin.