Page:The Origin of the Bengali Script.djvu/137

Rh 15. Ṇa is one of those letters in which the development was not complete till the 15th century A.D. In most of the inscriptions we find the Proto-Bengali forms which resembles the modern Bengali letter la minus the top stroke:—

(a) In the Māndā inscription where the letter is a curve with a straight line on the right and a small vertical line bisecting the curve. This form is the precursor of the modern Bengali form.

(b) In the Torpondighi grant.

(c) In the Kamauli grant where the vertical line is projected slightly beyond the point of its junction with the left limb.

(d) In the Dacca image inscription.

(e) In the Bodh-Gayā inscription of Aśokacalla.

(f) In the Gadādhara temple inscription of Gayā. (g) In the Cambridge Manuscripts. (h) In the Bengali manuscript of the Bodhicaryāvatāra written in 1435 A.D.

The final development is very clearly shown in the Bengali manuscript of Caṇḍīdāsa's Kṛṣṇakīrttana where on (ol. 179 we find both the transitional and final forms. The transitional form between the Proto-Bengali one and the final Bengali form is the one in gaṇe and suṇaha in L. 1 where the bisecting vertical line in the curve of the Māndā inscription, seems to have become a horizontal cross bar. The final form shows the elimination of this cross bar in Suṇaha, L. 3.

16. Ta:—

(a) In the Māndā inscription we find the transitional form in which the left limb is curved and the broadening of the top is changed into a knob. The only difference between this form and the Proto-Bengali one is the