Page:The Origin of the Bengali Script.djvu/148

112 33. Ha :—

(a) The Māndā inscription shows the transitional form in which it is not yet possible to write the letter at one stroke of the pen. ''Cf. tasy-āhaṃ'' (L. 4).

(b) The Kamauli grant shows the use of the archaic 9th or 10th century form.

(c) A transitional form similar to that of the Māndā inscription is to be found in the Bodh-Gayā inscription of Aśokacalla.

(d) The form used in the Gadādhara temple inscription is similar.

(e) The form used in the Torpondighi grant is the 11th century one, earlier than that of the Deopārā praśasti.

(f) The form of the Cambridge Manuscripts is also a transitional one, similar to that of the Bodh-Gayā inscription of Aśokacalla and the Gadādhara temple inscription of Gayā.

The development of this letter was not complete even in the middle of the 15th century A.D. as in the Bengali manuscript of Bodhicaryāvatāra written in 1435 A.D. we still find this transitional form of Ha. The change must have been completed afterwards as the finally developed form is found in the Krṣṇakīrttana of ''Caṇḍidāsa. Cf. Hātha'' (L. 6) in fol. 179.