Page:The Origin of the Bengali Script.djvu/73

Rh (8) In ja the curvature of the lower horizontal line was already perceptible in the Eastern variety form of the early Gupta alphabet. The vertical was also perceptibly curved. Here we find the central horizontal line also curved to the same extent as the base or lower line. A wedge has been added to the right extremity of the upper horizontal line.

(9) There is only one instance of the occurrence of jha and it has exactly the same shape which ma has in the Allahabad pillar-inscription of Samudragupta.

(10) In the case of ña, it occurs in two ligatures, conjointly, with ca and ja; the form ñca, does not differ much from that found in the Allahabad pillar-inscription of Samudragupta, but in the ligature jñya its form is still more cursive.

(11) In the case of ṭa, we find the Eastern variety differring very much from that of the Western. The ṭa in the Aphsaḍ inscription is merely an open curve, with a wedge placed horizontally at the upper end of the curve; but in the Western variety, as in the case of the Lakkhamaṇḍala Praśasti, it is a semi-circle with a serif, which is attached to the curve by means of a wedge.

(12) In the case of ṭha we find the ancient Maurya form still being used in Northern India without any change.

(13) In the case of ḍa, we see that the letter consists of two small curves. In the last line of Aphsaḍ inscription, in the word Gauḍena, we find a more archaic form, resembling the one used in the Allahabad pillar-inscription of Samudragupta; the only difference being a slight shortening of the length. It may be mentioned in this connection that the word Gauḍa is found for the first time in Indian epigraphy, in the Aphsaḍ inscription, where it is