Page:The Origin of the Bengali Script.djvu/76

48 of Mahānāman. It is still more developed in the Aphsaḍ inscriptions where it resembles a ḍa of short stature.

(27) We find two forms of la also. In the first case, the curve or hook in the left limb of the letter has been lengthened downwards with a very slight outward curve at its lowest extremity. In the second case, we find the hook on the curve of the left limb, instead of being prolonged downwards, has acquired an inward length, very much resembling the modern Nāgāri and Bengali forms of the letter.

(28) The triangular ra of the early Gupta period suffers the same transformation as the triangle at the base of kha. Two sides of the triangle are converted into a curve, while the third side is lengthened. A wedge is invariably to be found on the top of the letter.

(29) In śa, the upper part of the letter was a curve in the early Gupta alphabet, whether Eastern or Western. In the later western variety it changed to a rectangle. But in the Aphsaḍ inscription, we find, for the first time, the upper part consists of a loop, while the right lower limb has been elongated upwards.

(30) We find three distinct forms of sa.—

(a) The looped form which occurs in the Aphsaḍ inscription alone (cf. Bühler's tables, pl. IV, XIX, 38).

(b) The form in which the loop is changed into a hollow wedge (cf. Bühler's tables, pl. IV, XVIII, 38).

(c) In the third variety which is found exclusively in the Shahpur image-inscription of Ādityasena, the apex of the wedge has separated and ceased to be a wedge. This form is found in the 6th and 9th century inscriptions of north-eastern India.