Page:The Origin of the Bengali Script.djvu/90

60 14. Pa is very archaic in form. There is no curvature about it and the lower part shows two right angles instead of an obtuse and an acute angle.

15. In Bha we see the slanting downward stroke.

16. In Ma the loop is still absent.

17. In Ya the acute angle has been entirely sup- pressed and with the exception of the breadth of the lower part of the letter we have the complete Nāgarī or Bengali form.

18. The base line of La has been entirely suppressed. The hook or curve on the left is joined to the right limb by a short straight line.

19. In Va the acute angle has given place to the elongation of the right vertical straight line.

20. In Śa we find a wedge at the botoombottom [sic] of the left limb and the cross bar has become slanting while the right limb is projected upwards.

21. In Ṣ, the base line has again become horizontal, and the cross bar has slanted downwards.

22. In Ha also we find a slightly archaic form as the acute angle has not as yet developed into a second downward stroke.

The archaisms found in the alphabet used in the Ghosrāwā inscription may be explained in this manner. The Ghosrāwā inscription represents the true epigraphic alphabet, in which certain letters are more archaic in form than those in the Khālimpur grant of Dharmapāla. The alphabet used in the Khālimpur grant represents the current-hand-script of the later part of the 8th century A. D. and as such shows much later forms than the Ghosrāwā inscription, which being incised on stone is an Epigraph proper of the 9th century.