Page:The Origin of the Bengali Script.djvu/93

Rh We pass on to the reign of Nārāyaṇapāla, where we have two stone inscriptions and a copper plate. The Bādāl pillar inscription was found in North Bengal and the Visṇupād temple inscription, at Gayā in South Bihār. The copper plate was also found at Bhāgalpur in the latter province. In the case of Epigraphs proper we find that the alphabet of the Bādāl pillar, which is in the East is more archaic than that of the Gayā inscription of the West. The following points are worth noting in the case of the alphabet used in the Bādāl pillar inscription:—

I. Vowels:—

1. The top stroke is prominent in the case of A and the letter consists of a vertical straight line drawn downwards from right end of the top stroke. A short straight line stands at right angle to the first one, at its centre, and supports a comma-shaped-curve at its extremity. There is a long thin wedge at the bottom of the vertical line.

2. Ā is similar in shape, the length of the sound being denoted by a second vertical straight line placed on the right of the first and drawn parallel to it.

3. The initial I is denoted by a wedge at the top, and two circles or dots below it.

4. The initial U has not changed its form.

5. We find two forms of E:—

(a) The first one is the triangular form in which one of the upper angles has gradually become a right angle. The lower part of the letter shows the slightly curved downward stroke.

(b) In the second form we find that it has ceased to be a triangle. The hypotenuse has snapped leaving a curve at the top of the vertical side and a part of it at the lower end. The resemblance to the modern Bengali form is now complete. Cf. the form in eva (L. 13).