-1896.] N. N. Vasu—WNadgaras and the Nagari-alphabet. 115 
owes its origin to. But the upholders of the first theory like the 
advocates of the second, have not done so. Consequently the conclusion 
@at wa, (born in a city) and hence the name Ndgara falls to the ground. 
In the well-known encyclopedic lexicon the ‘ Cabda-kalpa-druma,’ 
edited by the late Sir Raja Radhakanta Déva, and in the Vacaspatya, we 
find the signification of the word Nagara to be ‘ aksara of the Nagara- 
déca.’ But as no authority is adduced in support of it, the later dic- 
tionaries have not followed this explanation. 
Dr. Isaac Taylor states in his ‘ Alphabet,’ Vol. II, p. 349. 
©The meaniug of the term Nagari has been much disputed. It has 
been conjectured that it was originally the local alphabet of Benares 
and has been explained as the city-alphabet from nagara, a city. Dr. 
Burnell is inclined to believe that it was Naga-lipi or serpent-writing. 
(Burnell, S. Indian Pal., p. 52). It was thus understood and translated 
at the time when the ancient Tibetan version of the Lalita Vistara was 
made. A third hypothesis explains it as the writing of the Nagara 
Brahmans of Gujrat, and a fourth as that of the Shah kings, who 
were called the nagas or snakes.’ 
He also adds—‘ The term Déva-naGgart, which would mean the divine 
or sacred ndgari is not used by the natives of India, and seems to have 
been invented by some ingenious Anglo-Indian about the end of the 
last century. It has, however, established itself in works on Indian 
Paleography, and may be conveniently retained to denote that parti- 
cular type of the Nagari character employed in printed books for the 
sacred Sanskrit literature, while the generic term Nagari may serve as 
the designation of the whole class of Vernacular alphabets of which 
the Déva-nagari is the literary type’. (p. 349). 
From the facts and materials, I have been able to collect, I arrive 
at the conclusion, that this alphabet was first devised by a class of men, 
designated Nagara, and in a certain place also called Nagara: and this 
is why the characters go under the name of Ndgaraksara or Né@gavri- 
dipr. 
