636 Lassen on the History traced [No. 103. 



authenticity by Mr. Prinsep, as is the most ancient from the 

 Indian characters hitherto discovered. 



I shall here copy this alphabet, (and ask), whether the hopes, 

 above alluded to, of tracing the sources of the Indian alphabet 

 to the Greek, are likely to be much favoured by this discovery? 

 I must strongly doubt it. 



H a :• i L u f ri > e + k T kh A g 

 d k' (fc k'h £ g' C t' t'h f* d' d d'h 

 A t t'h :> d D d' 1 n b p b p'h D b 

 rfb'h8mJl;j Ir-JlivrOslrh 



It may be added, that this alphabet had already the junctions 

 of consonants, and the representative marks for shortened vowels, 

 such as we find them to this day in the Indian orthography. 



To prove the desired derivation of the Indian alphabet from 

 the Greek, it will be necessary to point out, as existing be- 

 tween the era of Alexander the Great, and the grandson of 

 Chandragupta, Azoka, a form of Indian characters, marking the 

 progress of transition from the Greek alphabet to the Indian, 

 above exhibited. Till this has been effected, we may be allowed 

 to keep in store (as reserve artillery), the remaining arguments 

 in favour of the originality of the Indian alphabet, which are to 

 be discovered in the grammatical system, in the history of the 

 language, in the substance of the inscriptions, and, lastly, in 

 the reports of Megasthenes and Nearchos. 



The time has been, when every invention of the human mind 

 must have passed from the East into Greece; but the philologists 

 of classic antiquity would like to establish the converse of this 

 view on every subject. The hope of advancing science is most 

 laudable, but most fallacious, if cherished for a favourite system, 

 since it impedes the judgment in forming clear and impartial 

 conclusions. How otherwise could a man of so clear a mind, 

 as is Mr. Mueller, fail to perceive, that he clung to a predilec- 

 tion, while neglecting the most important facts ? 



It seems to me, I confess, a pleasant accident, that this latest 

 effort at Indian conquest, made by Greek philology, may be 



