34 



Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. 



[Feb. 



Sanskrit, a, a, i, I, u, u, ri, ri, Uh — > ®j ai > — > °> au > ^> an * 



Tamil, a, a, i, i, u, u, — , — , — , e, e, el, o, 6, — , — , — . 



" The value of the simple e, in the Lat character, admits of no douht, 

 the outline of the letter takes the form of |>, while the elongated vowel 

 is constructed by a duplication of the sound, effected by the addition 

 of a medial e, thus ~|> = Ee, apparently the original Dravidian e, (or 

 possibly el,) but which, in Asoka's inscriptions, is made to do duty for 

 ai. In the more distinctly Sanskrit adaptations of the Devana- 

 gari Bactrian alphabet, the initial A [<] ] formed the basis of all the 

 other vowels, whose varying values were discriminated by their several 

 vowel marks. 



"lam unwilling to enlarge upon an avowedly speculative suggestion, 

 but I think few will fail to detect the contrast between the archaic 

 crudeness of the simple letters and the more complicated and cursive 

 forms of the aspirates in the Lat alphabet. Had the latter class of 

 characters uniformly followed the typical design of their corresponding 

 simple letters, there would have been more reason to have assumed a 

 simultaneous and congruous initiation ; but the introduction of anoma- 

 lous signs among the gutturals, the remarkable cursive development 

 assigned to the aspirates, as opposed to the stiff outline of its simple 

 prototype (an advance equal in degree, but less obviously marked in the 

 dh, and dh,) and the inconsistent development of the bh, upon the 

 basis of the old d, all seem to indicate a later and independent 

 elaboration of the aspirates. 



I 

 1 

 b 







Prakrit. 



Conso- 

 nants 



+ 



» A y. 





d 



» C }! 





C 



» r 1 . 





A 



,. |i , 









> 





J, 



1 J i 



Vowels 



L D 







Dravidian 







+ 



1 



A 



L, 



t; 



d 



d> 



£ 



J* 



D 



c 







t 



i> 



I 



A 







> 



D 



1 



U 







> 



rf 



« 



I 



1 



J 



6 



Ai 



(r 











H 



• 



L 



D 





r J J 



Medials, hd -p , hi -f, hi -\- } hu -f- 



he +. 

 Sanskrit additions to the Lat alphabet, m = W, \j = ^." 



