to the Inscriptions of Ceylon but appears also in the in
scriptions of Karle and Nasik.
Burgess recognised this significant aspect of vowel
notations find said* "On tabulating the alphabet of different inscriptions, much of the apparent divergency of style among them disappears from the forms to be finally compared, in
order to decide as their relative ages. But in the consider
ation of all the elements may help to indicate the chrono
logical position of an inscription, the attached vowels and the compound letters form an important element. A comparison of inscriptions of the same age will show that, with certain points of agreement in the way in which the vowels are
attached, their forma were subject to considerable variety of treatment, dependent on provincial or even personal manipu
lative t a s t e i n the course of my preparation of my palaeographical tables, 1 felt the same. Furthermore what Burgess observed with rega'rd to the medial vowel notation*
of Karle and Nasik is also applicable to the Sinhalese inscriptions•
Medial A The medial vowel notation X, during the period under review, is very much the same as in the early period.
Hence no comment is necessary. However, it should be noted here that the mdial X is not frequently used in the
(1) ArgMeploftlgal Survey_gf. Western, India,. Vol. IV. p.
74
Sinhalese inscriptions at this period. But where it occurs it bears a striking resemblance to the medial A of the Karle and Nasik cavo inscriptions. (See plate 6, line 51, No. VIj Plate 6, line 58, No. V U I t Plate XII, line 19, Nos. I and II; Plate XIII, line 11, No. XIII).
Medial I The angular medial vowel notation i of the early centuries before Christ, has completely disappeared during our second period. It is replaced by a number of variant forma ) / \ 0 9 U 4) ^ “j D v O t s e e Plate 3, line 14, No. XII; Plate 3, line 15, No.I; Plate 3, line 15, No. VIIj
Plate 3, line 15, No. IX* Plate 4, line 22, No. XIj Plate 4, line 29, No. XIII; Plate 4, line 32, Nos. XII and XIII*
Plate 5, line 35, No. VI* Plate 6, line 56, No. XI* Plate 6, line 57, No. XI). Apart from those easily discernable
variants of the medial vowel notation i, there are several other forms, which can be classified among the above variant forms. It is of Interest that the notation of this vowel has undergone similar changes in the inscriptions of the Karle and Nasik caves. (See Plate XI, line 4, No. II*
Plate XI, line 8 , No. IIIP Plate XII, line 28, No. VII*
Plate XIII, line 11, No. I; Plate XIII, line 15, No. VIII;
Plate XIV, line 22, No. IV* Plate XV, line 51, No. XI).
Medial U In comparison with the previous period, the medial notation of U has not changed its character very much. As
u s u a l the sign Is appended to the bottom of the consonant.
The variants are (see Plate 4, line 23, No. IV;
Plate 4, line 34, No. XV; Plate 5, line 46, No. XI; Plate 5, line 49, Nos. V-VIIIt Plate 6, line 52, Ho. XII).
These variants bear a striking resemblance to those of the Karle and Nasik cave inscriptions (see Plate XI, line 9, go. V; Plate XII, line 19, No. Ill; Plate XII, line 28, No. X; Plate XIV line 27, No. XIV).
Medial B. The medial vowel notation e, during the early period was represented by a short horizontal bar, but during our period in addition to this short bar, we get a short curve , as usual added to the left of the con
sonant. The medial vowel notation e at Karle and Nasik, bears a striking resemblance to the notation of the Sin
halese inscriptions (see Plate 3, line 13, Nos. II and VI;
Plate 4, line 21, Nos. Ill and VIII) plate 4, line 32, No.I;
Plate XI, line 17, No. I; Plate XII, line 25, No. VII;
Plate XIV, line 30, No. II).
Medial 0 . The medial vowel notation 0 during the early period was of a markedly angular character, • B u t
during the period under consideration it is generally repre
sented by a single short bar added to the top of the letter.
This is identical in appearance with the medial vowel n o t a t i o n
m i 0 at Karle and Nasik. (See Plate 3, line 10, No. IX* P l a t e
3, line 13, No. Ill; Plate 5, line 37, No. Ill; Plate 5, line 46, No. II; Plate 6, line 67, No. IX? Plate 5, line 51, No. II; Plate XI, line 14, No. II; Plate XIII, line 11, Nos. II and H I , Plate XV, line 45, No. Ill) Attention
must be drawn to the fact that as the nailhead or serif became a common feature of the consonants, the medial vowel notation 0 begmn to appear detached from the consonant
(see Plate 3, line 10, No. V). This is not peculiar to Ceylon but also appears at Nasik. (See Plate XIII, line 11 Nos. II and III).
Two factors have emerged from the above analysis of the scripts and medial vowel
notations*-(a) The identical appearance of the scripts of the Sinhalese inscriptions and those of the Karle and Nasik cave Inscriptions.
(b) The presence of both advanced and primitive types of scripts in one and the same Inscrip
tion.
Eminent scholars, including Sir William Jones, James Prinsep, George Turnour, Geiger, and Cunningham, have
demonstrated on varioud grounds that an intimate cultural
v
relationship existed between Western India and Ceylon in the past. Malher, Buhler, Wickramasingha and Paranavitana have confirmed their opinions on evidence of palaeography.
Will la t confirming thla view as my text haa shown, I myaelf lean atrongly to the opinion that not only waa there a general cultural relationahlp between Ceylon and Western India, but that in fact. Western Indian craftsmen and scribes themselves came to Ceylon and their example propagated the use of a
developed script of the Western Indian type. Under these circumstances it sometimes happened that a native Sinhalese engraver would fall back into the occasional use of archaic forms•
Paranavitana, who edited a number of inscriptions of this period ^^^made certain very interesting observations in this connection, on which I have commented above? also as I have shown earlier, to this period corresponds the widely distributed use of ola leaf as a writing material. There must therefore have occurred a sharp cleavage of style between the scripts of stone-cutters and that of the ola writers.
(1) dee h.g. Vol. Ill, P. 120? Vol. IV, p. 116? Vol. IV.
p. 218? Vol. IV, p. 274.
THE EVOLUTION OF THE SINHALESE ALPHABET