Letters as Numerals in Pali

                              p. 121

                                           November 24, 1900.

            Dear Professor Rhys Davids,--Perhaps the learning
        of your Journal's readers will enlighten me as to the
        numeral system which is occasionally to be  met  with
        in Pali MSS., and which, like the method described in
        Buhler's Indische Palaeographie is based on the ganas
        of the alphabet. I give some examples, premising that
        the reduplication of consonants does not affect their
        value, e.g. kkh being the same as simple kh.

            gunaggaram = 2352.          ratthakkhayam = 1222.
            alappayam = 1170.           bhanuvakkham = 2404.
            gammakhakke = 1253.

                              p. 122

        This gives us the following  values:--k, t, p, y = 1;
        kh, th, ph, r =2;  g (and  presumably  d or b)=3;  bh
        (and gh, dh?) =4;  m, n (and n?) = 5;  l= 7;  zero is
        initially a, internally n.

            This  system  obviously  differs  in a few points
        from  that  recorded  by Buhler, in which  the series
        k...n  =  1...0, t...n  = 1...o, p...m  =  1...5, and
        y...l = 1...9.  The use of l for 7 is probably due to
        the  facts  of  the  Pali  alphabet, implying  a gana
        consisting  of y, r, l, v, s, h, and  l respectively.
        The  use  of a = 0 is not  so clear.  --  I am, yours
        faithfully,
                                              L.D. Barnett
        British Museum, London.