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Re: Devanagari handwriting?

From:B. Garcia <madyaas@...>
Date:Wednesday, December 8, 2004, 20:03
Actually, Gujarati is very much like what Devanagari would be like if
it were simplified a bit for ease of handwriting. It lacks
headstrokes. According to my book, it is a variant of Devanagari.

Also, my book says of Devanagari:

"When people write on lined paper, they "hang" the symbold from the
line; but in rapid handwriting on unlined paper, the headstroke may be
eliminated altogether."

So apparently even native writiers of Devanagari find the headstroke
cumbersome in unlined paper and omit it. Which is why Gujarati writing
lacks the headstroke.

The headstroke originally was a sort of serif that got interpreted as
being part of the character.


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