I don't know whether I am posing a silly question, but I have a nagging
doubt since years about the punctuation we use in telugu.
Most (or all?) of the punctuation marks we use in the written Telugu, I
suppose, have been imported from the English. Am I Correct? Was this the
recent phenomenon (in the British Days) and was not seen earlier?
How were these represented in prose telugu in the olden days? Were
there any original 'telugu punctuation' marks that existed and were used
earlier, but are extinct now like the telugu numbers? If not, why
weren't there any attempts to "originate" our own instead of borrowing
them? (As far as I know telugu padyAlu don't use any punctuation marks
and in Hindi, people use a vertical bar at the end of the sentence
instead of a dot as we do).
Were there any telugu names given to all of the punctuation marks we
use today? (I can think of only aScharyArthakaM & praSnArthakaM).
Hope knowledgeable members clear my doubts.
Thanks and regards
Krishna Kandadai