रूपमण्डन एवं देवमूर्त्ति-प्रकरणम् (मण्डन सूत्रधार - प्राचीन मूर्तिकला एवं देव-प्रतिमा लक्षण सटीक)

: 'त्' is just half-त (without the right vertical stem).
Half-त followed by 'पा': 'त्पा'.
Now, how is half-त followed by 'सु' (tsu)?
Half-त (a stroke without vertical stem) followed by 'स' with 'ु': 'त्सु'!
Now look at line 26:
Does the character after 'र्प' have a vertical stem?
WAIT!
Look at 'सर्प...':
There is 'स', then 'र्प'.
Then look at the next shape:
Wait! Is it 'त्' without vertical stem?
NO! There is a vertical stem!
Wait, is that letter 'त'?
Wait, let's look at the word:
Could it be 'सर्पत्तषु'?
Why would it be 'सर्पत्तषु'?
Wait, look at the two words:
Word 1: ‘सर्प...
Word 3: जलप...
Wait, why did I think the last letter is 'क्षु'?
Look at 'क्ष':
Could that glyph be 'त्सु'?
Let's see: in ligature 'त्' + 'स', some old fonts don't use half-त + स.
Instead, they use a special conjunct for 'त्स'!
What does the 'त्स' conjunct look like?
A 'त' on the left, connected to 'स' on the right!
Or a 'त' above, 'स' below!