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Indian Palaeography from about B.C. 350 to about A.D. 1300 c10: VII. The External Arrangement of Inscriptions and Manuscripts

Indian Palaeography from about B.C. 350 to about A.D. 1300 c10

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Contents

VII. The External Arrangement of Inscriptions and Manuscripts

§ 36. — The lines, grouping of words, interpunctuation, and other details

A. — The lines

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Already in the earliest inscriptions incised on smoothed stones, the Hindus have tried to form regular straight lines and to make the upper ends of the Mātṛkās of equal height. Aśoka’s masons, however, have rarely succeeded, even in the pillar edicts and in the rock edicts of Girnār, Dhauli and Jaugada, to keep the line in more than a few consecutive words, mostly those of one group (see below, under B). But in other documents of the same period, as in the Ghasundī stone inscription (see page 32 above), the later⁴ and still valid principle has been more carefully observed, according to which only the vowel-signs, the superscribed *ra* and similar additions may protrude above the upper line. This regularity probably has been attained by marking the upper line with chalk, as is still done, or by other mechanical appliances.

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⁴ Thus already in most of the inscriptions from the western caves, and at Amarāvatī, Mathurā, &c.; compare the facsimiles in B.ASRWI. vols. 4 and 5; B.ASRSI. vol. I; EI. 2, 195 ff.; and others.

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The lines of the MSS. are always very regular, even in the oldest specimens, such as the Dhammapada from Khotan, and probably have been made with the help of a ruler (see below, § 37, J). In the ancient palm-leaf MSS. and in many later ones on paper, the ends of the lines are marked by vertical double strokes, running across the whole breadth of the leaves.

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In the MSS., the lines always run horizontally, and from the top to the bottom; and this is also the case in most inscriptions. But there are a few inscriptions which have to be read from below.¹

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¹ WZKM. 5, 230 f.; add a lately discovered Kharoṣṭhī inscription from Swāt.

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Vertical lines sometimes occur on coins, especially on those of the Kuṣaṇas and the Guptas.² The cause of the latter arrangement of the letters was probably the want of space.

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² J.RAS. 1889, pl. 1; Num. Chron., 1893, pls: 8–10.

B. — The grouping of words

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[84] In addition to the still usual method of writing the words continuously without a break, up to the end of a line, of a verse, half-verse or other division, we find already in some of the oldest documents, such as certain Aśoka edicts,³ instances of the separation of single words, or of groups of words which belong together, either according to their sense or according to the clerks’ manner of reading. A similar grouping of the words occurs also in some prose inscriptions of the Āndhras and the Western Kṣatrapas at Nāsik; compare Nos. 5, 11 A, B, and 13. In the carefully written metrical inscriptions of the later times, the Pādas or the half-verses occasionally are separated by blank spaces,⁴ and each line contains a half verse or a verse.⁵

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³ Thus in the pillar edicts (excepting Allahabad), and in Kālsī edicts I–XI (see facsimiles EI. 2, 524), and in Niglīva and Paḍeria.

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⁴ Compare, *e. g.*, facsimiles, F.GI (CII. 3), No. 50, pl. 31 B; Ajaṇṭā No. 4; Ghaṭotkaca inscription; &c.

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⁵ Compare, *e. g.*, facsimiles, F.GI (CII. 3), Nos. 1, 2, 6, pl. 4 A, and 10, pl. 5.

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Similarly, in the Kharoṣṭhī Dhammapada from Khotan, each line contains one Gāthā, and the Pādas are divided off by blanks. In other old MSS., as the Bower MS., single words and groups of words are often written separately, apparently without any certain principle.

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In inscriptions, the Maṅgala, especially when it is the word *siddham*, often stands by itself on the margin.⁶

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⁶ Compare, *e. g.*, facsimiles, F.GI (CII. 3), Nos. 6, pl. 4 A, and 15, pl. 9 A.

C. — Interpunctuation

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⁷ Compare, B.ESIP, 82, § 3.

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Signs of interpunctuation are not found in the Kharoṣṭhī inscriptions. But the Dhammapada from Khotan offers at the end of each verse a circular mark, often made negligently, but resembling the modern cipher.⁸ At the end of a Vagga appears a sign, which is found at the end of various inscriptions, *e. g.*, F.GI (CII. 3), No. 71, plate 41 A, and which probably is intended to represent a lotus.

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⁸ Compare facsimile in S. v. OLDENBURG'S *Predvaritelnaë zamjetkao Buddhiiskoi rukopisi, napisannoi pismenami Kharoṣṭhī*, St. Petersburg, 1897.

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In connection with the Brāhmī, signs of interpunctuation occur since the earliest times, and the signs employed are the following:—

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(1) A single vertical stroke (*daṇḍa*) is used (irregularly and sometimes wrongly) in some Aśoka edicts⁹ for the separation of single words or of groups. In later times it serves to separate prose from verse,¹⁰ or occurs at the end of portions of sentences,¹¹ of sentences,¹² of half-verses¹³ or verses,¹⁴ and occasionally even marks the end of documents.¹⁵ In the inscriptions of the Eastern Calukyas¹⁶ the *daṇḍa* has occasionally a small horizontal top-bar; thus, [Figure: T].

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⁹ Kālsī edicts XII, XIII, 1; Sahasrām.

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¹⁰ See, *e. g.*, facsimile, F.GI (CII. 3), No. 21, line 16.

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¹¹ See, *e. g.*, facsimile, F.GI (CII. 3), No. 80, pl. 44.

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¹² See the same facsimile.

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¹³ See, *e. g.*, facsimile, F.GI (CII. 3), No. 42, pl 28.

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¹⁴ See, *e. g.*, facsimile, F.GI (CII. 3), No. 38, pl. 24, line 35.

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¹⁵ See, *e. g.*, facsimile, F.GI (CII. 3), No. 19, pl. 12 A.

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¹⁶ See, *e. g.*, facsimiles, IA. 12, 92; 13, 213.

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(2) A double vertical stroke, ॥, appears in the Junnar inscriptions Nos. 24—29 after numerals, and once after the name of the donor. Later it occurs at the end of sentences,¹ half-verses,² verses,³ larger prose sections and documents.⁴ From the fifth century, a hook is often added to the top of the first stroke; thus, ॡ.⁵ Or both strokes receive such additions; thus, ॡ.⁶ Curves and hooks are added also to the foot of one of the strokes or of both.⁷ From the end of the 8th century, a bar is attached on the left, to the middle of the first stroke; thus, ⸡॥.⁸ In the inscriptions of the Eastern Calukyas, bars stand at the top of the strokes; thus, 𝖳𝖳: and a Kaliṅga inscription has similarly  ̂|T.⁹

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¹ See, *e. g.*, facsimiles, Amarāvatī, No. 28; IA. 6, 23, l. 9 (Kākusthavarman's copper-plate).

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² See, *e. g.*, facsimile, F.GI (CII. 3), No. 17, pl. 10.

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³ See, *e. g.*, facsimiles, F.GI (CII. 3), Nos. 17, pl. 10, and 18, pl. 11.

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⁴ See, *e. g.*, facsimiles, F.GI (CII. 3), No. 26, pl. 15, l. 24; No. 33, pl. 21 B, l. 9.

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⁵ See, *e. g.*, facsimile, F.GI (CII. 3), No. 17, pl. 10, l. 32, l. 38; No. 35, pl. 22, last line; Bower MSS., *passim*.

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⁶ See, *e. g.*, facsimile, Nepāl inscription No. 4, IA. 9, 168, last line.

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⁷ See, *e. g.*, facsimile, IA. 9, 100, last line.

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⁸ See, *e. g.*, facsimiles, IA. 12, 202, l. 1 ff.; 13, 68.

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⁹ See facsimile, EI. 3, 128, last line.

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(3) A triple vertical stroke marks occasionally the end of inscriptions.¹⁰

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¹⁰ See, *e. g.*, facsimile, IA. 7, 79.

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(4) A single short horizontal stroke, placed on the left below the first sign of the last line, marks in the Aśoka edicts of Dhauli and Jaugada the end of an edict. From the 2nd century B. C.¹¹ to the 7th century A. D., this sign, which is often curved or bears a hook at one of its ends, serves the same purposes as the single vertical stroke.¹²

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¹¹ In the Nānāghāṭ inscription, B.ASRWI. 5, pl. 51, line 6, after *vano*.

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¹² See, *e. g.*, facsimiles Nāsik, No. 11 A, B, after *sidham* and *siddha*; F.GI (CII. 3), No. 1 (end); Nos. 3, pl. 2 B, 9, pl. 4 D, and 10, pl. 5.

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(5) A double horizontal stroke, often bent, appears from the 1st to the 8th century A. D. in the place of the double vertical.¹³ The Kuṣaṇa inscriptions and some later ones offer in its stead a double dot,¹⁴ which looks exactly like a Visarga.

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¹³ See, *e. g.*, facsimiles, EI. 1, 389, No. 14; F.GI (CII. 3), Nos. 3, pl. 2 B, 40, pl. 26, 41, pl. 27, and 55, pl. 34; IA. 6, 17 (after *ādattā*).

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¹⁴ EI. 1, 395, Nos. 28, 29 (after *dānaṁ*); F.GI (CII. 3), No. 38, pl. 24, l. 35; No. 55, pl. 34 (end); IA. 5, 209 (end); in these and other cases the sign has been wrongly read as a Visarga.

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(6) A double vertical, followed by a horizontal stroke, occasionally marks the end of inscriptions.¹⁵

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¹⁵ See, *e. g.*, facsimiles, IA. 6, 76; EI. 3, 260.

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(7) A crescent-like stroke, ↄ, marks the ends of the Aśoka edicts at Kālsī, Nos. I—XI.

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(8) A crescent-like stroke with a bar in the middle, ∍, stands twice in Kuṣaṇa inscriptions after the Maṅgala *siddham*.¹⁶

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¹⁶ EI. 2, 212, No. 42, and note.

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Besides, numeral figures alone occasionally mark the ends of verses, see, *e. g.*, F.GI (CII. 3), Nos. 1, 2, and similarly Maṅgala-symbols (see below, under D) stand at the end of inscriptions or of sections of the text, especially in ancient MSS., such as the Bower MS.

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Finally, it is necessary to call attention to the frames surrounding the Aśoka edicts in the Girnār version, the Jaugaḍa separate edicts, and the Dhauli separate edict No. I.

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What the inscriptions teach us regarding the history of the Indian interpunctuation may be briefly summed up, as follows. During the earliest period up to the beginning of our era, only single strokes, either straight or curved, are used, and their use is rare. After the beginning of our era, we find more complicated signs. [85] But up to the 5th century their use remains irregular. From that time onwards, we have, especially in the Praśastis on stone, more regular systems of interpunctuation. And the Mandasor Praśasti of A. D. 473-74, F.GI (CII. 3), No. 18, plate 11, first proves the existence of the still valid principle, which requires one stroke after a half-verse and two strokes at the end of a verse. But up to the 8th century there are various copper-plates and stone inscriptions, especially from Southern India, without any interpunctuation.¹ Its methodical development is due to the Brahmanical schoolmen. In the offices, interpunctuation apparently never became a favourite. As a comparison of the documents of one and the same dynasty easily shows, the degree of regularity with which the signs are used, depends not upon the age of the Sāsanas, but on individual qualities of the writers, their learning and their carefulness.

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¹ See, *e. g.*, facsimiles, IA, 6, 88; 7, 163; 8, 28; 10, 62–64, 164–171.

D. — Maṅgalas and ornamentation

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In accordance with the ancient Brahmanical maxim, which requires a Maṅgala, a benediction or an auspicious word, at the beginning, in the middle and at the end of a composition in order to insure its completion and preservation, sacred symbols of auspicious import are found at the beginning and the end of two Aśoka edicts² and of many inscriptions of the next four centuries.³ The most common Maṅgala-symbols, employed in this way, are the well-known Svastika, the trident or the so-called Triratna symbol resting on the Dharmacakra, and the conventional representation of a Caitya tree.⁴ But there are also others, the names of which are as yet unknown. Once⁵ the Svastika appears after the word *siddham*.

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² See the facsimile of the separate edicts of Jaugada.

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³ See, *e. g.*, facsimiles of the Sohgaura plate; of Bhājā Nos. 2, 3, 7; of Kuḍā Nos. 1, 6, 11, 15, 16, 20, 22, 24, 25; of Mahāḍ; of Beḍsā No. 3; of Kārle Nos. 1–3, 5, 20; of Junnar Nos. 2–15, 17, 19; of Nāsik Nos. 1, 11 A, B, 14, 21, 24; of Kaṇheri Nos. 2, 12, 13; EI. 2, 368, Stūpa I, No. 358; and Bhagvānlāl, Sixth Oriental Congress, 3, 2, 136 ff.

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⁴ On the non-sectarian national character of these symbols, see Bhagvānlāl, *loc. cit.*; and EI. 2, 312 ff.

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⁵ Nāsik No. 6.

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In later times, we find also Maṅgala-symbols with greatly modified forms, partly in the texts at the end of larger sections and partly at the end of documents or literary works. A very common sign of this description is a large circle with a smaller one, or with one or several dots in the middle.⁶ This may be a conventional representation either of the Dharmacakra which is still distinctly visible in front of F.GI (CII. 3), No. 63, plate 39, A, or of the lotus, which likewise occurs. As a circle with a dot, ⊙, corresponds to the ancient *tha*, other signs, closely resembling or identical with later forms of *tha*, are used as substitutes.⁷ And the modern MSS. finally offer the well-known छ, which corresponds to one of the medieval forms of *tha*, but is now read *cha*.

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⁶ See, *e. g.*, “The Bower MS.,” pt. 1, pls. 3, 5; pt. 2, pl. 1 ff.; facsimiles, IA. 6, 17; 9, 133, No. 4; 17, 310; 19, 58; EI. 1, 10 ff. In the Siyaḍoṇī inscription, EI. 1, 173 ff., Viṣṇu's Kaustubha seems to be used repeatedly; compare EI. 2, 124.

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⁷ Compare, *e. g.*, facsimiles, F.GI (CII. 3), No. 71 (end); IA. 6, 67, pl. 2, line 1 (wrongly read as 20); IA. 6, 192, pl. 2, line 10; EI. 1, 77 (end); 3, 273, line 39; 3, 306, Verāwal image inscription (end).

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Since the 5th century, we find also new symbols, consisting of highly ornamental forms of the ancient *O* of the word *Oṃ* (plate IV, 6, XVIII; plate V, 47, IX), which latter is a great Maṅgala. They are used both at the beginning and at the end of inscriptions and occasionally even on the margin of copper-plates.⁸

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⁸ See, *e. g.*, facsimiles, F.GI (CII. 3), Nos. 11, pl. 6 A (also p. 46, note 3), 20, pl. 12 B, 26, pl. 16, &c.; IA. 6, 32 (five times); EI. 3, 52 (end); “The Bower MS.,” pt. 1, pl. 1; compare also Berūnī, India, 1, 173 (Sachau).

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Many of the sculptures, found in connection with stone inscriptions, appear to have the same meaning as the Maṅgala-symbols just mentioned. Of this kind are, *e. g.*, several of the relievos above Bhagvānlāl's Nepāl inscriptions,⁹ such as the Śaṅkhas (No. 3), the lotuses (Nos. 5, 15), the bull Nandi (Nos. 7, 12), the fish (No. 9), the sun-wheel and the stars (No. 10). It is however possible that the lotus of No. 15 may refer also to the donation of a silver lotus, the dedication of which the inscription records. Again, the sun-wheel and the stars of No. 10 may also be intended to indicate the wish, often expressed explicitly in words, that the donation, to which the inscription refers, may last "as long as sun and stars endure."

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⁹ IA. 9, 163 ff.

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Similar illustrations of the contents of the inscriptions and symbolical representations of the wishes¹ and of other matters expressed in them, are not rare. Corresponding engravings on the copper-plates are less common. But on these the royal coat of arms is sometimes engraved below or by the side of the text, instead of on a separate seal, and the stone inscriptions, too, occasionally exhibit such devices.² Among the MSS., those of the Nepalese Buddhists and of the Jainas of Gujarāt are often richly ornamented and perfectly illustrated.³ Specimens of illuminated Brahmanical MSS. are, however, not wanting.

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¹ Thus, the wish for the duration of the grant is expressed by representations of the sun and moon.

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² See, *e. g.*, B.ASRWI. No. 10, "Cave-temple Inscriptions," facsimile at p. 101, and KIELHORN'S remarks, EI. 3, 307; coats of arms are found in facsimiles at IA. 6, 49 ff., 192; EI. 3, 14.

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³ See, *e. g.*, WEBER, Verzeichn. d. Berlin Sank. und Prak. Hdschriften, 2, 3, pl. 2; Fifth Oriental Congress, 2, 2, 189 ff., pl. 2; Pal. Soc., Or. Ser., pls. 18, 31; RĀJENDRALĀL MITRA, Notices of Sansk. MSS. 3, pl. 1; compare also B.ESIP. 82, § 4.

E. — Corrections, omissions, and abbreviations

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⁴ Compare B. ESIP. 83, § 5.

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In the earliest inscriptions, as in the Aśoka edicts (see, *e. g.*, Kālsī edict XII, line 31) erroneous passages [86] are simply scored out. Later, dots or short strokes above or below the line are used to indicate clerical errors. The same signs occur in MSS., where, however, in late times the *delenda* are covered with turmeric or a yellow paste. On the copper-plates, they are frequently beaten out with a hammer, and the corrections are then engraved on the smoothed spot. We possess even entire palimpsests of this kind.⁵

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⁵ IA. 7, 251 (No. 47); 13, 84, note 20; EI. 3, 41, note 6.

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In the Aśoka edicts and other early inscriptions, letters and words, left out by mistake, are added above or below the line without any indication of the place to which they belong,⁶ or they are also entered in the interstices between the letters. In the later inscriptions and the MSS., the spot of the omission is indicated by a small upright or inclined cross, the so-called *kākapada* or *haṁsapada*, and the addenda are given either in the margin⁷ or between the lines.

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⁶ See, *e. g.*, Kālsī edict XIII, 2, line 11; thus also later, see, *e. g.*, facsimile at EI. 3, 314, line 5.

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⁷ See, *e. g.*, facsimiles, EI. 3, 52, pl. 2, line 1; EI. 3, 276, line 11.

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A Svastika is sometimes put instead of the cross.⁸ In South-Indian MSS., the cross is used also to indicate intentional omissions, made in Sūtras with commentaries.⁹ Elsewhere, intentional omissions, or such as have been caused by defects in the original of the copy, are marked by dots on the line or by short strokes above the line.¹⁰ The modern sign for the elision of an initial *A*, the so-called Avagraha, has been traced first on the Baroda copper-plate of the Rāṣṭrakūṭa king Dhruva, dated A. D. 834-35.¹¹ A *kuṇḍala*, "ring," or a Svastika, served to mark unintelligible passages; see Kashmīr Report, 71, and KIELHORN, Mahābhāṣya, 2, 10, note.

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⁸ Facsimile, IA. 6, 32, pl. 3.

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⁹ Āpastamba Dharmasūtra², p. II (10).

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¹⁰ Compare, *e. g.*, IA. 6, 19, note, line 33; 20, note, line 11; very common in Kashmīr MSS.

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¹¹ IA. 14, 193: compare FLEET, EI. 3, 329; and KIELHORN, EI. 4, 244, note 7.

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In Western India, abbreviations are found first in an inscription of the Andhra king Siri-Puḷumāyi (Nāsik, No. 15) of about A. D. 150, and in the nearly contemporaneous one of Sirisena- or Sakasena-Māḍharīputa (Kaṇheri, No. 14). In the north-west, they are very common in the inscriptions of the Kuṣana period. The commonest instances are: — *saṁva*, *sava*, *saṁ* and *sa* for *saṁvatsara*; *gri*, *gr* or *gi* for *grīṣmāḥ* or *gimhānaṁ*; *va* for *varṣāḥ*; *he* for *hemantaḥ*; *pa* for *pakhe*; and *diva* or *di* for *divasa*; and they are only found when the dates are expressed by figures. In this connection, they are used regularly in the later inscriptions and even in our days. But in these later times we find usually *saṁvat*, which sometimes even is inflected,¹ before the dates of the years; but, before the dates of the month falling in the bright half, *śu* or *su di* for *śuddha-* or *śukla-pakṣa-dina*, or in Kashmīr *śu* or *su ti* (*tithi*), and before those falling in the dark half, *ba* or *va di* for *bahula-* or *vahula-pakṣa-dina*, or in Kashmīr *ba ti*.

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¹ According to a letter from KIELHORN.

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From the 6th century, the inscriptions of Western India offer here and there abbreviations of other words, such as *dū* for *dūtaka*, *dvi* for *dvitīya*.³

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Later, especially since the 11th century, abbreviations of titles and the names of tribes, castes and so forth become very common. In the MSS. they are noticeable since the earliest times. Thus, the Khotan Dhammapada (Paris fragment) has, at the end of a Vagga, *ga 30* for *gāthā 30*; and in the Bower MS., plate II, *ślo* for *śloka* and *pā* for *pāda* often occur in connection with figures at the end of a section. In the inscriptions and MSS. of the 12th century we find with names, not with dates, the small circle or *bindu*,³ which is still used to indicate abbreviations; e. g., 𑖔° for *ṭhakkura*. The same sign is used in Prakrit MSS. to indicate the omission of one or several letters that can be easily supplied; e. g., *a°tabhavaṃ* for *attabhavaṃ*, *di°ṭhā* for *diṭṭhā*.⁴

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³ See, e. *g.*, IA. 6, 194 ff., No. 4 ff.; EI. 1, 317, line 9.

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⁴ Compare S. P. PANDIT, Mālavikāgnimitra², p. V, who, as also BURNELL, makes *di°ṭhā* stand for *diṭṭhā*; see also PISCHEL, Nachr. Gött. Gel. Ges., 1873, 205.

F. — Pagination

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The Hindus number only the leaves (*pattra*), not the pages (*pṛṣṭha*), of their MSS.; and in the Draviḍian districts the figure stands on the first page of each leaf, in all other parts of India on the second (*sāṅkapṛṣṭha*).⁵ The same rule holds good in the case of copper-plates, the sheets of which sometimes (but rarely) are numbered.⁶

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⁵ On an apparent exception, see WZKM. 7, 261..

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⁶ Compare, *e. g.*, B.ESIP. pl. 24; facsimiles at EI. 1, 1 ff.; 3, 156, 300.

G. — Seals

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According to the law-books,⁷ all Śāsanas **[87]** must bear the royal seal. Consequently, seals, welded to the plates or to the rings connecting the plates, or attached to them by pins, are found with the majority of the grants. They show the royal coat of arms (mostly the representation of an animal or of a deity), or, in addition to such emblems, a shorter or longer inscription, giving the name of the king or of the founder of the dynasty, or the whole pedigree, and sometimes merely an inscription.⁸

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⁷ JOLLY, Recht und Sitte, Grundriss, II, 8, 114.

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⁸ See, *e. g.*, the collections of seals in plates at B.ESIP. 106, and EI. 3, 104; 4, 244: see also F.GI (CII. 3), plates 30, 32, 33, 37, 43.

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