Indian Palaeography from about B.C. 350 to about A.D. 1300 c10.s1.t2: B. — The grouping of words

Indian Palaeography from about B.C. 350 to about A.D. 1300 c10.s1.t2

Language: English

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.