Indian Palaeography from about B.C. 350 to about A.D. 1300 c10.s1.t5.2

c10.s1.t5.2

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