Indian Palaeography from about B.C. 350 to about A.D. 1300 c7.s13.4

c7.s13.4

Paleographic evidence is almost the only help for fixing the time of Dhanabhūti's inscription on the *toraṇa* of the Bharahut Stūpa (col. XVIII), which was incised "during the rule of the Śuṅgas," as well as that of the Pabhosa cave inscriptions (col. XIX) and of the oldest votive documents from Mathurā (col. XX), all of which order (see above, § 15, 5) the Śuṅga type of the ancient Brāhmī. To judge from the evidently close connection of their characters, partly with the younger Maurya alphabet and partly with the Kaliṅga script, the signs of cols. XVIII, XIX, probably belong to the second century B. C. Those of col. XX. may date from the first century B. C., as the elongation of the lower parts of the verticals of *A*, *Ā* (1, 2), the broad back of *śa* (37), the cursive *ḷa* (41) and the subscribed *ra* in *dra* (42), which is twisted to the left, point to a later time.