Indian Palaeography from about B.C. 350 to about A.D. 1300 c7.s14: § 19. — The precursors of the northern alphabets

Indian Palaeography from about B.C. 350 to about A.D. 1300 c7.s14

Language: English

c7.s14.t1 A. — The alphabet of the Northern Kṣatrapas; Plate III — 6 parts
c7.s14.t2 B. — The alphabet of the Kuṣana inscriptions; Plate III — 10 parts

§ 19. — The precursors of the northern alphabets

A. — The alphabet of the Northern Kṣatrapas; Plate III

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Immediately connected with the latest forms of the Śuṅga type in the oldest Jaina inscriptions from Mathurā (pl. II, col. XX) is the alphabet of the Northern Kṣatrapas on the coins and in the inscriptions of the Mahākṣatrapa Rājuvala or Rañjubula and of his son Śoḍāsa or Suḍasa, who ruled in the first century B. C. or A. D. (?) over the same town.⁴ And some "*archaic*" votive inscriptions from Mathurā, as well as legends on certain Indian coins, exhibit the early letters of the same type.⁵

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⁴ See above, § 10.

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⁵ Comp. also facsimiles in C.*ASR*. 3, pl. 13, No. 1; EI. 1, 392, No. 17; C.*CAI*. pl. 3, No. 14; pl. 6; pl. 8, No. 2 ff.

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The characteristics of this type (plate III, cols. I, II) are the equalisation of all the upper verticals, except in *la* (33, I); the constant use of the *Serif*, occasionally replaced, as in *bha* (29, I), by a nail-head or wedge; and the constant use of angular forms for *gha* (10, I), *ja* (13, I, II), *pa* (26, I, II), *pha* (27. I), *ma* (30, I, II), *la* (33, I), *ṣa* (36, I), and *ha* (38, I, II). Other, mostly cursive, innovations are found in the peculiar *ca* (11, I); in the slanting angular *ḍa* (18, I); in *da* (23, I); in the broadened *bha* (29, I, II); in *ra* with the curve at the end (32, I, II), which occasionally reappears also later (see pl. IV, 33, IV) in northern inscriptions; in the medial vowels *ā* (which in *hā*, 38, II, rises upwards, but in *rā*, 32, I, keeps its ancient form), *i* (in *di*, 23, I), *o* (in *gho*, 10, I, and *śo*, 35, II); and in the position of the Anusvāra above the line (in *ṇāṃ*, 20, I). The *ka* shows, besides the old form in 7, I, II, the later one with the bent bars in *kṣa* (40, I). The upper part of the abnormal *va* (34, II) with two triangles, which sometimes is found also in the Kuṣana inscriptions⁶ and elsewhere, [41] probably represents a hollow wedge. The inscriptions of this class for the first time show⁷ the medial *ṛ* which consists, exactly like that of the Kuṣana inscriptions in *vṛ* (34, III), of a straight line slanting towards the left.

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⁶ EI. 2, 201, No. 12; 207, No. 32; hollow wedges are found also in the facsimiles in C.*ASR*. 10, pl. 23, No. 1; F.*GI* (*CII*. 3), No. 23.

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⁷ In *vṛṣṇināṃ*, C.*ASR*. 20, pl. 5, line 2.

B. — The alphabet of the Kuṣana inscriptions; Plate III

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The next step in the development of the Brāhmī of Northern India is illustrated by the inscriptions from the time of the Kuṣana kings Kaniṣka, Huviṣka and Vāsuṣka or Vāsudeva (plate III, cols. III—V), the first among whom made an end of the rule of the older Śakas in the eastern and southern Pañjāb. The inscriptions with the names of these kings, which run from the year 4 to the year 98 (according to the usually accepted opinions, of the Śaka era of A. D. 77-78, or of the 4th century of the Seleucid era),⁸ are very numerous in Mathurā and its neighbourhood, and are found also in eastern Rājputāna and in the Central Indian Agency (Sāñci).⁹ In spite of great variations in the single letters, which occasionally exhibit the more modern forms in the older inscriptions and the earlier forms of the Northern Kṣatrapa type in the later documents, the alphabet possesses a very characteristic appearance, and nobody who once has seen the squat and broad letters of the Kuṣana period will ever make a mistake by assigning them to other times.

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⁸ IA. 10, 213; C.*CIS*. 51 ff., 57; Bhaṇḍārkar, Early Hist. of the Dekkan², 23, note 1, thinks that Kaniṣka ruled later; but S. Lévi, *J.A.* 1897, I, 5 ff., places even Vāsudeva in the first century A. D.; the years 4 and 5 of this era occur in EI. 2, 201, Nos. 11, 12; Kaniṣka, the year 7, EI. 1, 391, No. 19.

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⁹ See facsimile, EI 2, 369

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As regards the details, the following innovations deserve special mention:¹ — (1) Side by side with more ancient signs, the *A* of col. IV. shows a form leading up to the modern *A* of the Nāgarī of Western India; compare also pl. IV, 1, IX, XI ff. (2) The bar denoting the length of *Ā* is attached low down (2, III, IV); compare pl. IV, 2, VII ff. (3) Three strokes, one of which is set up vertically, take the place of the three dots of *I* (3, III). (4) The horizontal stroke of *U* occasionally shows a curve at the left end (4, IV). (5) The base of the triangular *E* (5, IV, V) is mostly at the top; compare pl. IV, 5, X ff. (6) The *kha* (8, III—V) is mostly triangular below, and its book is often small. (7) One of the two originally horizontal strokes of *ṇa* is always turned into a curve notched in the middle, and sometimes both are changed in this manner, as in 20, III, IV; occasionally the vertical is split up into two lines, which are attached to the ends of the left horizontal line, each bearing a portion of the curved top-bar (20, V). (8) The *ta* shows sometimes, but rarely, a loop, as in *sti* (43, IV). (9) The lower end of *da* (23, III—V) is drawn further to the right, and the bulge on the right becomes larger. (10) The *dha* (24, III, IV) becomes narrower and pointed at the ends. (11) The horizontal stroke of *na* is curved (25, III) or looped (25, IV), whereby the still more modern looking form in 25, V, is developed. (12) The *ya* (31, III—V) mostly has a hook or circle on the left limb, and in ligatures is either looped as in *ryya* (42, III), or bipartite as in *ryya* (41, V). (13) The *va* is occasionally rounded on the left (34, V). or becomes similar to *ca*, as in *rvva* (42, IV). (14) The *śa* (35, III—V) becomes narrower, and its middle stroke lies horizontally across the interior; sometimes the left down-stroke bears a *Serif* at the end, or the right one is made longer, just as in *ga* (9, V); compare pl. IV, 36, I ff. (15) The central bar of *ṣa* (36, III—V) goes straight across the interior of the letter. (16) The left limb of *sa* is occasionally, but rarely, turned into a loop (37, IV); compare plate IV, 38, I ff.

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¹ Compare my remarks, EI. 1, 371 ff.; 2, 197.

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All these peculiarities, as well as the advanced forms of the medial vowels, of *ā* in *rā* (32, IV), of *u* in *ku* (7, IV, V) and in *stu* (43, V),² and of *o* in *to* (21, IV), reappear constantly in the northern alphabets of the next period, those of the Gupta inscriptions (pl. IV, cols I—VII) and of the Bower MS. (pl. VI, cols. I—III), or are precursors of the forms of those documents. The literary alphabets used in Mathurā during the first two centuries A. D., very likely were identical with or closely similar to the later ones, and the admixture of older forms, observable in the inscriptions of the Kuṣana period, may be due purely to an imitation of older votive inscriptions.

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² Compare the *tu* of plate II, 43, III.

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Attention must be called to the medial *r̥* in *tr̥* (21, IV) and [42] in *vr̥* (34, III), for which we have also once³ the form of pl. IV, 3, III; likewise to the rather common final *m*, which resembles that in *ddham* (41, VIII), and to the Visarga, which looks exactly like the modern one (compare 40, 41, IX) and first appears in these inscriptions.⁴ The broad strokes of the letters and their thick tops indicate that they imitate an alphabet written with ink.