Indian Palaeography from about B.C. 350 to about A.D. 1300 c7.s15.t2.6

c7.s15.t2.6

Very similar to this script is that of the Nāsik inscriptions (No. 11, *a*, *b*, = col. X) of the Andhra king Gotamiputa Sātakaṇi, who destroyed the Kṣaharāta dynasty, — possibly just Nahapāna and Uṣavadāta, — and of his son Siri-Puḷumāyi, Puḷumāi or Pulimāvi (Nāsik No. 14, = col. XI), who is mentioned by Ptolemy as Siri-Polemaios or Polemios.¹ The only material difference occurs in the triangular *dha* (24, XI; compare col. VII), which however is by no means constant. Nearly of the same type are the alphabets shewn in col. XII. from the Nāsik inscription of the somewhat later Andhra king Gotamiputa Siriyaña Sātakaṇi, in col. XIII. from the undated inscription Nāsik No. 20, and in col. XIV. from Nāsik No. 12, incised during the reign of the Ābhīra king Īśvarasena.² In col. XII, however, we have a peculiar form of *ta* (21) developed from a looped form, a looped *na* (25) somewhat differing from the northern form in col. IV, a *ra* (32) with a stronger curve, and a *la* (33) with the vertical bent towards the left; further, in col. XIII. a looped *ta* (21), and in col. XIV. a *ta* (21) and a *na* (25) derived from looped forms, a *ya* (31) with a curve on the left, a *la* (33) bent towards the left, a cursive subscribed *ña* in *jñaḥ* (40), and a peculiar, *r*-like, medial *u* in *du* (23), which reappears in later southern inscriptions; compare, for instance, *bhu*, pl. VII, 30, XII, and the *ū* in *tū*, pl. III, 21, XVII, XIX.