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Indian Palaeography from about B.C. 350 to about A.D. 1300 c7.s17: § 22. — The so-called Gupta alphabet of the 4th and 5th centuries A. D.; Plate IV

Indian Palaeography from about B.C. 350 to about A.D. 1300 c7.s17

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§ 22. — The so-called Gupta alphabet of the 4th and 5th centuries A. D.; Plate IV

A. — Varieties

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The differences between the eastern and western varieties of the so-called Gupta [47] alphabet appear in the signs for *la*, *ṣa* and *ha*.⁷ In the eastern variety the left limb of *la* (plate IV, 34, I—III, V, VI) is turned sharply downwards; compare the *la* of the Jaugaḍa separate edicts (see above, § 16, C, 35). Further, the base-stroke of *ṣa* (IV, 37, I—III, V, VI) is made round and attached as a loop to the slanting central bar. Finally, the base-stroke of *ha* (IV, 39, I—III, V, VI) is suppressed, and its hook, attached to the vertical, is turned sharply to the left, exactly as in the Jaggayyapeta inscriptions (see above, § 20, C). In the western variety these three letters have the older and fuller forms.

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⁷ Compare Hoernle, J.ASB. 60, 81, who mentions *ṣa* alone, because his remarks refer also to the type discussed below in § 23.

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The specimens of the eastern variety in plate IV. have been taken from the oldest Gupta inscription, Hariṣeṇa's Allahabad Praśasti (cols. I—III), which certainly was incised during the reign of Samudragupta,⁸ probably between A. D. 370 and 390, and from the Kahāum Praśasti of A. D. 460 (cols. V, VI) of the time of Skandagupta. It appears, besides, in Fleet's Gupta Inscriptions (CII. 3) Nos. 6—9, 15, 64, 65, 77; in Bhagvānlāl's inscriptions from Nepāl, Nos. 1—3;⁹ and in Cunningham's Gayā inscription of Saṃvat 64.¹⁰ The fact that Fleet's No. 6 is found far west, near Bhilsa in Mālva, may be explained by its having been incised, during an expedition of Candragupta II. to Mālva, at the command of his minister, who calls himself an inhabitant of Pāṭaliputra. Nothing is known regarding the origin of Fleet's No. 77, which is incised on a seal, purchased in Lahore, but possibly manufactured in Eastern India.

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⁸ SB.WA. 122, XI, 32 ff.

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⁹ IA. 9, 163 ff.; in my opinion the era is *not*, as Fleet holds in Gupta Inscriptions (CII. 3), Introduction, 95, 177 ff., that of A. D. 318-19, but one peculiar to the Nepalese, the exact beginning of which has still to be determined.

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¹⁰ C.MG. pl. 25; the era may be that of the Guptas.

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The western variety of the Gupta alphabet again appears in two forms, a cursive round-hand and an angular, monumental, type. The second form, which shews very characteristic thick top-lines and a hooked *ra* (33), is represented in plate IV, col. IV, by the alphabet of the Bilsaḍ Praśasti of A. D. 415. Another fine example is found in Fleet's No. 32, from the Meharaulī iron pillar near Delhī. Specimens of the cursive form are given in col. VII. from the Indor copper-plate of A. D. 465, in col. VIII. from Toramāṇa's Kura inscription, probably of the second half of the 5th century,¹ and in col. IX. from the Kārītalāī copper-plate of Jayanātha of Uccakalpa, dated the year 174 or probably A. D. 423.² The same type is found in Fleet's Nos. 4, 13, 16, 19, 22—31, 36, 61, 63, 66, 67, 69, 74, 76, and in the Jaina votive inscriptions from Mathurā, new series, Nos. 38, 39.³ It deserves to be noted that Fleet's No. 13 from Bhitarī is found in a district where one would expect the eastern variety. Fleet's No. 61, the Jaina inscription from Udayagiri in Mālva, shows a mixture of the northern characters with southern ones, as it offers throughout *A*, *Ā*, with a curve, and once a southern *ṛ*. Perhaps the same may be said of Fleet's No. 59, the Bijayagaḍh inscription from Bhartpur in Rājputāna, where *ra* shows a curve at the end and medial *i* and *ī* resemble those in plate III, col. XVI. The characters on the Gupta coins⁴ are frequently retrograde, and offer, *e. g.*, the angular *ma* of the Kuṣana period.

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¹ IA. 18, 225.

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² According to Fleet, IA. 19, 227 f., the kings of Uccakalpa probably dated according to the Cedi or Kalacuri 49.

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³ ~10.

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⁴ J.ASB. 53, pl. 2—4; J.RAS., 1889, pl. 1—4, and p. 34 ff., and 1893, pl. 2.

B. — Characteristics of the epigraphic Gupta alphabet

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The following particularly important or characteristic peculiarities of the Gupta inscriptions deserve to be noticed in detail: —

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(1) The lower parts of the right-hand verticals of *A*, *Ā*, *ga*, *ḍa*, *ta*, *bha* and *śa* are so much elongated, and those of *ka* and *ra* remain so long, that these eight signs have about double the length of those without verticals. This is particularly visible in the older stone inscriptions; on the copper-plates they are often shortened.

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(2) The right-hand portion of *gha*, *pa*, *pha*, *ṣa* and *sa* shows an acute angle, whereby later the development of tails or verticals on the right of these signs has been caused.

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(3) Since the middle of the 5th century, the lower portion of the left limb of *A* (1, IX, XI) shows the curve, open to the left, which appears in all the later forms of the letter; the sign of the length of *Ā* (2, VII—IX) [48] is attached to the foot of the right vertical.

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(4) In addition to the *I* of the Kuṣana .period (3, I, V), there occur, owing to the predilection for letters flattened at the top, the also later frequent *I* with two dots above (3, VII), and that consisting of a short horizontal line with two dots below (3, IX), which latter is the parent of the later southern *I* (plates VII, VIII, and § 28 below) and of that of the Nāgarī (below, § 24, A, 4).

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(5) The rudimentary curves at the left end of *U*, *Ū* and *O* are more fully developed in the 5th century; compare above, § 19, B, 4.

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(6) The guttural *ṅa* begins to appear instead of the Anusvāra before *śa* and *ha* (11, VII), perhaps in consequence of the faulty pronunciation, blamed in the Śikṣās.⁵

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⁵ u, Wedischer Accent, 64.

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(7) The third horizontal line of *ja* (14, I—III, VII, VIII) begins to slant downwards, and occasionally shows a curve at the end, whereby later the new forms of cols. XXI—XXIII. are caused.

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(8) The palatal *ña* (16, I, II; 42, I, VI, VII, XI) is frequently made cursive and round, and is occasionally laid on the side in order to save space; compare also *jñaḥ*, plate III, 40, XIV. But older, angular, forms likewise occur (42, V).

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(9) The *ṭa* (17, I—III, IX) is often flattened down at the top.

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(10) The *ṇa* of 21, I, II, shows a little stroke at the right end, caused by an inexact formation of the hook on the right, and in the second sign a cursive loop on the left; in 21, III, the letter has been laid on the side and somewhat resembles the Nāgarī *ṇa*.

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(11) The *tha* (23, I, V—IX) is mostly elliptical or flattened on the right, and a cross-bar often replaces the dot in the centre; but the old form likewise survives (23, II, III).¹

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¹ Compare facsimile in Fleet's Gupta Inscriptions (*CII.* 3), No. 61.

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(12) The *ya* (32, I—IX) is mostly tripartite, but sometimes, particularly in *ye*, *yai* and *yo*, transitional forms with the loop, like the later ones in 32, XIII, XVI, appear, which lead up to the bipartitite *ya*.² The oldest instance of the independent looped *ya* is found in Fleet's No. 59 of A. D. 371, but the Kuṣana inscriptions show the looped subscript *ya* even earlier (see above, § 19, B, 12).

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² *J.ASB* 60, 83 ff

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(13) The left limb of *sa* (38, I—III, V, VI, VIII) often becomes a loop, as happens already in some Kuṣana inscriptions (§ 19, B, 16). A substitute for the loop is the triangle (probably giving the outlines of a wedge), which occurs in the three most ancient inscriptions from Nepāl; compare the later *sa* of 38, XII. But the older hook is equally common.

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(14) The rare *ḷa* (40, I—III) is found also in Fleet's No. 67, line 1.

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(15) The signs for the medial vowels agree in many particulars with those of the Kuṣana period. But the open semicircle for *ā* in *ṭā* (17, II), which is found also in *ṇā*, is an innovation. Further, the medial *i*, for instance, of *khi* (8, III, VI, IX), is drawn further to the left than in the earlier inscriptions. In some inscriptions like Mathurā, new series, Nos. 38, 39, the medial *ī* consists merely of a curve, going to the right, though the form with two horns (as in *dī*, 24, I), and a looped one (as in *bhī*, 30, IV), are more common. Medial *u* is mostly represented by the still used curve, which in *ru* (33, III, VI) appears abnormally at the end of *ra*; but in *gu* (8, II, VI), *tu*, *bhu* (30, I) and *śu* (36, III) the vowel rises upwards. For medial *ū* there are, besides an old form in *gū* (9, IV), other combinations in *bhū* (30, II, VI) and *ṭṭū* (42, II) and a later very common, cursive form in *dhū* (25, II, VI). One of the Mātrās of *ai* and *o* is often placed vertically, as in *gai*, 32, III; in *go*, 9, III; and in *ṇo*, 21, III.

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(16) The desire to save space causes the cursive *ña*, *ṭa* (see *ṣṭa*, 45, IX) and *tha* (see *sthā*, 45, V; *stha*, 46, IX) to be laid on the side, in case they form the second elements of ligatures. From the 5th century, *rya* (45, VII) is expressed by a full *ra* with a subscript *ya*.

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(17) The first certain Virāma (see *ddham*, 43, VII), consisting of a horizontal stroke above the small final, dates likewise from the 5th century; the northern Jihvāmūlīya (*ẖka*, 46, II) and the Upadhmānīya (*ḫpā*, 46, III) occur already in the 4th century.

C. — The Gupta alphabet in manuscripts

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Among the types of the Bower MS., which belongs, according to Hoernle's and my own opinion,³ to the 5th century, I have given [**49**] in plate VI, cols. I—IV, only the alphabet of the portion which Hoernle marks *A*, since the published parts of his *B.* and *C.* are not sufficiently extensive for a paleographic enquiry. Its characters differ very little from those of the epigraphic documents of the Gupta period, especially from the copper-plates. The Serifs at the tops of the vertical strokes, however, are made more carefully and nearly throughout worked up with the latter into real wedges. If a letter like *gha* (plate VI, 13, I—IV) has several upstrokes, the *Serifs* are added regularly to all of them. Similarly, the lower ends of vertical strokes more regularly bear *Serifs* or are converted into wedges or little buttons. The greater regularity of the writing is what may be expected in a good MS., the material of which offers fewer difficulties than stone or copper. The invariable use of the *Serifs* has led to the formation of the *ka* (15, IV) with the loop on the left¹ (compare 15, I, III), which appears occasionally in the Bower MS., but is noticeable only later, since A. D. 588-89 (see plate IV, 7, XIII), in the inscriptions. Further, the Bower MS. offers in rare cases, *e g.* in *prayojayet* (fol. 31*a*, 11), an archaic form of the bipartite *ya*. Finally, it makes us acquainted with some signs which, owing to the rarity of the sounds expressed by them, cannot occur frequently in the inscriptions and hitherto have not been traced in those of the 4th and 5th centuries. To these belong the long *Ī* (4, I), in which the upper and lower dots of the ancient sign (compare plate VI, 4, V, VII) have been converted into a straight stroke, and further the short *Ṛ*, which clearly consists of a *ra* and a medial *ṛ* (compare above, § 1; and below, § 24, A, 7), also the *AU* (14, I, II), which fully agrees with the epigraphic character of A. D. 532 (plate IV, 6, X), and the subscript *ṛ* of *nṛ* (34, III) which consists of two *ṛ*, placed horizontally side by side.

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³ *J.ASB.* 60, 92 f. ; *WZKM.* 5, 104 f. The discovery of an inscription of the 7th century with *yu*, EI. 4, 29, makes a modification of Hoernle's argumentation necessary, but does not invalidate

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¹ Anecdota Oxoniensia, Aryan Series, 1, 3, 76.

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