Indian Palaeography from about B.C. 350 to about A.D. 1300 c7.s17.t1: A. — Varieties

Indian Palaeography from about B.C. 350 to about A.D. 1300 c7.s17.t1

Language: English

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.

Linked texts (2)

Corpus Inscriptionum Indicarum
An Inscription of Mānadeva, dated Saṁvat 386 — Sanskrit