Indian Palaeography from about B.C. 350 to about A.D. 1300 c7.s17.t1.3

c7.s17.t1.3

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.