Indian Palaeography from about B.C. 350 to about A.D. 1300 c7.s17.t2: B. — Characteristics of the epigraphic Gupta alphabet
Indian Palaeography from about B.C. 350 to about A.D. 1300 c7.s17.t2
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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.