Indian Palaeography from about B.C. 350 to about A.D. 1300 c7.s19.t3: C. — The ligatures

Indian Palaeography from about B.C. 350 to about A.D. 1300 c7.s19.t3

Language: English

C. — The ligatures

c7.s19.t3.1

(1) Both in the inscriptions and in the MSS. of the 6th and later centuries, we find occasionally ligatures, in which the second consonant is placed to the right of the first, instead of below it (see, *e. g.*, plate IV, 45, XI; V, 47, II; VI, 51, VI).³

c7.s19.t3.2

³ Anec. Oxon., Aryan Series, 1, 3, 87.

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(2) For the stone inscriptions of the acute-angled alphabet, the subscript *ya* frequently is made ornamental and drawn far to the left. Since the 7th century, and occasionally even earlier, the right-hand upstroke of *ya* is drawn up as far as the upper line of the whole sign (see, *e. g.*, plate IV, 46, VIII, XIX; 43, 45, XIII; VI, 51, VI).

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(3) *Ra*, being the first part of a compound consonant, usually stands above the line and is expressed by a wedge, or by an angle or a curve open to the right. But in *rma* the left side of *ma* is shortened, and the top of the wedge, which is placed on this shortened line, does not protrude above the upper line (plate VI, 49, VI). Similar depressions of the superscripted *ra* are found in connection with other consonants in the Aphsaḍ inscription,⁴ on Harṣa's copperplates, and in some MSS. (plate VI, 51, XIII, XIV). Until the 9th century, *rya* is often expressed by a full *ra* with a subscribed *ya* (see, *e. g.*, plate IV, 44, XVIII; 45, VII; and compare EI, 3, 103).

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⁴ Fleet, Gupta Inscriptions (CII. 3), 202; Kielhorn, EI. 1, 179 f.

Linked texts (1)

Banskhera plate of Harsha — Sanskrit