Indian Palaeography from about B.C. 350 to about A.D. 1300 c7.s2.4

c7.s2.4

Hitherto, the Kharoṣṭhī has been found (1) in stone-inscriptions, (2) on metal plates and vases, (3) on coins, (4) on cameos, and (5) on a longer known small piece of birch bark from a Stūpa in Afghanistan⁶ and on the Bhūrja MS. of the Dhammapada from Khotan. The latter MS. has probably been written in Gandhāra during the Kuṣana period. The dialect of its text shows characteristic affinities to that of the Shāhbāzgarhī version of the Aśoka edicts, and its characters agree very closely with those of the Wardak vase.¹ On the metal plates and vases, [20] the letters frequently consist of rows of dots, or have been first punched in in this manner and afterwards scratched in with a stilus.² On stone vases they are sometimes written with ink.³