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Indian Palaeography from about B.C. 350 to about A.D. 1300 c7.s20: § 25. — The Śāradā alphabet; Plates V. and VI

Indian Palaeography from about B.C. 350 to about A.D. 1300 c7.s20

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§ 25. — The Śāradā alphabet; Plates V. and VI

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A. — The Śāradā script,¹ which is easily recognised as a descendant of the western Gupta alphabet, appears since about A. D. 800 in Kashmīr and in the north-eastern Pañjāb (Kāngra and Chambā). The oldest known Śāradā inscriptions are the two Baijnāth Praśastis from Kīragrāma (Kāngra), dated A. D. 804; see plate V, col. I. Not much later are the coins of the Varma dynasty of Kashmīr, where the Śāradā forms are likewise fully developed.² And it is not improbable that the Bakhshālī MS., found in the Yusufzai district (plate VI, col. VIII), belongs to the same or even a somewhat earlier period.³ The third specimen of the Śāradā in plate VI, col. IX, which ultimately is derived from BURKHARD’S plate I. in his edition of the Kashmīrian Śākuntala,⁴ dates perhaps only from the 16th or 17th century; it has been given merely because at present no reproductions of more ancient MSS. are accessible.⁵ In consequence of the frequent emigrations of the travel-loving Kashmīrian Pandits, Śāradā MSS. are found in many towns of North-Western India and further east in Benares, and marginal glosses in Śāradā characters are found even in ancient Nāgarī MSS. from Western India.⁶ A [57] modern cursive variety of the Śāradā is the so-called Ṭakkarī or Ṭākarī⁷ of the Dogrās in Jammū and the neighbourhood, which of late has been imported also into Kashmīr.

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¹ Compare, for this paragraph, Kashmir Report (J.BBRAS. 12), 31 ; J.ASB. 60, 83.

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² C.CMI. pl. 4, 5.

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³ Seventh Oriental Congress, Aryan Section, 133 ; IA. 17, 33, 275.

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⁴ SB.WA. CVII.

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⁵ A good facsimile from a Śāradā MS. of the same period is found in the Catalogue of the Berlin Sanskrit and rākrit MSS., Vol. 2, 3, pl. 2 ; an inferior one, from the India Office MS. 3176, together with a table of the letters and ligatures, in Pal. Soc., Or. Ser., pl. 44.

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⁶ SB.WA. CXVI, 531.

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⁷ Kashmir Report (J.BBRAS. 12), 32 ; for the alphabet, see J.RAS. 1891, 362.

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B. — A general characteristic of the Śāradā of all periods is found in the stiff, thick, strokes, which give the characters an uncouth appearance and a certain resemblance to those of the Kuṣana period. The following signs show, already in the earliest period, peculiar developments :—

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(1) The *ī*, which consists of two dots, placed side by side, and (compare the *ī* of the Bower MS.) a *ra*-like figure below, which represents the other two dots (plate V, 4, I; VI, 4, IX).

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(2) The quadrangular *ca* (plate V, 15, I; VI, 20, VIII, IX).

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(3) The lingual *ḍa*, which shows in the middle a loop, instead of an acute angle, and a wedge at the end (plate V, 22, I; VI, 27, VIII, IX).

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(4) The dental *ta*, which, being derived from a looped form, has lost its left half, while the right has been converted into a curve (plate V, 25, I; VI, 30, VIII, IX).

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(5) The dental *dha*, which is flattened at the top and is below so broad that it resembles a Devanāgarī *pa*.

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(6) The *va*, which, owing to the connection of the left side of the curve with the top-stroke, closely resembles *dha* (plate V, 38, I; VI, 43, VIII, IX).

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(7) The quadrangular *śa*, which exactly resembles a Nāgarī *sa* (plate V, 39, I; VI, 44, VIII, IX).

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(8) The angular medial *ṛ* (plate V, 43, I; VI, 43, VIII), and the detached *o*, which stands by itself above the line (plate V, 24, I; VI, 31, IX), and without doubt is derived from the Gupta *o* (plate IV, 34, IV).

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(9) The *ra*, which, as a first part of ligatures, is inserted into the left side of the second letter, just as in the Aphsaḍ inscription.⁸

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⁸ See above, § 24, C, 3.

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The other letters of the earlier documents differ very little from those of the western Gupta alphabet, and the changes, which are found, all occur also in the acute-angled script.

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The constant use of the bipartite *ya*, of the *ṇa* with the suppressed base-stroke (see above, § 24, A, 17), of the *i* and *ī*, drawn down respectively to the left and the right of the consonant (§ 24, B, 2), and of the simplified Jihvāmūlīya (plate V, 47, I), indicates that the separation of the Sāradā from the Gupta alphabet did not take place before the 7th century.

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In the later Sāradā (plate VI, col. IX), further abnormal developments are noticeable in *U*, *E*, *AI*, *O*, *AU*, *ja*, *ña*, *bha*, *rtha* (which latter occurs also in plate VI, col. VIII), and owing to the use of long top-strokes the heads of several letters, such as *A*, *Ā* and *ya*, are closed.

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