Indian Palaeography from about B.C. 350 to about A.D. 1300 c7.s6.t3.5

c7.s6.t3.5

(4) The ligature in 38, VII, seems to have two different meanings. In Shāhbāzgarhī edict X, l. 21, the sign appears in the representative of the Sanskrit *tadātvāya*, which in the dialect of the Aśoka edicts might be either *tadatvaye* or *tadattaye*, and in Mansehra it occurs frequently in the representative of the Sanskrit *ātman*. As the Kuṣana inscriptions offer a similar sign (31, XIII) in the representative of the Sanskrit *satvānām*, we have probably to read *tva* in Shāhbāzgarhī edict X, l. 21, and to assume that the curve at the foot of *ta* represents a *va*, just as it stands in *thra* (21, IV) for the similar *ra*. This explanation is confirmed by the ligatures 30, XIII, and 37, XIII, which most probably are equivalent to *śva* (*iśvara*) and *sva* (*visharasvamini*). In Mansehra (especially edict XII) the sign 38, VII, has to be read *tma*.²