Indian Palaeography from about B.C. 350 to about A.D. 1300 c7.s7.t3.2

c7.s7.t3.2

(2) Among the ligatures of the cursive Kuṣaṇa inscriptions, some, like *gra* (8, XI), *bhra* (28, XII), exactly agree with the archaic forms, and [30] during this period we still find even the old *vra* (*rva*) (39, I) in the word *sarva*. The ligatures *tva* (31, XIII), *tśa* (32, XIII), often misread as *tsa*, *ṣka* (35, XIII), and *ṣṭa* (36, XIII), show the new Kuṣaṇa forms of the component parts. But the *sa* of *sva* (37, XIII) is badly mutilated, and the loops of *rya* (34, XIII), *rva* (33, XII), *sya* (35, XII), and *sya* (36, XII)¹ are new cursive formations. In all words where one would expect *sta*, the Kuṣaṇa inscriptions show *tha* (16, X, XI). Probably the omission of the bar on the right (compare 23, XIII) is merely cursive, and the sign has to be read both *tha* and *sta*, as the case may require. The MS. of the Dhammapada has both signs.