Indian Palaeography from about B.C. 350 to about A.D. 1300 c8.s3.t2.1

c8.s3.t2.1

This second variety is found from about A. D. 650 to about A. D. 950: — (*a*) In the west, in the inscriptions of the Calukyas of Vātāpi or Bādāmi, of their successors the Rāṣṭrakūṭas of Mānyakheṭa (in cases when they did not use the Nāgarī, see above, page 51), of the Gaṅgas of Maisūr, and of some smaller dynasties; (*b*) in the east, on the copper-plates of the Calukyas of Veṅgī and of their vassals. During this period, some marked differences are observable in the *ductus* between the several classes of documents. The copper-plates of the Western Calukyas (plate VII, col. XVI)¹ mostly show carelessly drawn cursive signs sloping towards the right, and their stone inscriptions (plate VII, col. XV) upright, carefully made, letters, which especially in the ligatures are abnormally large. With the characters of the latter agree those of the inscriptions of the Rāṣṭrakūṭas (plate VIII, cols II, III),² with the exception of the sign-manual on the Baroda copper-plate of Dhruva II.³ In this royal signature and in the inscriptions of the Calukyas of Veṅgī (plate VIII, cols. IV, V), the letters are broader and shorter, and in this respect resemble very closely the Old-Kanarese.⁴