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Indian Palaeography from about B.C. 350 to about A.D. 1300 c8.s5: § 31. — The Grantha alphabet; Plates VII. and VIII

Indian Palaeography from about B.C. 350 to about A.D. 1300 c8.s5

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Contents

§ 31. — The Grantha alphabet; Plates VII. and VIII

A. — The archaic variety

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For the history of the Sanskrit alphabets in the Tamil districts during the period after A. D. 350, we have only the Sanskrit inscriptions of the Pallavas, Colas and Pāṇḍyas from the eastern coast, among which only those of the first-named dynasty can lay claim to a higher antiquity. Corresponding inscriptions from the western coast are hitherto wanting. For this reason, and because only a small number of the eastern documents have been published with good facsimiles, it is as yet impossible to give a complete view of the gradual development of the letters.

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The most archaic forms of the Sanskrit scripts of the Tamil districts, which usually are classed as "Grantha," are found on the copper-plates of the Pallava kings of Palakkada and (? or) Daśanapura² (plate VII, cols. XX, XXI) from the 5th or the 6th century (?), with which the ancient inscriptions, Nos. 1 to 16, of the Dharmarājaratha (plate VII, col. XXII)³ closely agree. These inscriptions, together with a few others,⁴ exhibit what may be called the archaic Grantha, the latest example of which occurs in the Bādāmi inscription, incised, according to FLEET'S newest researches,⁵ by the Pallava Narasiṁha I., during his expedition against the Calukya Pulakeśin II. (A. D. 609 and about 642) in the second quarter of the 7th century; and it seems to have gone out soon after, as the Kūram plates of Narasiṁha's son Parameśvara I. show letters of a much more advanced type. It is met with also in the stone inscription from Jambu in Java; see IA. 4, 356.

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² IA. 5, 50, 154; compare B.ESIP. 36, note 2.

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³ I owe the facsimi es of this inscription and of those used for pl. VII, col. XXIV, and pl. VIII, col. XIII, to HULTZSCH'S kindness; see now his SII. 2, part 3.

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⁴ IA. 9, 100, No. 82, 102, No. 85; 13, 48; EI. 1, 397.

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⁵ Dynasties of the Kanarese Districts, Bombay Gazetteer, vol. 1, part 2, p. 328.

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The characters of the archaic Grantha in general agree with those of the archaic Kanarese-Telugu (see above, § 29, A), but shew a few peculiarities which remain constant in the later varieties: thus: —

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(1) The *tha*, the central dot of which is converted into a loop, attached to the right side (plate VII, 23, XXI); compare the *tha* of col. XX, where the straight stroke of the Kanarese-Telugu script appears.

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(2) The *śa* with the cross-bar converted into a curve or loop and attached to the right side (plate VII, 36, XX—XXII, 45, XXII); compare also the cursive *śa* of the western script, mentioned above, § 28, A, 7.

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(3) The *ṣa* with the cross-bar treated similarly (plate VII, 37, XX); compare the *ṣa* of col. XXI, which shows the older form.

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The characters of plate VII, cols. XX, XXI, show no closer connection with those of the Prākrit inscriptions of the Pallavas, discussed above in § 20, D.

B. — The middle variety

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The earliest inscription of the much more advanced forms of the second variety or the middle Grantha, is found on the Kūram copper-plates (plate VII, col. XXIV) of the reign of Parameśvara I., the adversary of the Western Calukya Vikramāditya I. (A. D. 655—680).¹ @H [69] Compared with this document, which appears to offer a real clerk's script, the monumental inscription of the Kailāsanātha temple (plate VII, col. XXIII), built according to Fleet² by Narasiṁha II., the son of Parameśvara I., is retrograde, and shows more archaic forms for several paleographically important letters. On the other hand, the Kaśākūḍi copper-plates (plate VIII, col. XIII), incised in the time of Nandivarman who succeeded Mahendra III., the second son of Narasiṁha II., and warred with the Western Calukya Vikramāditya II. (A. D. 733—749),³ agree more closely with the Kūram plates, and offer, besides some archaic forms, also much more advanced ones.

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¹ Hultzsch, *SII.* 1, 144 ff.; Fleet, *op. cit.* (preceding note), 322 f.

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² Fleet, *op. cit.*, 329 f.

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³ Fleet, *op. cit.*, 323 ff.

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The most important innovations, either constantly or occasionally observable in this second variety of the Grantha, are: —

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(1) The development of a second vertical in *A*, *Ā*, *ka* and *ra* (plate VII, 1, 2, 8, 33, XXIII, XXIV; plate VIII, 1, 2, 11, 36, XIII), as well as in medial *u* and *ū* (plate VII, 31, 38, XXIV; plate VIII, 34, 40, XIII), out of the ancient hook; compare the transitional forms in the facsimiles at IA. 9, 100, 102.

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(2) The connection of one of the dots of *I* with the upper curved line (plate VII, 3, XXIII, XXIV; plate VIII, 3, XIII, *a*, *b*).

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(3) The opening of the top of *E* (plate VII, 5, XXIV), which however shows closed up forms in col. XXIII, and in plate VIII, 8, XIII.

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(4) The development of a loop to the left of the foot of *kha*, and the opening up of the right side of the letter (plate VII, 9, XXIII), as in the Kanarese-Telugu script (see above, § 29, B, 2).

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(5) The upward turn of the Serif at the left-hand lines of *ga* and *śa* (plate VII, 10, 36, XXIV; plate VIII, 13, 39, XIII; not in plate VII, col. XXIII).

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(6) The opening up of the loops of *cha* (plate VIII, 17, XIII), and perhaps also in the indistinct *cha* of the Kūram plates, i, line 5.

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(7) The transposition of the vertical of *ja* to the right end of the top-bar, and the conversion of the central bar into a loop connected with the lowest bar (plate VII, 15, XXIV; plate VIII, 18, XIII; not in plate VII, col. XXIII).

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(8) The incipient opening up of the tops of *dha* and *tha* (plate VII, 23, 25, XXIII, XXIV; plate VIII, 26, 28, XIII).

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(9) The opening up of the top of *ba*, and the transposition of the original top-line to the left of the left-hand vertical (plate VII, 29, XXIV; plate VIII, 32, XIII; not in plate VII, col. XXIII).

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(10) The adoption of the later northern *bha* (see above, § 24, A, 24), or the development of an exactly similar sign (plate VII, 30, XXIV; plate VIII, 33, XIII; not in plate VII, col. XXIII).

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(11) The combination of the left-hand vertical of *sa* with the left end of the old side-limb, and of the right end of the side-limb with the base-stroke (plate VII, 38, XXIV; a transitional form in col. XXII, and a different cursive form in plate VIII, 41, XIII).

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(12) The frequent separation of medial *ā*, *e*, *ai*, *o*, *au*, from the Mātṛkā (constant in plate VIII, col. XIII), as well as the use of the *ā* standing above the line, as in the northern alphabet of this period and in the Central-Indian script (compare plate VII, 17, 19, 21, 31—33, XXIII; 8, 24, XXIV).

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(13) The expression of the Virāma (as in the Kanarese-Telugu script) by a vertical stroke above, or in the Kaśākūḍi plate also to the right of, the final consonant (plate VII, 41, XXIII; plate VIII, 47, XIII; and compare the facsimiles).

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(14) The transposition of the Anusvāra to the right of the Mātṛkā (plate VII, 38, XXIV) below the level of the top-line, as in the Kanarese-Telugu script.

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(15) The occasional development of small angles, open above, at the tops of the verticals, for the left part of which a dot usually appears in plate VIII, col. XIII.

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The fully-developed and very constant characteristics of the alphabet of the Kūram plates make it probable that they have not arisen within the period of twenty to thirty years, which lies between the issue of the Kūram grant and the incision of the much more archaic Bādāmi inscription of Narasiṁha I. (see above, under *A*). Very likely the Kūram alphabet had a longer history.

C. — The transitional Grantha

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The series of the published datable Pallava inscriptions of the 8th century ends for the present with the Kaśākūḍi plates; and facsimiles of documents of the next following centuries [70] are not accessible to me. I am, therefore, unable to exactly fix the time when the third or transitional variety of the Grantha, BURNELL'S Coḷa or middle Grantha, came into use, which is found in the inscriptions from the reign of the Bāṇa king Vikramāditya¹ about A. D. 1150 (plate VIII, col. XIV) and of Sundara-Pāṇḍya,² A. D. 1250 (plate VIII, col. XV), as well as in other documents.³ It would however appear, both from the Grantha signs occurring in the Gaṅga inscriptions (plate VIII, cols. XI, XII) and from BURNELL'S Coḷa-Grantha alphabet of A. D. 1080,⁴ that the new developments originated partly towards the end of the 8th century and partly in the 9th and 10th, about the same time when the Old-Kanarese script (above, § 29, C) was formed.

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¹ *EI.* 3, 75.

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² *EI.* 3, 8.

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³ Compare facsimiles at IA. 6, 142; 8, 274; 9, 45 (*EI.* 3, 79 f.); *EI.* 3, 228; Ep. Carn. 3, 166; *SII.* 2, pl. 2; the last inscription and the last but two are older than the 11th century.

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⁴ *B.ESIP.* plate 13.

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The most important changes, which the transitional Grantha shows, are as follows:—

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(1) The suppression of the last remaining dot of *I* (plate VIII, 3, XIV, XV; compare 3, XIII, *a*).

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(2) The formation of a still more cursive *E* (8, XIV) out of the Kūram letter (plate VII, 6, XXIV).

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(3) The formation of a still more cursive *kha* (plate VIII, 12, XIV, XV), closely resembling the later Kanarese-Telugu sign (plate VIII, 12, III, ff.), out of the letter of plate VII, 9, XXIII.

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(4) The development of a single or double curve to the left of *gha* (plate VIII, 14, XIV, XV).

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(5) The opening up of the top of *ca*, and the conversion of its left side into an acute angle (plate VIII, 16, XIV, XV).

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(6) The addition of a curve to the right end of *ḍa* (plate VIII, 22, XIV, XV).

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(7) The development of an additional loop in *ṇa* (plate VIII, 24, XIV, XV), in accordance with the practice of the Tamil alphabet (see below, § 32, A).

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(8) The complete opening up of the tops of *tha* and *dha* (plate VIII, 26, 28, XIV, XV).

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(9) The development of a curve at the left side of *pa* (plate VIII, 30, XIV, XV).

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(10) The closing up of the top of *ma* (plate VIII, 34, XIV, XV), found already in the Gaṅga inscription of about A. D. 775 (plate VIII, 46, XI).

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(11) The suppression of the circle or loop on the right side of *ya* (plate VIII, 35, XIV, XV), whereby the letter obtains a very archaic appearance.

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(12) The opening up of the top of *va*, and the addition of a curve to its left side (plate VIII, 38, XVI, XV).

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(13) The complete separation of medial *ā*, *e*, *ai*, *o* from the Mātṛkās, and the formation of a separate sign for the second half of *au*, consisting of two small curves with a vertical on the right.

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It is worthy of note that the later alphabet of col. XV. has some more archaic signs than the earlier one of col. XIV. The reason no doubt is that the latter imitates the hand of the clerks of the royal office, while the former shows the monumental forms, suited for a public building. All the Grantha inscriptions imitate characters written with a *stilus*.

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