Indian Palaeography from about B.C. 350 to about A.D. 1300 c8.s5.t2: B. — The middle variety
Indian Palaeography from about B.C. 350 to about A.D. 1300 c8.s5.t2
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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.