Indian Palaeography from about B.C. 350 to about A.D. 1300 c9.s3.t2.4

c9.s3.t2.4

The consonants are, however, not used by themselves, but for the formation of chronograms, containing any vowels and also compound consonants, of which the last element alone has numerical value. In the figures, resulting from those chronograms, the units invariably stand on the left, and the whole sum has to be turned round. An interesting instance of this notation, probably the most ancient hitherto discovered, occurs at the end of Ṣaḍguruśiṣya’s commentary on the Sarvānukramaṇī (MACDONELL, page 168), where the chronogram, according to KIELHORN’s undoubtedly correct emendation, is :¹ — $2 & 3 & 1 & 5 & 6 & 5 & 1$ $khago=ntyān=meṣam=apa.$