Elements of South-Indian Palæography, from the Fourth to the Seventeenth Century A.D. c5.s2.t1.9

c5.s2.t1.9

³ The reasons are: 1. Č and bh open at the top as here do not occur before the tenth century.
2. U, kh, gh, ṅ and j are also modern forms of the letters, and of about the same date.
3. Subscript u is written in two ways, a practice comparatively recent.
4. The stroke in ph to distinguish ph from p is also late (about 10th-11th century).
5. The historical data contradict more or less those of other inscriptions.
6. The Çaka era was not used in S. India so early as the third century. In the fifth century it is very unusual.
7. Lastly (to judge from an impression) the plates are far too well preserved; the letters are all sharp and clear; this would not be the case if the grant was engraved in the third century A. D. There are other grounds, but these are, I think, sufficient for rejecting this grant.