Indian Palaeography c12.s3.1

c12.s3.1

The writing can be said to follow the ink style, as is clear from the use of dots in some letters, e.g. *kha*, *ja*, and *ḍa*, and from the free movement of the hand resulting in round forms. It is seldom that the scribe attempts to achieve angularity, and in most cases where he does so, e.g. *u*, *e*, *o*, *ka*, *ga*, *jha*, *ña*, *ḍa*, *ṇa*, *ta*, *na*, *ba*, and *bha*, he is governed by the original form of the letters rather than by his own inclination. The optional examples are *a*, *ā*, *gha*, *cha*, *ja*, *ṭa*, *ḍha*, *da*, and *śa*. There is no abruptness in writing, the only exceptions being in the minor rock inscriptions of Mysore State, where in the formation of *a*, *ja*, *ma*, *yi*, and *hi* the hand stops and begins from another direction to complete the letters. But this defect might be due to the engraver, and not to the writer. Each letter is distinctly formed, and no cursive writing in the way of continuous drawn-out lines is noticeable. This last tendency is a characteristic of most Indian scripts, though in a very few cases, especially in much later mercantile documents, this rule is broken. The cursive hand, if at all traceable, is detected in the medial vowels and the conjuncts. To this general rule the letters *cha*, *ja*, and *va* are exceptions, as their formation is much varied. In the Kauśāmbi Queen's Edict (hereafter called Kauśāmbi M.P.I.) the letters *da* and *ḍa*, and in the Kalasi R.E. in one place the letter *ḍa*, are very cursively drawn.