Indian Palaeography c13.s1.2

c13.s1.2

The next four inscriptions are markedly individualistic. The Piprahwa vase, found in the Basti district, U.P., has an inscription scratched on the steatite stone in a careless manner. As the inscription refers to the remains of the Buddha, it was originally dated to the pre-Mauryan period, but it has been brought down to the third century B.C. on a comparison with Aśokan Brāhmī. The style of writing is very poor, and there is nothing in it that speaks of the hand of the Aśokan scribes. We should not overlook the crude form of *ka* and *ta*, in which the vertical is unnecessarily lengthened. But here we do not find the later form of *dha* (i.e. the reverse of the Roman capital letter ‘D’), and the medial vowels are applied as in Aśokan Brāhmī. We should mark also the angular form of *pa*, the long oval of *va*, and the reduction of the vertical in *la* and *na*, when the medial *i* is added, as we shall see also in the Barli inscription.¹ On these grounds the inscription may be confidently dated to the earlier half of the second century B.C.