Indian Palaeography c13.s4: North-West Deccan

Indian Palaeography c13.s4

Language: English

North-West Deccan

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The caves of North-west Deccan form a group by themselves. The inscriptions found in these caves have been analysed and assessed by Bühler and Burgess in the *Archaeological Survey of Western India*, vols. iv and v. Unfortunately the chart given by Burgess cannot be relied upon, as the drawings are marked rather by good draftsmanship than faithfulness to the original. The chronological scheme built up by these scholars is one of the main obstacles to the solution of many problems in the history of the Deccan. The scheme rests firstly on a comparison of the Nanaghat inscriptions with Aśokan Brāhmī, and secondly on the established contemporaneity of the Āndhra rulers with the Western Kshatrapa kings. While the second is incontestable, as it is based on the content of the inscriptions, the first is not reliable, as has been already pointed out. The second synchronism is supported by palaeography. As will be shown in the next chapter, these later inscriptions are united by a common character ultimately derivable from the script of the Kushāṇa inscriptions. Before this last script came in use, the older scripts were followed in this region. These are shown in Pls. VI and VII. The records so far found, except for the Nanaghat inscription of Nayanikā, are short epigraphs, very few in number, pertaining to the Buddhist caves, and the descriptive labels on the sculptures at Nanaghat. These inscriptions fall into two groups. In the first group we have the main long inscription of Nanaghat (here called Nanaghat I), inscription no. 1 from Bhaja (Bhaja I), inscription nos. 1 and 2 from Nasik, and inscription nos. 1 and 2 from Ajanta (all references are to the illustrations published by Burgess). In this same group falls the newly discovered wooden ceiling inscription from Bhaja.¹ In the second group we have the minor Nanaghat inscriptions nos. 3–8, Bhaja nos. 3–6, Pitalkhora nos. 1–7, the Kondane inscription, the early inscriptions from Karle, and Ajanta painting no. 6; the remaining inscriptions in these and the other caves of the region are later in date.

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¹ *Indian Archaeology, a review*, 1955–6, p. 29, pl. XLIVA.

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As the Nanaghat I is the longest inscription, I shall put its analysis first. In general no definite rule has been observed for the length of the verticals. In some places they are equalized, and in others they vary in length. The use of the new tool is nowhere traceable, but some of the forms are very suspicious as they recall those of the new tradition. Angular forms of *pa*, *pha*, *ma*, *va*, *sa*, and *ha* are seen here and there. *Dha* is of the later regular type. *Bha* shows a straight vertical, and a new type in which the upper vertical is placed on the right side of the lower appendage. This will be hereafter called Deccani *bha*. *La* is drawn cursively in almost all the inscriptions of this time in the Deccan. One type of *ma* is a direct descendant of that occurring in the Girnar R.E. of Aśoka, and in the same fashion the medial *ā*, *e* and *o* are attached to th middle of this letter, though optionally we also find them at the top right or left. In other cases the medial *o* is one horizontal line, while medial *u* in *pu*, *yu* and *su* is a prolongation downwards of the right vertical. The vertical of *ka* is lengthened; *kha* has three forms, with or without dot and with a circle; *ga* has both angular and rounded forms; *cha* is of three varieties, the semi-circular, the triangular, and the quadrangular; *chha* has an oval in place of the circle; *ta* has, besides the rounded appendage, a straight or curved stroke attached to the right of a long vertical. This second variety is the usual form in the Deccan and the south. *Da* has a rounded form. The letters in the Nasik inscriptions entirely agree with these. But Bhaja I is very crudely written. Its rounded *ḍa* and triangular *va* suggest a later date. The newly discovered Bhaja inscription should not be dated to the second century B.C., as is done by Dr. B. Ch. Chhabra. The angularity of the letters is a marked feature, and the letters *bha* and *ma* especially point to a later date.

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On the other hand, when we compare Nanaghat I with Nanaghat II, the similarity of the letters is so close that it is difficult to distinguish them. But if we take the six short inscriptions of Nanaghat II together, as we are compelled to do by the contents and the circumstances, we find some altogether new forms. The letters *cha*, *ña*, *ta*, *ya*, and the angular forms of *va* and *ha* could not have been produced without knowledge of the tradition of the Kshatrapa writing of Mathura. Though they do not show evidence of the use of the new pen, they must nevertheless be taken as imitative forms. Thus Nanaghat II is a mixed complex of groups I and II. In the inscriptions of group II the influence of the new style is quite obvious. It seems that the inscriptions of Bhaja II were written with the new pen. But in Ajanta we again notice a difference between nos. 1 and 2. However, there is no reason to divide them chronologically. Far different is the brush technique followed in painting no. 6, which also must be placed in the same period. These features strongly suggest that the inscriptions of group II should be dated to the first half of the first century A.D. What should be the date of group I? Here the main obstacle is the evidence from Nanaghat II, but this very evidence is also suggestive. Here we have what in archaeological terminology should be called an overlap of the older forms with the newer ones.

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The study of coin epigraphy is further instructive. The earliest Andhra coins have been found in the Malwa region and are described as of Malwa fabric.¹ They bear the words *Rañō Siri* *Sātakaṇisa* in characters which are hardly distinguishable from those of Nanaghat. But they (see especially Pl. I. 2) clearly show the head-formation recalling the new style of writing of the Mathura Kshatrapas. The coins, even of the Kolhapur fabric, from the time of Vāsishṭhīputra Viḷivāyakura onwards, all show this top head-formation, the flourish in the medial *i*, and angularity in the letters. This style of writing is due to influence from the Malwa region, where the latest Sanchi inscriptions are all in similar characters. Hence these coins date from the first half of the first century A.D. onwards. This new type of lettering continued in the coinage right down to the time of Vāsishṭhīputra Puḷumāvi and even later. But the epigraphy of the stone inscriptions reveals a different story. Here the influence is not so sudden. There is a gradual change from the Nanaghat inscriptions to those of Puḷumāvi. On account of the backwardness of the writing in the Nanaghat inscriptions the coins of Rājā Siri Sātakaṇi have been dated in the second century B.C., and an unnecessary gap has been assumed between his coins and those which follow. It is only for this reason that the Sātakarṇi of the Sanchi inscription¹ has not been properly identified. But this palaeographical anomaly must be understood on the basis of regional differences, and the apparent gap is filled up by the occurrence of occasional letters. If this is borne in mind, there does not seem to be any justification in differentiating between the Sātakarṇi of the Sanchi inscription, Rājā Siri Sātakaṇi of the coins of Malwa fabric, and Sātakarṇi of the Nanaghat inscriptions. The numismatic evidence completely closes up the gap between these inscriptions. Palaeography thus suggests that there is no chronological difference between group I and group II inscriptions of this region. They are to be placed in the first half of the first century A.D.