Indian Palaeography c13.s4.1

c13.s4.1

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.