Indian Palaeography c13.s5.t1.10

c13.s5.t1.10

The other cave inscriptions are cruder in workmanship, but some of the forms are related to the Sittanavasal inscriptions. The comparable letters are *va*, *la*, *ma*, *ṛa*, *ḷa*, *ṇa*, *ta*, *cha* and *ka*. *Ma* is of a new form in these inscriptions, resembling a U with a crossbar in the middle. This will be called hereafter the Dravidian *ma*. This form has been found in Sanchi.¹ These inscriptions are not far removed in time from the Sittanavasal inscription, though they are cruder in workmanship, and their date must fall in the first half of the first century a.d.