Indian Palaeography c14.s3: Sanchi Style

Indian Palaeography c14.s3

Language: English

Sanchi Style

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Allied to the Mathura style is the writing observed in the Kushāṇa inscriptions at Sanchi. Only three definite inscriptions have so far been noted, all engraved on images. No. 52¹ refers to the year 28 during the reign of Vāsishka and no. 53 to the year 22 and King Vaskushāṇa. The evidence suggests that the main structural history of the Sanchi monuments was over before the coming of the Kushāṇas. The letters show the line head-mark. The vowel signs adopt the Mathura style. The most remarkable is the medial *u* in *ku*, which is excessively bent. *Chha* maintains the older oval form, but *da* has a rounded back with its mouth opening to the right. The form of *ṇa* is of the italic [Figure:]-type. *Bha* is of the angular variety and the subscript *ya* is hooked.

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¹ These numbers refer to Marshall and others, *Monuments of Sanchi*, iii, pl. cxxxviii, nos. 52, 53, 54.

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Inscription no. 56 on the same plate of Marshall has been dated by N. G. Majumdar in the fourth century a.d., probably because of the appearance of the tailed *ma* and open-mouthed *ṇa*. But these appear in the Kosam region much earlier. The style of writing is not very different from that of the other inscriptions, except that the head-mark in this case is a solid triangle. This inscription may be dated in the beginning of the third century A.D.

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*Eastern styles*

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Two different styles were employed in the inscriptions of the eastern region. The first is illustrated in its early stages by the Kanishka inscriptions from Kosam, Sahet-Mahet and Sarnath, and in its later ornamental development by the Sarnath inscription of Aśvaghosha, dated in the year 40 (Pl. VIII. 10), the Allahabad Municipal Museum inscription of the year 23, and the Pahladpur inscription. This style is occasionally met with in the seal inscriptions at Bhita, Basarh, and Sahet-Mahet as late as the fifth century A.D., and it persists longer in the Gupta coinage as an optional style. In this eastern style the line head-mark does not appear at all, but the verticals faintly recall the tapering style of the Mathura Kshatrapas. In the Kanishka group of inscriptions the medial vowel signs follow the Mathura style, but there are other differences. The distinctive letters are *a*, *da*, *bha*, *ya* and *ra*. The older *a*, with its two slanting strokes on the left meeting the vertical at the same point, persists here side by side with the curved variety of the Kushāṇa *a*. Similarly, the angular *da* of the Mathura Kshatrapa type is used along with the round-backed *da*. *Bha* is of the notched type. *Ya* never has the loop at the left arm, nor does it develop into a hooked form in combination with other letters. The lower tip of *ra* is always bent.

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In the other group of the inscriptions the change is more marked. The Allahabad Municipal Museum inscription is absolutely in the Mathura Kshatrapa or pre-Kushāṇa style as regards the head-formation, the application of the medial vowels, and some of the letters such as *ka*, *kha*, *ga*, *gha*, *cha*, *chha*, *ja*, &c. The most remarkable is the older form of the round *da* with its mouth open to the left. But other letters such as *na*, *ma*, *śa*, *bha* and *ha* are also different. The Sarnath inscription of Aśvaghosha and the Pahladpur inscription agree in the use of the older fashion of the medial vowels. They also retain the older type of *a* with its two left strokes bifurcated. The subscript *ya* keeps the tripartite form. In these cases we find the survival of the older style in Eastern India, though showing some influence from the Kushāṇa inscriptions of the eastern region. To this same group belongs the Sahet-Mahet Buddhist stone inscription,¹ in which we find the round-backed *da* and the hooked *ha* of the Kauśāmbī region, but no looped *sa* is seen.²