Indian Palaeography c15.s1.11

c15.s1.11

A III. *Mathura and the north-western region.* Mathura had been the centre of a line of the Northern Kshatrapas and later of the Kushāṇas. Their important contribution to the development of Indian writing has been noted in the previous chapters. This Kushāṇa style of Mathura continued to influence the region in the Gupta period. Its influence is also marked in the Karamdanda inscription of Kumāra Gupta I and the Bhitari pillar inscription of Skanda Gupta.³ In the time of Harshavardhana this style merged with the Rajasthani style of writing and is represented in this region by the well-known Lakhamandal inscription on the Upper Jamuna.⁴ The ornamental features of this style appear to have originated from the eastern region, but it spread in the whole of the Gangetic Valley, where it led on to proto-Nāgarī, but in the hill states of the north-west, as evidenced from Kashmir and Chamba, the Mathura style continued, leading to the Śāradā script.