Indian Palaeography c15.s1.51

c15.s1.51

the way in which simplified writing was gradually developing. This is best illustrated in the development of the forms *a* and *la* in South India (Fig. 17). This simplification much affects the conjuncts, in which either the first (as in the case of *ṇḍa*), or the second (as in the case of *jña*), letter is reduced. The same is the case when the second element of the conjunct is *ya* or *ra*. In these conjuncts the writer neglected the rule of grammar, which requires the first element of the conjunct to lose its inherent short vowel *a*, and hence become constricted, in order to combine with the second element. He was influenced solely by the motive of facile writing. It is this same tendency which reduces the triangular head-mark to a simple horizontal line, as in the Indor plate of Skanda Gupta and in the series of Damodarpur copper plates. Another feature is noticeable in the inscriptions of the north-western region, where the triangular foot-mark of *ra* gives place to a simple slant. The simplification also affects the medial vowels, in which the ornate forms give place to straightforward lines. Later still the bent (*kuṭila*) right limbs of the letters in the north become straightened but leave a tail behind—a feature of most of the North Indian letters. This tendency is to be found in its final stage in this period. It is fully marked in the development of the regional scripts of the next period. In fact the preference for simplification in one or another way is one of the important factors contributing to the differentiation in the regional scripts. We are not concerned with this process in this chapter, which deals mainly with (i) the writing style that a particular region inherited in the fourth century a.d., (ii) inter-regional influences due to the setting-up of new kingdoms or the movement of the scribes, (iii) the change due to the technical development in the ordinary forms of the letters and in ornamental tastes, and (iv) the full ornamental letters or their simplified forms.