Indian Palaeography c15.s4.15

c15.s4.15

*Ka* has its cross-bar bent. *Kha* has a rounded top, but *ga* optionally has a flat top. *Gha* maintains the straight base, and *ṅa* in conjuncts merges the top line with the head-mark. *Cha* is of the pointed beaked type, but the point gradually moves upwards. *Chha* maintains the double looped type and *ja* has three right arms branching from the vertical. *Ña*, as seen in the conjunct *ñcha*, is not found in the cursive form. *Ṭa* emphasizes the flat top, and in conjuncts such as *ṭṭa* it keeps its correct form, just as *ja* does in *jja*, and no twisted form is seen as in the eastern region. *Ḍa* has a short hook appended from the tip of the curved back. *Ṇa* has three varieties—the old Kushāṇa type resembling an italic *X*, the open-mouthed *ṇa* of the Kauśāmbī style but without the loop at the left, and a development from the first type. In this last variety the lower curves are joined together to form a thick line. This is the cursive form of the Kushāṇa *ṇa* and must be distinguished from the cursive form of the open-mouthed *ṇa*, which developed later in the Middle Ganges Valley. The two arms of *ta* meet, sometimes at an angle and sometimes in a curve. *Tha* is an oval with a mid-line. In conjuncts such as *sthi* the oval lies flat. *Da* is of the double-curved form, and *dha* narrows its lower end. *Na* keeps up the regional form with a curved base. *Pa*, *pha*, *ba*, and *bha* all have the angular forms. Only in the Kura inscription *pa* develops an acute angle, and in the Indor plate *ba* has its left side curved. The open-mouthed *ma* is seen in two varieties—the tailed one is more usual, but another with a half circle in place of the tail is found in the Kumāra Gupta inscriptions. *Ya* is of the tripartite form with an inner loop at the left arm. *Ra* is a straight vertical. Both *la* and *ha* have firm bases, two verticals and a hook. In the Kura inscription the base of *ha* is rounded, and optionally also has a notch. *Ḷa* maintains the form of Kushāṇa times. *Va* is generally triangular but in a few cases the angles are rounded. *Śa* has both the rounded and the flat top, and has a triangular foot-mark at the left limb, as in *ga*. In the Kura inscription the foot-mark is replaced by a curve turned to the left. *Sa* is of the hooked type, but in the Kura inscription the loop is seen in place of the left hook and in another variety the mouth of this triangular loop opens out, a type probably derived from Central India.¹ Other varying features of this inscription probably came from the same source. On the whole these inscriptions keep up the regional differences from the Middle Ganges Valley.