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Indian Palaeography c15.s4.t1: (g) The Manuscript Style of the Gupta Period

Indian Palaeography c15.s4.t1

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(g) The Manuscript Style of the Gupta Period

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Pl. XII. 10 is taken from the palm-leaf manuscript *Kalpanāmaṇḍitikā*. The style shows some individualistic features which must be noted first. As is natural with the broad pen, the head-mark is throughout given in a thick line, and similarly the interplay of thick and thin strokes is clearly noticeable. At the lower ends of the verticals, as in *a*, *i*, *ka*, *ga*, *ra*, *śa* and the medial *u*, the writer leaves behind a flourish or slant that must be associated with his special manner of lifting the pen. If we ignore these peculiarities, the forms agree with the style current in the early fifth century A.D. in the Mathura region. The alphabets show a complete development of the Mathura Kushāṇa writing. The only influence from the Kauśāmbī style is seen in the form of the open-mouthed *ma*, but this also is of the Mathura type with a curve at the left angle, as is seen in the Kumāra Gupta inscriptions.¹ The striking difference from the Kushāṇa style is marked in the use of the evolved angular *a* with a knot,¹ *kha* with its reduced triangular base and extended upper hook, the lengthening of the right limbs of *ga*, *ta*, *bha* and *śa*, the round-backed *ḍa* with a curved leg, the cursive form of the Kushāṇa *ṇa*, the oval *tha* with a mid-line, the angular *bha* with its middle bar broad and notched, the tripartite *ya* with its left arm merged in the loop, and *ra* with the foot-mark. The deciding factor in dating this manuscript is better illustrated by the medial *i* with its curve going to the left and the medial *ī* with its curve turned to the right—a practice not seen even in the Allahabad pillar inscription of Samudra Gupta. It is only from the fifth century onwards that this style is known. The initial *i* preserves its three-dot form, as is also seen in the Indor and Nirmand plates. The initial *u* and *ū* lower the tips of their base lines. The initial *e* and *ai* have flat tops, and *o* has its central line inclined, as is seen in the Mathura inscription of Chandra Gupta II. The medial vowels follow the pattern of the fifth century, the only notable exception being the medial *u* and *ū*, which do not have the exaggerated curve. On the whole the forms are quite in keeping with those known from the inscriptions of the fifth century a.d.

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¹ See above, p. 143.

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¹ See above, p. 142.

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*(h) The Bower MS.* (Pl. XII. 11)

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The palaeography of this manuscript has been discussed in detail by Rudolf Hoernle in the pages of the *Indian Antiquary*² and later in his edition of the manuscript. His method of study is different from the system followed here. He singles out one letter, such as *ya*, and bases his conclusions about the dating of the manuscript on the forms of it appearing in the text. But I do not place much reliance on the evidence of single letters because forms were not uniformly adopted even in the same region. I believe first of all in assessing the general tenor of the writing, then in analysing the technical processes involved in the production of the letters, and finally in observing the different forms resulting from these sources. My dating depends on the evidence of all these three factors. Hoernle's date of the manuscript is not borne out by this test. Before a date is assigned, I shall describe the palaeography in our terminology. Hoernle divided the manuscript into seven parts and observed rightly: 'all the seven parts of the Bower Manuscript are written in an essentially identical script.' He also realized that different hands were used to write the different parts of the manuscript, and these he divided into three groups: (i) parts I–III, (ii) part IV, and (iii) parts V–VII. Within this last group part VI shows a better hand than the rest. The writing material is birch-bark. A broad or edged pen was used, producing thick and thin strokes. No attempt was made to copy an ornamental style. Throughout the head-mark is distinctly given. It is a firm line, often with a notch in the middle. The foot-mark is also clearly visible at the base of the verticals. The marks in the letters *ka* and *ra* in part IV suggests that the writer lifted his pen with a back stroke and hence resulted in an upward slant at the foot. This tendency has been noticed in the manuscript described in (*g*) above. The letters *pa*, *pha*, *sha* and *ma* have acute angles on the right, and their right verticals are slightly bent. In some parts of the manuscript both *pa* and *ra* develop tails. This general similarity suggests that, though the hands are different, the date of the whole manuscript falls within one definite palaeographical period. From the point of view of palaeography it may be divided into two sections: (A) parts I–III, and (B) parts IV–VII. Of these part IV is in a very slovenly hand. Its letter forms show some cursive tendency but in general its essential features are the same as observable in other parts of (B). These two sections derive their letter forms from two different sources: (A) from what we have called the Rajasthani or Malwa style¹ and (B) from the Mathura style, but there are many borrowings from one to the other. Therefore it would be wrong to limit one section to only one source. Here an attempt will be made to trace the different traditions as they appear in the two forms.

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² *Indian Antiquary*, xxi. 29–45.

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¹ See below, p. 154.

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The initial vowels of section (A) are exclusively derived from Rajasthan. The vowels of section (B) also appear to have come from the same source, but other traditions are also observable. The most important is the vowel *a* in this second section, which shows a development of the type which I have called the angular form with knot.² This knot assumes the form of a solid triangle, and in parts V and VI the triangle opens its mouth. In this section the initial *i* consists of three dots, two above and one below.³ This form is seen in the Mathura region as well as in Malwa in the Mandasor inscription of Yaśodharman.⁴ This was the standard system of the three-dot *i*, probably evolved in Rajasthan. It is from this that the tailed *i* of the later times developed. The initial *e*, except in part IV which follows the other tradition, also differs from the form appearing in section (A). Here an upper stem projects from the triangular form and the left end of the triangle is slightly curved. In section (A) the upper stem disappears, but it leaves its trace by emphasizing the right arm of the triangle, which is generally bent. This *e* with a stem is again derived from Rajasthan. In section (A) the initial *a* is of the curved type with its two arms projecting beyond the left vertical, and the initial *i* has two dots above and a tailed one below. Both these forms first appeared in Rajasthan and Malwa, and later in the sixth century a.d. they were adopted elsewhere, probably with the migration of scribes after the Hūṇa invasion. No doubt the tail in the lower dot of *i* is the result of a general tendency in cursive writing. The initial *ī* maintains the Gupta form—a dot on either side of a vertical. The initial *u* curves its base downwards, and in part IV it is extended beyond the head-mark. The initial *ū* is formed by adding another curve going upwards in section (B) and downwards in section (A). The initial *ṛi* is a development from the cross form, as has been shown already.¹ *Ai* is formed by adding a horizontal stroke to the top left of *e*. *O* is a cursive form with its base curved down, and *au* has an additional upward curve attached to the form of *o*. In section (B) the Kushāṇa style of top strokes for the medials *e*, *ai*, *o*, and *au* is adopted, while the medial *i* has its curve extended downwards around the bottom of the letters. But in section (A) the eastern styles of the medial *e*, *ai*, *o*, and *au* are generally seen, while the medial *i* is not extended so far as to cover the bottom of the letters. But there is another type of the medial *i* used in section (B), the circle type which must have been derived from Rajasthan.² The consonants that show forms fundamentally different from the Gupta³ forms are *ka*, *bha*, *ya*, *śa*, and *sa*. In both the sections we have the looped type of *ka* used side by side with the cross-bar type, as is seen in inscriptions of the sixth century a.d. In both the sections the triangular foot-mark at the left limb of *bha* grows in prominence and the right limb curves downwards, and in section (B) it appears to have an open mouth in some cases. *Ya* has three varieties—the tripartite form with a loop, which is preserved in Malwa till the sixth century a.d., the tripartite form with an outward curl at the left arm, which appears in the sixth century a.d. in Bengal, Nepal, Bihar, and Rajasthan, and the bipartite *ya*, which also appears in the sixth century a.d. Here the right limb of *ya* shows the *kuṭila* form. Two forms of *śa* are seen. One has a curl at the upper end of the vertical, joined by a slanting bar to the right vertical, a form which developed in the sixth century a.d. This is seen in section (A). In the other section we have a flat-topped variety with its left limb ending in an upward curl, again a late tendency. The dental *sa* either has a triangular loop or opens the mouth of its triangle, both features appearing in the post-Gupta period.

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² See above, p. 142.

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³ Hoernle's drawing of one dot above and two below in part IV, as given in his table 1, is a mistake.

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⁴ See below, p. 159.

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¹ See above, p. 121.

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² See below, p. 157.

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³ We restrict the term 'Gupta period' to only two centuries, the fourth and fifth, and hence do not include all the inscriptions given in Fleet's *Corpus*, as was done by Hoernle.

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*Kha* does not have the foot-mark at the left limb, as is also the case in the inscriptions of Yaśodharman of Malwa.¹ *Gha* generally has its base divided into a straight right half and a curved left half. *Cha* is of the beaked type, and in section (B) the beak is exaggerated. *Ja* has its two lower limbs bent, and in parts III and IV the uppermost limb merges with the head-mark. *Jha* has an acute angle on the right. *Ṭa* has a flat top. *Ṇa* is of the open-mouthed variety, but its corners tend to become small closed loops. *Tha* and *dha* are of the bulged form. In section (B) *tha* is horizontal. *Da* is of the double curved type. *Na* is still of the Mathura type with a curved base. The right verticals of *pa*, *pha*, and *ma* are bent. *Pha* generally has an outer curl in place of the inner loop. *Ba* has its left arm bent. *Ra* has an upward slant or a tail at the foot. Both *la* and *ha* have a firm base, two verticals, and a hook. *Va* is triangular but its base is slanting. *Sha* has the form of *pa*, with an added horizontal line in the middle.

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¹ See below, p. 160.

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These features point to a strong connexion with the writing style of the sixth century a.d. The manuscript may be dated in the first half of the sixth century a.d. Its script is related rather to the Rajasthani style than to that of Mathura.

Cites (3)