Indian Palaeography c15.s5.t2.2

c15.s5.t2.2

(i) Pl. XIV. 6 is taken from the Poona copper plate of Prabhāvatī Guptā, which actually belongs to the Vākāṭaka dynasty, but is included here as it is the only inscription of the Vākāṭakas showing triangular head-marks. Pl. XIV. 7 is derived from the Majhgawan plates of Mahārāja Hastin, dated in the (Gupta) year 191. Similar triangular head-marks are also seen in the Sunaokala (Broach district) plates of the Gurjara king Saṅgaṇasiṁha, dated in the (Kalachuri) year 292 (A.D. 540).¹ The Poona plate shows a rather mixed style containing features both of the north and of the south. The influence of Kauśāmbī is seen in the longer right arms of *ga*, *ta*, *bha* and *śa*, the triangular foot-marks at the left limbs of *ga* and *śa*, the use of the open-mouthed *ṇa*, the oval *tha* with a mid-line, the looped *na*, the angular *bha*, the open-mouthed *ma*, the hooked *la* and *ha*, and the looped *sa*. The northern tendency is again seen in the curved types of the medial *i* and *ī* and the top slants for *e* and *o*. Southern influence is traceable in the curved tips of *a*, *ka*, *bha* and the vertical type of the medial *u*. The southern forms are observable in the initial *u* with its base turned upwards, *kha* with its short upper hook, *cha* with its broad body, *da* with angular back, the broad *dha*, *pa* and *ba* with their left sides curved, the tripartite form of *ya* without the loop at the left, *va* with a broad body attached to the right vertical, and *ma* in the conjunct *mrā*, obviously derived from the form with a base loop as seen in the Vākāṭaka records. On the whole the inscription clearly shows how with the political influence of the Guptas their writing style also influenced this distant region.