Indian Palaeography c15.s7.6

c15.s7.6

(*b*) Pl. XV. 2 is taken from the Bilsad stone inscription of Kumāra Gupta, dated in the (Gupta) year 96. The inscription is well executed on the stone, and the writing shows the influence of the broad pen style for the first time. The display of the thick and thin strokes, the foot-marks, and the prominent top slants of the medial vowels all speak of a new tendency in writing, seen in North India in the fifth century A.D. This style also affected the head-mark, which is no longer a small square at the top left of the verticals. Here it assumes the form of a solid rectangle with its lower side concave. The verticals hang down from its middle. Both the head-marks and the style of the letters are inseparably related. Unfortunately this style is not known from any other record. The medial vowels are all of the Kushāṇa style, though slightly developed, with the exception of one optional form of the medial *i* which has a curl at the top. No initial vowels are known from this inscription. Angularity is well marked in the consonants, which are all in the Kauśāmbī style except *ra*, which has the curved tip, the dental *sa*, which shows a hook on the left, *ya* which has dropped its third left arm, and *ha* which maintains its base, two verticals, and a hook. The head-mark is seen over the tops of all the letters except *ba*, and optionally in the case of *ga* and *dha*.