Indian Palaeography c15.s8: D VII. Mysore and Maharashtra

Indian Palaeography c15.s8

Language: English

c15.s8.t1 (a) The Inscriptions of the Kadambas — 14 parts
c15.s8.t2 (c) The Inscriptions of the Rāshtrakūṭas — 2 parts

D VII. Mysore and Maharashtra

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Mysore and Maharashtra, as used here, do not include the whole of the Kannaḍi- and the Marathi-speaking areas. For the purposes of this study they may be considered as restricted to the upper valleys of the Kistna and the Godavari rivers, where the Sātavāhanas held sway in the early centuries of the Christian era, and where later, between the fifth and the eighth centuries A.D., after the overthrow of the Vākāṭakas, the Kadambas, the Chālukyas and the Rāshtrakūṭas ruled successively. It must, however, be remembered that their territories were seldom coextensive with this whole area. Geographically as well as culturally the two valleys of the Kistna and the Godavari are separate zones—the Kistna valley looking to the south and the Godavari to the north—but there have been many interconnexions. The palaeography of the period dealt with here is one such great unifying factor. Indeed, the Sātavāhana style of writing was a common heritage in this whole area, and its development through the successive centuries shows a uniform pattern. Unlike the Northern Deccan, where the tendency had been to discard the curved strokes and revert to straight lines with strokes drawn at an angle, here an attempt was made to draw all the lines as rounded curves, so that even in the shapes of the letters only those features receive attention which are capable of developing into curves. This can be best understood by looking at the curved verticals of *a*, *ka*, *ra* and *la*, the rounded forms of *u*, *kha*, *ga*, *ta*, *tha*, *ṛa*, *ḷa*, *ḻa*, *va*, *śa*, *sha* and *ha*, and the broad curves in some of the medial vowels. The influence of the stylus is seen in some of the letters, but as the writing is known to us only from copper plates, the wavy curves have mostly been straightened. In any case the notches are not so prominent in this style as they are in the stone inscriptions of the Pallavas from Kāñchī, Māmallapuram, and other places in the south. This tendency to curvature is the main feature inherited by the Kannaḍi writing, to which the styles of this period ultimately led. The palaeography is studied under three main heads:

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(*a*) The inscriptions of the Kadambas.
(*b*) The inscriptions of the Western Chālukyas.
(*c*) The inscriptions of the Rāshṭrakūṭas.

(a) The Inscriptions of the Kadambas

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There were several branches of the Kadambas, two of which are important from our point of view: (1) the descendants of Mayūraśarman, and (2) the line of Kṛishṇavarman ruling in Banavāsī. Besides these we have a single ruler, Hāritīputa Siva-khaḍḍavamman, who still remains unconnected, but whose Maḷvalli inscription provides a link between the late inscriptions of the Sātavāhanas, especially the one on the same pillar at Maḷvalli, and those of the succeeding Kadambas. These inscriptions may be classed in three sub-groups:

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(i) Pl. XVI. 1 is taken from the Maḷvalli inscription of Śiva-khaḍḍavaṁman. The writing bears a close similarity to that of the earlier Sātavāhana inscription on this pillar. One fundamental difference is that the head-mark in this inscription is not generally given, but in some letters, as in *bha*, it appears as a small solid square. The medial vowels are of the same type in both the inscriptions. The medials *ā*, *e* and *o* are horizontal strokes, the medial *ā* in *mā* and *lā* being placed in the middle of the letters. The medial *ai* is two back strokes. The medial *i* is a top stroke with a curled end, and the medial *ī* has an additional prominence, but the upper curl is not so well marked. The medial *u* is a curved stroke. The initial *a* is of the same type with a hook at the left limb and the right vertical curved at the lower end. The initial *u* has its base slightly turned up. The initial *e* now has a stem. A unique form of *ṛi* is met here. It appears to have been derived from the form of the initial *a*, of which the left hook is assimilated into a loop on this side and the right limb extends its curve upwards with an additional curved stroke on the inner side of this right vertical. The verticals of *ka*, *ra*, and *la* have curved ends. The fish-hook type of *kha* has now an additional arm attached to the bottom left of its long vertical. *Ga* is found with both angular and rounded top. *Cha* is of the broad type. *Ja* has three arms on the right of a vertical. *Ḍa* and *da* have angular backs. The bases of *ṇa* and *na* are now bent at an angle. *Ta* still has the angular form, but *tha* has now a short mid-line in place of the dot. *Dha* has its left arm curved. The left sides of *pa*, *ba*, and *ha* are bent in the middle. *Bha* is of the broad type with a notch in the middle. The lower loop of *ma* is generally triangular. *Ya* is tripartite, but does not have a loop on its left arm. *Va* has a loop attached to a vertical on the right, and *sa* has a hook on the left. The developments seen in some of the letters clearly point to a late date for the inscription, somewhere in the fourth century a.d., and if the square head-marks seen in some of the letters are intentional, it may have to be placed in the second half of that century.

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(ii) Pl. XVI. 2 is taken from the Halsi plates of Kākusthavarman and Ravivarman. It depicts the style seen in some of the inscriptions of the line of Mayūraśarman. The other style with square head-marks has already been discussed.¹ There is one more style, known from the Prakrit inscription of Mayūraśarman.² Here the medial vowels are not of the same type as seen in (i) above. They have been executed in a very careless manner, as may be seen in the case of the medial *i*, which is a short curve to the left, and the medial *ā*, which is a short stroke to the right. Three varieties of the medial *ū* have been detected—two curved strokes as in *kū*, an extended curve to the left as in *dū*, and a curl attached to the right arm of *ya* in *yū*. The only angular style is seen in the long verticals of *a*, *ka*, and *ra*, which recall the long verticals of the Ikshvāku writing. The date may be fourth century A.D. But the appearance of odd forms, such as *ka* and *ra*, optionally with short verticals, *ṇa* with a straight base, *ta* with a rounded appendage as seen in the later inscriptions of the Kadambas and the Chālukyas, and *ya* with its middle arm longer than the other two, raises doubt as to the genuineness of the inscription. The photograph is completely blurred and my remarks are based on the neat drawing in the publication referred to above.

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¹ See above, p. 178.

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² *An. Rep. of Mysore Arch. Survey*, 1929, pl. XI, p. 56.

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The Halsi plates show a developed style of the fifth century A.D. The medial vowels (Fig. 16) now exhibit the southern features. The medial *ā* is a horizontal stroke with a tick at the right end. This tick sometimes extends downwards, as is seen in *yā* and *sā*. The stroke is given in the middle of the letters *dhā*, *bā*, *mā* and *lā*. In *ṇā* the stroke is turned upwards as in the north. The medial *e* is a stroke similar to that of *ā* but placed on the left of the letters. In some cases, as in *ye*, the tick is again extended downwards. In *me* the stroke is placed at the middle, and in *khe* it curves downwards from the left bottom. The medial *i* is generally a circle, but sometimes we also get a left curve, while the medial *ī* has either two circles one within the other or a curve to the right. The medial *u* is either a short curve to the left as in *pu* or a broad curve to the right as in *bhu*. The medial *ū* has an additional short stroke or a downward curved stroke added to that of the medial *u*. The medial *o* is two horizontal strokes with ticks at either end, but in *lo* it is of the cursive type. The medial *au* has the curved form of the south, and the medial *ṛi* is a stroke curving to the left. A new form of the initial *ā* is seen, in which the left hook is assimilated in a closed loop. The initial *i* has its roof doubled. *E* has a stem projecting from the right end of a quadrangular body. The initial *ṛi* shows a development from the Roman ‘x’-form seen in the inscriptions of the Western Kshatrapas.¹ Here the lower two arms are transformed into curved strokes on either side of a middle bar, which has a notch. Some developments are also seen in the consonants: in *kha* the end of the lower horizontal is turned upwards; *ga* and *śa* have flat tops; both *ṇa* and *na* bend their bases. *ta* generally has its two arms meeting upwards in a rounded curve, but a new form having a curved appendage to a vertical is seen for the first time. This is the predominant type in the Chālukyan inscriptions, and henceforward it will be called the curved Chālukyan *ta*. Both *ḍa* and *ḍha* prolong their lower horizontals with a notch in the middle, but *da* maintains the old angular form. *Dha* optionally has the old broad form, but more usually we find the quadrangular form with its upper end slightly narrowed. The left side of *ba* has a deep inward curve. *Ma* has its lower loop almost quadrangular and tilted to the left. The third left arm of *ya* is replaced by a small loop. *La* extends the upper curl downwards. *Va* has a broad loop attached to a vertical on the right. *Śa* is of horseshoe type. *Sha* has a mid-line, and *ha* has a notch at the base. No cursive form of *ña*, as used in the conjuncts, is found, but it broadens its upper horizontal with a notch in the middle. The subscript *ya* henceforward is of the hooked type. The *upadhmānīya* is a cross within a rough quadrangle.

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¹ See above, p. 83.

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(iii) Pl. XVI. 3 is taken from Bannahalli plates of Kṛishṇavarman II. It illustrates the style of the sixth century a.d.,¹ as seen in the inscriptions of the Banavāsī branch of the Kadambas. There is a peculiar individualistic tendency of adding small circle-like flourishes to the letters in these plates. Another important change noticeable is the frequency of notches in almost all the horizontal lines, as may be seen in the forms of *e*, *cha*, *ja*, *da*, *dha*, *pa*, *pha*, *ba*, *ma*, *ya*, *la*, *va*, *sha* and *ha*. This is obviously due to the influence of stylus writing. The medial vowels adopt the new forms seen in (ii) above. The new developments in the letters are seen in the following: the lower curve of the initial *a* is extended upwards; *u* is almost a semi-circle; *e* resembles a foot with a slight upward opening of the mouth; both *ga* and *śa* are of the horseshoe type with their left arms slightly curved in; both *ṇa* and *na* now show small angular hooks attached to a vertical; *ta* is of the curved Chālukyan type as well as of the looped variety seen in the Andhra region. The *jihvāmūlīya* adopts the form of the southern *ma*.

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¹ See below, p. 224, for a similar style from Ceylon.

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*(b) The inscriptions of the Western Chālukyas*

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The Chālukyas obtained their styles of writing from three different sources. Their earliest inscriptions adopt the style seen in those of the Kadambas. Later in the seventh century they borrowed two styles from the Gurjaras of Broach—one having square head-marks (Pl. XV. 9), already described,¹ and the other the usual Gurjara style, as may be seen in Pl. XVI. 6, which is taken from the Nerur plates of Vijayabhaṭṭārikā, of about the middle of the seventh century A.D. The forms in these plates are exactly of the type known from the Gurjara inscriptions, except that the medial vowels sometimes follow the Chālukyan system. Hence no detailed description of this writing is given here. Finally, towards the end of the seventh century A.D., we find a new style developing, which may be termed proto-Kannadi. The Rāshtrakūṭas adopted this last style of writing in their inscriptions. In all these Chālukyan styles the line head-mark is prominently given.

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¹ See above, p. 177.

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(i) Pl. XVI. 4 is derived from the Chālukyan inscriptions of the sixth century A.D., and Pl. XVI. 5 from the inscriptions of Pulakeśin II, dated between (Śaka) years 535 and 556. The medial vowels adopt the later forms seen in the Kadamba inscriptions, except the long *ī*, which here has a curl attached to the end of a broad curve to the left—a form which appears to have been derived from the curled type of the medial *i* seen in the Maḷvalli inscription. This type is adopted by the Pallavas in their later inscriptions. We also find here the medial *ḷi*, the form of which is derived from the initial *ṛi*, as seen in the Kadamba inscriptions. The upper two arms of *ṛi* are dropped and only the lower portion—a flat top with a curve at either end—is used for this sign. No. 4 is closer to the Kadamba style in having notches at the horizontals, but the tendency in no. 5 is to discard the notches as far as possible. The typical Chālukyan tendencies are more noticeable in no. 5 than in no. 4. In no. 4 the right vertical in *a* optionally has a short curve, but in no. 5 only the extended curve is seen with the left hook shortened. The initial *i* is of the roof type in both, but in no. 5 the lower ends of the roof curve inwards. *U* is of the semi-circle type with the end of the upper arm slightly turned up. *E* is of the foot type. *Ka* has the usual curved vertical. *Kha* develops a loop at the end of the lower horizontal. Both *ga* and *śa* have their left arms curved inwards. *Gha* has its left arm bent in the middle. *Cha* is of the broad type. *Ja* has the three-armed form with the usual notches. Similar notches can be seen in the lower horizontals of *ṭa* and *da*. Both *ṇa* and *na* have angular hooks placed on the left bottom of a vertical. The curved type of the Chālukyan *ta* is generally seen. Both *tha* and *dha* are almost quadrangular, with their upper ends sometimes narrowed, and *tha* has either a dot, a short line, or a small circle inside. The left arms of *pa*, *pha*, *ba*, *sha* and *ha* are bent. In no. 5 *ba* has a break at this bend of its left arm. *Bha* is of the broad type. *Ma* has its lower loop slightly tilted to the left. *Ya* has a small loop in place of the left vertical. The lower end of *ra* is curved. *Ṛa* has a cross within a rough quadrangle. The curve of *la* is further extended but its left hook is maintained. *Ḷa* maintains the old form, and *ḷa* has a vertical line in the middle of a rough quadrangle. *Va* has a quadrangular loop attached to the right vertical. The *upadhmānīya* in no. 4 consists of a double loop on a base, while in no. 5 it is a cross within a rough quadrangle, there being no difference between the forms of *ṛa* and the *upadhmānīya*. No cursive forms are seen in the conjuncts.

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(ii) Pl. XVI. 7 is derived from the inscriptions of Vinayāditya Satyāśraya and Kīrtivarman II, dated between (Śaka) years 611 and 679. Here the medial *ā* has a vertical stroke on the right of the letters, and the medial *ī* has a curled end in the broad curve. The initial *a* loses its left hook and the curve of the right vertical is extended to the top. Another remarkable change is seen in the forms of *ka*, *ra*, and the vertical type of the medial *u*. In all these cases the curves are extended upwards, making actually two verticals. In the case of *ka* the upper vertical is separately given. *Kha* has its end-loop turned outwards. Both *cha* and *chha* have dropped their upper stems. *Ṭa*, *ḍa* and *da* have angular backs. *Ta* extends its lower curve farther. The forms of *ba*, *bha* and *ma* are simplified, and *ya* has dropped its left loop. An optional form of *ṛa* replaces the vertical line of the cross by two notches, one in each of the upper and lower arms of the outer quadrangle. *Ṅa*, used in the conjunct *ṅka*, has a notch in the middle of its vertical. *Va* optionally has the triangular loop without the right vertical. Other letters show simplified forms.

(c) The Inscriptions of the Rāshtrakūṭas

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Rāshṭrakūṭa writing is a further development of the proto-Kannadi style seen in the inscriptions of the Western Chālukyas.

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Pl. XVI. 11, 12 shows its evolution in the eighth century a.d. The influence of the stylus is clearly noticeable. The line head-marks, seen in the Chālukyan style, are also observable. The medial vowels *ā*, *e*, *o* and *ai* have all long verticals. The medial *i* is either of the circle type or has a broad curve on the left, while the medial *ī* has this curve on the right, but in *śrī* the Chālukyan style of a broad curve with a curled end is adopted. The medial *u* has the double vertical, and the medial *ṛi*, as in *kṛi* and *nṛi*, draws its curve from the top. The initial *a* gives prominence to the curve of the right vertical but the left limb first drops its hook, as in no. 11, and later, as in no. 12, is itself reduced to just a line. The roof of the initial *i* in no. 12 lowers a tail on the right side and joins with the right circular dot. The initial *u* prolongs its upper and lower arms, and a third arm is given between them to produce the form of the initial *ū*. *E* maintains the stem. *Ka* has a double vertical in the lower half and its upper vertical slants to the left. *Kha* has a loop at the end of the lower horizontal. *Ga* has its left arm curved in no. 11 but both arms are curved in no. 12. *Ḍa* and *da* are almost the same, and *ṭa* differs only by not having the upper vertical. Both *ṇa* and *na* have the angular hook on the left bottom of a vertical. *Ta* extends the curve of the Chālukyan form farther. *Tha* and *dha* are almost quadrangular. *Ya* has a loop in place of the left arm. *Ṛa* develops the optional form seen in the Chālukyan inscriptions and shows two contiguous circles with a mid-line running through them. *La* extends the upper curl and reduces the left limb. *Ḷa* also shortens the lower curved stroke almost to a point. *Ḷa* keeps the old form optionally, but another form with loops attached to the upper ends of a broad curve is also seen. *Va* has a loop attached to the right vertical, which is now slanting. *Śa* is of the horseshoe type.