Indian Palaeography c17.s2.3

Language: English

c17.s2.3.1

evidence comes from Oc-èo in Southern Cambodia, where a number of inscribed stone seals have been found. One such seal is also known from Malaya.¹ These seals were apparently not manufactured locally, but were probably imported from India, as was also the case with other types of seals found in this place. From what part of India could these seals come? The only evidence to decide this question is palaeographical. In Fig. 18 the letter-forms are divided into four groups. (A) This has only two letters, reading *deva*. Both letters have line head-marks. *Da* shows the double-curved form, but the lower curve is rather squat. *Va* is triangular. The medial *e* is a top slant. These features were known only in North India and are also to be seen in the later inscriptions of the Western Kshatrapas of Gujarat and Malwa. In terms of the palaeography of this latter region a date in the third to fourth century A.D. will not be far amiss. But on the basis of only two letters it is wrong to be dogmatic. (B) This group of inscriptions is characterized by notched head-marks. Only two medial vowels are used: the long *ā* has a downward tick attached to the end of its horizontal stroke, and the *anusvāra* is marked by a line.

c17.s2.3.2

The characteristic letters are the broad type of *bha* with a notch in its horizontal bar, *ta* with its two lower arms rounded at the upper end, the round-backed *da*, the triangular *va*, the tripartite *ya* with a loop at the left vertical, and *sha* with a bend at its left side. These features leave hardly any doubt that they belong to a region where the South Indian forms were used along with North Indian letters. This again points to Gujarat. They may be dated in the fifth century A.D. (C) This group has the largest number of seals. The letters are characterized by solid square head-marks. The medial vowels are all northern—the medial *ā* and *o* being top slants, except in *tā* where the medial *ā* is a horizontal stroke. The medial *i* is a left curve, and the medial *ī* has an additional initial prominence. The letter-forms tend to angularity, and they are easily comparable with the first group of the Vākāṭaka inscriptions (Pl. XV. 4). The forms are almost identical except in the case of *a*, which suggests a later date, and *ta* which points to the northern region of the Vākāṭaka dominions. They may be assigned to the fifth century A.D.¹ (D) To the last group belongs a seal reading *Vishṇumitrasya*. Another seal reading *Śrīmagaya* has been doubtfully assigned to this group. These letters have solid triangular head-marks, characteristic of the northern scripts from the fourth century A.D. onwards.

c17.s2.3.3

The forms are rather ornamental, with notches in the lower sides of *va*, *ma* and *sha*. The subscript *ra* is of the southern rounded form. *Ta* is northern, while *ma* has a looped base. The medial *i* is an upward stroke ending in a curl, as seen in the Western Indian inscriptions of the fourth to fifth century A.D. The nearest comparable material comes from Malwa (Pl. IX. 7). They may be dated in the fifth century A.D. The Malayan seal belongs to this group. Thus all these seals point to the region of Gujarat and Malwa between the fourth and fifth centuries A.D. It is natural therefore to suppose that the first contact was established with Western Indian seaports. As the detailed analysis given below will show, it is from this region that the earliest writing style of South-east Asia was derived. It is found again in Indo-China. Two types of writing are known—one represented by the Vo-Canh inscription, and the other, the square-headed type, seen in the inscriptions of Bhadravarman. These styles are quite in keeping with the two styles in use in Malwa between the fourth and fifth centuries A.D. A crude local copy of the first type of writing is also seen on a stone inscribed with the Buddhist creed from site no. 1 at Kedah in Malaya, but that inscription must be dated to the end of the fifth century A.D., as it shows the later form of *tha*, and the open-mouthed type of *ṇa*.