Indian Palaeography c17.s2.3.2

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.