Indian Palaeography c17.s6.2

c17.s6.2

(i) Pl. XXI. 8 is taken from a stone inscription recording only the Buddhist creed. It was found in Kedah site no. 1. Here the letters are very crudely drawn. The initial *e* appears to be of the foot type. *Ga* has its right limb slightly longer than the left. *Cha* has a broad beak. *Ṇa* is of the open-mouthed type of the north, and *ta* also is of the northern form with its two lower arms meeting in an upper curve. In *tha* the central dot is replaced by a line drawn with the same sweep of the hand as the circle. *Da* is of the double curved type but the lower curve is squattish. *Na* has a bent base, and *ma* a triangular looped base. *Ya* is of the tripartite form, and *ra* is a straight vertical. The left side of *śa* is bent. The medial vowels recall those of the Vo-Canh inscription. The writing is probably derived from Gujarat and Malwa. The use of the open-mouthed *ṇa*, *tha* with a mid-line, and the hooked type of the subscript *ya* suggests a date in the latter half of the fifth century A.D.