Indian Palaeography c17.s8.5

c17.s8.5

B. Blagden was the first person to decipher the Pyu inscriptions and comment on their palaeography.¹ Later, in *Epigraphia Birmanica*, vol. i, he edited the Pyu face of the Myazedi inscription, dated A.D. 1112–13 (Pl. XXII. no. 7). In *Epigraphia Indica*, vol. xii, he published the urn inscriptions from Payaggyi Pagoda near Prome (Pl. XXII. 5), which, according to his interpretation, is dated in the seventh century A.D. The one record which is definitely of the seventh century is a bilingual inscription from Hmawza, which is fairly well dated by the characters used for writing the Sanskrit words (Pl. XXII. 4). We have included one more inscription from Halingyi (Pl. XXII. 6), which appears to be slightly earlier in date. But in these inscriptions, which range from at least the seventh to the twelfth century, hardly any development in the letters is to be seen. It seems that very early a particular type of writing became associated with the Pyu language. This assumption is confirmed by the bilingual text from Hmawza, where the Pyu script shows no influence at all from the *kuṭila* character of the Sanskrit words. When was this writing derived? Blagden answered the question on the basis of the tripartite (which he calls ‘anchor-shaped’) form of the subscript *ya*, which he compared with the similar form in the Vo-Canh inscription. Accordingly, he maintained that the origin of the Pyu script cannot be dated later than the fourth century A.D. But it is hardly necessary to rely on the evidence of a single letter. We have to consider the general character of the writing and reduce it to a particular system. The other point which is relevant in this connexion is the use of different letter-forms in some inscriptions. This question will be discussed below.