Indian Palaeography c18.s4.t3: 3. Indo-Greek Inscriptions

c18.s4.t3.1

Pl. XXIII. *3* is taken from the Bajaur casket inscription of the reign of Menander (only inscription nos. A, A 1 and A 2), and from the Swat relic vase inscription of Meridarkh Theodoros. The letters are scratched on steatite and show a style that was in vogue in the second to first century B.C. The forms are similar to those seen in the Indo-Greek coins, but the additional strokes below the verticals are absent here. Angularity is particularly marked in the forms of *a*, *ka* and *ṇa*. The new letters *g'a* and *d'a* occur. The foot-mark is also seen in *da*, while it is usually cursively drawn. The most important change is seen in the form of *mu*, in which the right limb is extended upwards but the left sharply bends down with the stroke of the medial *u*. Henceforward this becomes the common form. *Ra* in the conjunct *rkhe* is just a curved line drawn across the lower vertical. The initial *u* has its left stroke drawn as if it were a bend of the long vertical.