Indian Palaeography c18.s5.1

c18.s5.1

In the above description and the chart given in Pl. XXIII an attempt is made to point out different tendencies, as they developed through the centuries during which Kharoṣṭhī was in vogue. The inscriptions selected, with one exception, are those which are definitely dated. The forms given in the chart are my own reproductions of the letters as finally ascertained after examining the different examples. It has been my endeavour to reconstruct the most usual form of the letters, out of which the individual writers created their own style of writing. In these general forms Kharoṣṭhī maintains a uniformity throughout the periods that it was in use. This uniformity of the Kharoṣṭhī, as opposed to the changing forms of the Brāhmī script, speaks of a wider cultural unity in this region.