Indian Palaeography c9.s3.4

c9.s3.4

A new principle of classification has been adopted here. Pl. I*a*, group A, illustrates stylized living beings; group B of this plate and Pl. I*b* show objects which can be easily recognized. In Pl. II *a*, *b* are shown those symbols which take geometrical forms, such as ovals, triangles, quadrangles, angles, crosses, &c. A few of these can also be construed as highly stylized forms, e.g. the oval (Pl. II*a*. 1. 1)¹ does not appear to be different from the objects hanging from either end of the pole carried by the man in Pl. I*a*. IV. 2–11. Again in Pl. II*a* the two complicated symbols in columns 14 and 15 are obviously magical emblems—one of crosses and the other of the mysterious so-called taurines and a square. Pl. II*b* shows in the last five lines strokes—horizontal, vertical, or slanting—often in combination as they have been actually found. In Pl. II*b*. XII. 10–15 are given the symbols, termed brackets, as they are found bracketing other symbols in the seals (see reading no. 2). In Pl. II*a* seven readings have been given.