Indian Epigraphy: A Guide to the Study of Inscriptions in Sanskrit, Prakrit, and the Other Indo-Aryan Languages c7.s2.t6.32

c7.s2.t6.32

Some of the consonantal characters were radically remodeled in this period. For instance, the old form of *da* with the bulge to the right (𑀤) was replaced by its mirror image (𑀤). The tendency toward the equalization of verticals in characters such as *pa* and *sa*, first noted in the preceding period, is now strengthened so that these and others tend to be molded into a square outline, which is reinforced by the angularized forms of some letters such as E *ja*, ⧖ *ma*, and 𑀏 *ṣa*. But in this period (especially in its later phases) we also see in other characters the contrary effects of cursivization (here, as elsewhere, reflecting the epigraphic imitation of pen-and-ink forms), which result in rounded and looped forms of such characters as 𑀢 *ta*, 𑀦 *na*, 𑀪 *bha*, and 𑀲 *sa*.