Indian Epigraphy c10.s3.14

c10.s3.14

In South Indian manuscripts, the cross was used also as an indication of intentional omission which, as well as defective passages in the original quoted in the commentaries, were marked elsewhere in the country by dots or short strokes above or beneath the line.⁴ The symbol of an ear-ring (*kuṇḍala*) or a *svastika* was sometimes used to mark unintelligible passages.⁵ A globular mark was sometimes engraved below a letter to indicate that it was wrongly engraved and should not be taken into account.⁶ A similar practice is referred to in Śrīharṣa’s *Naiṣadhīya*⁷ which speaks of a circle being drawn round a letter as a mark of cancellation.