Indian Epigraphy c10.s4.6

c10.s4.6

Al-Bīrūnī regarded the auspicious symbol at the beginning of inscriptions as indicating the *praṇava* or the sound *Om*.⁸ N. K. Bhattasali challenged the authority of Al-Bīrūnī and suggested that the symbol indicates *siddham* or *siddhir-astu*.² There is no doubt that the symbol stood for the word *siddham* found at the beginning of numerous early inscriptions. But there is evidence to show that sometimes the symbol was pronounced as *Oṃ siddhiḥ*² and Al-Bīrūnī seems to have confused this *Oṃ siddhiḥ* with *Oṃ*. Instances of such confusion are also noticed in Indian epigraphs like the Baud plates³ of Raṇabhañja which begin with the symbol followed by the word *siddhiḥ* and the Belabo plate⁴ of Bhojavarman, which has the symbol followed by *Oṃ siddhiḥ* at the beginning. The symbol was generally used till recent times in the eastern areas with the sign of nasalisation placed above the Bengali figure for 7 or as the figure 4 as found in medieval inscriptions from Bengal.⁵ The sign is called *pillaiyār śuli* (Gaṇeśa's curl) in Tamil.⁶