Indian Epigraphy c7.s4.3

c7.s4.3

The scripts principally used in the Muslim epigraphs are Kūfic, Nasta'līq, and Naskh including its variety called Thulth. Each of these writings was executed with its distinctive conventional style which varied according to the period and locality as well as the ingenuity of particular calligraphists.² We have only a few inscriptions in Kūfic which was written in a simple and an ornamental style.³ The inscriptions of the pre-Mughal period are mostly written in Naskh.⁴ The characters are vigorous, rigid and also bold at times. The Naskh script, as used in such areas as those under the Sulṭāns of Bengal and Gujarat, developed an individuality of its own. The decorative Tughrā style of Bengal, which is also noticed in a large number of records from Gujarat, exhibits distinctive ornamentation.⁵ In this style of writing, the elongated shafts and curves of the letters are arranged so as to form different motifs. The arrangement of the curved letters across the arrow-headed ones representing the motif of bow and arrow is commonly found, so that some scholars prefer to call it 'the bow-and-arrow style'. A slightly modified form of this motif is that of the arches or railings.⁶ Another motif represents the parade or march of an army with raised banners, 'the flags being either conspicuous or disturbed by the intervention of a row of knotted ropes representing the halters sometimes hung below banner heads, the cluster of letters at the foot of the straight-drawn vertical lines presenting the thick mass of soldiers which in old times formed an interwoven group during a march.¹