An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology v1.c25.s4.36

v1.c25.s4.36

Bühler recognized nine important styles of the n. and five of the s. alphabets about A.D. 350. For the regional scripts of later times Bühler gave names on the basis of a classification of the form, but Ojha preferred modern names. Dani classifies the scripts into four geographical groups—(a) n. India, (b) Gujarat, Rajasthan and c. India, (c) the Deccan, and (d) s. India. He again divides these into nine recognizable regional scripts—(a.1) middle Ganga, (a.2) e. India, (a.3) Mathurā and the n.-w. region, (b.4) Rajasthani, (b.5) Kathiawadi, (c.6) Deccani, (d.7) Mysore and Maharashtra, (d.8) Andhra and (d.9) s. India. Dani claims that these divisions closely agree with the account of 'Al-Bīrūnī. 'Out of the 11 scripts mentioned by him Ardhanāgarī, Malwārī, and Saindhava, current in Bhatiya and Sind are unknown to us because no record from this region is available so far ... 'Al-Bīrūnī's Bhaikṣukī style used in Udunpur in Purvadeśa was probably a special writing used by the Buddhists.' The remaining scripts, Siddhamātṛkā, Nāgara, Gauḍī, Lāḍī (Lāṭī or Kathiawadi), Karṇāṭa, Āndhrī and Dirwārī (Drāviḍī), are easy to recognize. Of these Nāgara is derived from Varṇanāga, a style of writing current in Malwa. Siddhamātṛkā, current in Kashmir, Madhyadeśa (the region round Kanauj) and Varanasi, refers to the style named 'Kuṭila' by Fleet and 'acute-angled' by Bühler, but by the 10th century Nāgarī displaced it in the Ganga valley and Śāradā in Kashmir.