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(SECTION II)
CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCES Palaeography
Now, coming to the circumstantial evidences, we should first examine the palaeography of the Hāthigumphā inscription and see whether we are able to fix its date on that basis.
The decided opinion of scholars on palaeography places the Hāthigumphā record probably later than the Nanaghat records and certainly later than the Besnagar inscription of Heliodorus. R. P. Chanda has suggested as many as seven stages in the evolution of the Brāhmi letter-forms from the Edicts of Asoka to the Sanchi Gateway inscriptions :—“The sixth being represented by the Hāthigumphā record and the fifth by the Besnagar Garuda Pillar Inscription, the Nanaghat inscription of Nāyanikā and the Bharhut East Gateway Inscription of Dhanabhūti, taken in a chronological order."
R. D. Banerji, while disagreeing with R. P. Chanda in regard to certain points, admits, after a detailed examination, that the Nanaghat inscription shows the use of a very large number of Kshatrapa or early Kushana forms side by side with older ones. According to Rapson, the form of the akshara da found in the Nanaghat record resembles that of a coin-legend which is assignable to the first or second Century B. C. Buhler5 also observes that
1. Sircar, SI, Vol. I, p. 206. 2. MASI, I, pp. 10-15; IHQ, 1929, pp. 601 f, 3. MASB, XI, No. 3, p. 145. 4. Cat. of Andhra Coins, p. Ixxvii. 5. ASWI, V, p. 65.
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