Indian Antiquary Vol 21

SR No.: 032513
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Richard Carnac Temple
Publisher: Swati Publications
Publication Year: 1984
Total Pages: 430
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 17 MB

Page 51

FEBRUARY, 1892.]
DATE OF THE BOWER MANUSCRIPT.
43
of the North-Eastern alphabet ; and as a matter of fact, no inscription has ever been discovered in India proper exhibiting both the North-Eastern form of sh H and the Post-Gupta form of y A.
LIST III. – Inscriptions in the North-Eastern alphabet (only Gupta variety).
Serial No.
Publication.
Name of Inscription.
Name of King, etc.
Saliv.
A.D.
Fleet's
390 400
407
No. 1 No. 7 No. 6 No. 32 No. 9
410 410 417
No. 8
417
No. No. 11 No. 65
do.
420 418 454 460
460
No. 12
Faridpur .............. Dharmaditya ............. Allahabad ........... Chandra Gupta II (395-414) .... Gachwå
do. Udayagiri ..........
do. Mihrauli.
do. Gadhwa ............... Kumâra Gupta I (414-454) Gadhwa ...............
do. Gadhwa
do. Mankuwâr ............ *Kosam .................. Bhima Varman ..... • Deóriyd ............... Sarnath ........... Kah&um ............... Skanda Gupta (455-408) Bihar ................
do. Gadhwa ...........
do. Bhâtgaon................ Sivadeva I ............ Katmandu .............
do. Patan ...............
Arhsuvarnan ............... Katmandu ............ do. do.
do.
do. Jishnu Gupta
do. Månadeva......... Sivadêva II ................... Månadeva ................. Vasantasena
No. 66 .. Bendall's No. 1 ... Bhagwanlal's No. 5 Bendall's No. 2 ...... Bhagwanlal's No. 6
No. 7
460 467 635 635 639 639
644
649
653
633 705
119
725
413 435 535
No. 4
85+
With regard to Nepal, List III. shows that the North-Eastern alphabet survived down to the middle of the ninth century; the latest inscription is dated 854 A. D. At the same time it also shows that the North-Western alphabet in the Post-Gupta variety was introduced in the middle of the seventh century. Its first appearance is in the Jishņa Gupta inscription of about 655 A. D. (No. 7 in List II.). This is an instructive instance. Of Jishņu Gupta we have three inscriptions, viz., Bhagwanlal's Nos. 9, 10 and 11. Of these Nos. 9 and 10 (see Nos. 22, 23 in List III.) are exclusively in the North-Eastern characters; moreover, No. 9 is dated in 653 A. D. This fixes very approximately the date of No.11. But this No. 11, exhibits the curious fact of a mixture of North-Western Post-Gupta and North-Eastern forms. In line 2 (kshobhayitve) and l. 16 (parshadi) we have the North-Western form of sh; moreover, through. out the inscription we find the Post-Gupta form of y. But in line 9 (jishnu) there is used the North-Eastern form of sh. It seems to me, that we have here an indication of the exact time when the North-Western Post-Gupta alphabet was first introduced into Nepil. It must have been during the reign of Jishņu Gupta, in the middle of the seventh century. This alphabet did not, however, at once entirely supersede the older North-Eastern variety. The latter continued to exist by the side of the newer N.-W. Post-Gupta variety, for about two centuries