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The Background (6th-8th Century A.D.)
57
from that which was current in their own region. Vasu, after referring to the migration of Brāhmanas, pointed out: "Some of these immigrants who came from Magadha, Kanyakubja and Gauda, brought to their new colony their old alphabet, which in a later period became known as the Nāgari
lipi.”32
Most of the earlier proto-Nāgarī specimens of the region reveal the mixture of triangular and line forms of head-mark (cf. Table A 13). It seems probable that the imrnigrant Brāhmanas of Northern India, who had brought with them their own scripts, tried to engrave the alphabet in the same form. Naturally, it is hard to draw a solid-triangular shape with a stylus, the main writing tool of the region. The writing materials and writing technique of this region played an important role in the emergence of the simple form of the alphabet.
Table Au is taken from the Tiwarakhed Plates of Rāshtrakūta Nannarāja (A.D. 631) to represent the palaeographical development. The present inscription differs from the Indragadh inscription of Rāshtrakūta Nannappa in the sense that the Indragadh inscription reveals ornamental characters while Tiwarakhed Plates prefer only the simple forms. Triangled head-mark developed into short line. However, the alphabet retains Kutila influence. The right limb of the letters a, ka, ga, gha, ta, na, pa and ya bends inwards at the middle. The tails are not well marked, only a short tail is seen in the letters gha, da, pa and va. The tail of initial i is turned towards right. The curve of the letter ka is more elongated and sometimes looks like looped na. Kha in khe has an upward going stroke outside the right limb instead of an inward triangle (Pl. 15, Au). Such a kha is again found in ligature khyā of Kalachuri inscriptions (Pl. 27, A1n). Na is of looped variety; and ma shows a hollow loop at the left limb. Bha and sa are of open-mouthed variety. La gracefully curls its left hook. The form of va is used for both, ba and va, in which upper protion of the left curve joins with the head-mark instead of the vertical line. In ligature nda, superscribed ņ is of three tooth type. Subscript tha is of oval variety. Superscript s shows three forms, namely open-mouthed, tailed and hollow triangular. Medials are usual as in other regions.
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