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EPIGRAPBIA INDICA.
[VOL. III.
these tops into each other, and the result was, that the matrds here are not always perfect: bat the intention is evident. In E., in which the upright strokes were capped in the same way, many of the letters present a still more disjointed appearance; but there can be little doybt that this was induced largely in the preparation of the lithograph, which is plainly not altogether a mechanical one, and that the intended general style was precisely the same as in B., C., and D. There is indeed, one letter, ph, in respect of which a distinction has to be drawn between A. and F. on the one side, and B., C., D., and E. on the other : for some reason or other, in the latter four charters, probably from aiming generally at copying a more antique style,-ph is exceptionally formed, throughout, with only the half mátrá, over the left-hand part of the letter;' see, for instance, phalam and asphótayanti, B. lines 18, 23, and muktáphala and sphari. bhavach, E. lines 19, 1, and contrast these words with aphala and asphôţayanti, A. lines 25, 29, and aphala and dattát=phalam, F. lines 49, 50. In other respects, the charters are all in unison : and the facts are as follows, -jh does not occur, and the occurs only subjoined; the kh, g, , ?, th, and fare what may be called round-top letters; the fand dh have no mátrd; the 1 has a half mátrd, over the upright stroke on the right hand, rather than a full one; and all the other consonants have the full måtrd : among the initial vowels, &, ai, d, and au are round. top letters, and a, , 1, 1, and have the matra; does not occar. In dealing with the question of the matrás, the instructive letters are p, m, y, sh, and .. In the Aphead inscription of about A.D. 650, the grant of Vinayaka påla of A.D. 794-95, the Deógadh inscription of A.D. 862, the Gwalior inscription of A.D. 876-76, and even the Harsha inscription of A.D. 973, these five letters are without the complete mátrd, having tops on only the left-hand part of them. But the Khajuraho inscription of A.D. 953-54 presents the fully developed mátrds in the five letters in question, as well as in all the others which admit of it; and they appear also in the Dewal inscription of A.D. 992-93, in the Nanyaurà copper-plate grant (North-West Provinces) of Dhangadéva, of A.D. 998 (Ind. Ant. Vol. XVI. p. 202, Plate), and in the Jhtisi grant (North-West Provinces) of Trilôchanapala, of A.D. 1027 (id. Vol. XVIII. p. 34, Plate). The transitional period appears to be illustrated by the Pehoa inscription of about A.D. 900, where, for instance, in patau, line 1, ékatam, line 1, ôdayaḥ, line 6, gatêsht, line 1, and saduritta, line 11, the p, m, y, sh, and s distinctly have only the half mdtrå over the left part of the letter, though in the majority of cases the matrds of even these five letters are complete; and still more pointedly by the Asnî inscription (North-West Provinces) of Mahîpåla, of A.D. 916-17 (Ind. Ant. Vol. XVI. p. 174, Plato), which very clearly shews the letters in question both with and without the complete mdtra. And the result from this feature is, that the present charters need not be placed after A.D. 950, but can hardly be placed before A.D. 900.
An examination of individual characters leads to much the same result; except that the forms of k and ph, which represent almost the last stage before the development of the modern forms, seem to necessitate an appreciably later period. A similar instance of the k with the markedly round shape of the left-hand part of it which is exhibited in these charters,-800, e.g., katakat, A. line 1, and paramabhaffdraka, B. lines 1, 2,- occurs, by some chance or other, in the word drka, line 21, of the Gwalior inscription of A.D. 875-76; and this instance must probably be taken as shewing that the form was known then, though it had not been introduced into epigraphic use: bat, in the remainder of that record, in the Dedgadh and Asni inscriptions, and even in the Harsha and Dewal inscriptions, the k is decidedly of the pointed type: the round type is followed first in the Pehoa inscription of about A.D. 900; and it re-appears in the lithograpb seenis to be to. Bu h .New And Thôi prants. As regards the ph with
