Epigraphia Indica Vol 08

Author(s): E Hultzsch
Publisher: Archaeological Survey of India

Page 49

EPIGRAPHIA INDICA.
(VOL. VIII.
remained intact, the writing is generally well preserved and may be read with confidence nearly throughout. The average size of such letters as n, p, b, m is about ".
The characters according to Dr. Fleet (Gupta Inscr. p. 57) present an earlier form of the decidedly southern alphabet in the inscription of Skandagupta on the same rock. And this agrees with the opinion of Prof. Bühler who, in his Ind. Palæographie, p. 42, has described the alphabet here used as one of the precursors of the southern alphabets. Some of the more characteristic features in which this alphabet agrees with the later southern alphabets, according to Prof. Bühler, are the curves at the lower end of the vertical strokes of initial a and 4 and of the consonants k, ñ and r, the round form of d, the manner in which the upper part of the vertical line of 1 is turned towards the left, and the form of medial ri which sometimes it is difficult to distinguish from the subscript T. Of initial vowels the inscription contains only a, a, i, and a (e.g. in Abókasya, 1. 8, á garbhất, l. 9, idań, l. 1, and ékárnava-, l. 5); of the ordinary Sanskrit consonants all excepting and jh, but chh, ñ, th and ph occur only as subscript letters (e.g. in -óchchhraya., l. 1, rájño, 1. 3, saushthava-, 1. 13, and sphuţa-, 1. 14). We have besides the so-called southern !, in-páļikatvat=, 1. 1, ppranáli-, 1. 2, prandlíbhir, 1. 9 (but not in pranád yd in the same line), and vydla., 1. 10. The signs for d, 4 and dh are throughout clearly distinguished as may be seen from e.g. idan, tadakan and dridha-, in line 1. Of final consonants only t occurs, in rásit, 1. 7. Subscript consonants, including y, are written by the ordinary full forms of the letters, excepting perhaps the l of Pahlavena, 1. 19, which has a somewhat cursive form. The superscript stands well above the top-line of the consonants, and in syllables like rbha, rtti, rshe, etc., is the bearer of those vowelsigns which are ordinarily attached to the top of a letter. Medial d, e, as and ô are mostly denoted by quite horizontal lines which are generally attached to the top of the consonant sign; (see e.g. tadakan, l. 1, parjjanyếna, 1. 5, vyanjanair-, 1. 15, and ghôra-, 1. 7; but compare also e.g. jd in tatáffalak-, 1. 6, dhd in dharana-, l. 13, dé in saranadêna, l. 10, mô in -áyámôchchhraya-, l. 1, and other instances in which the vowel-signs are not attached to the top). As regards a, the chief exceptions to this are formed by já - compare e.g. [valjátên=, 1. 28, and by md where (except in Om=Anartta-, I. 18) d is denoted by a hook-shaped line at the right top of m (as in malya-, l. 15). For i, i and i compare e.g. nihsandhi- and -pålikatvát-, l. 1, srishta-vrishfind, 1, 5, and -avishkrita-, l. 11. Except in ru, medial u is denoted by a subscript curved line which is turned to the right when the consonant sign (as in g, t, $) is open at the bottom or (as in k and d) ends in a single down-stroke, while otherwise it is turned to the left; compare e.g. gu in gulma-, l. 7, tu in sêtuo, l. 2, ku in Kukur., 1. 11, with su in Sudarsanan, l. 1, pu in putrasya, 1. 4, mul in Eabhimukh, 1. 10, etc. For the corresponding forms of a compare bhí in bhatáydms, 1.5, då in odúraya, 1. 12, with sthú in sthála and då in vaidurya-, l. 14, etc. For ru and Tú see e.g. taru- and -anurúpa-, 1. 6. As in the case of u and in there are three forms of medial au, one of which appears in the pau of pautra, 1. 4, and paura-, 11. 16 and 18, another in the yau of Yaudhéyánář, 1. 12, and sau of saushthavas, 1. 13, and the third in the nau of dhanaughêna, 1. 16, and the mau of Mauryasya, twice in line 8. The signs of the jihuamáliya and upadhmániya do not occor; but the characters, in line 4, include numerical symbols for 70 and 2. A sign of punctuation, consisting in a single slanting line, is employed only at the end of the inscription.
1 In Table III. Col. vi. of Prof. Bühler's work, where the alphabet of cur inscription is given, the sign of da (No. 18) is imperfectly drawn; it resembles the da rather than the da of the inscription. The signs No. 16 (which also is mutilated) and No. 25 in the same coloma, which unaccountably are transcribed by ta and nú, are really 14 and nas, and Prof. Bühler's remarks on them, on p. 42 of his text, are therefore incorrect.
• Compare, similarly, rajno in lines 3 and 4. • In the mu of samudyuktaira, 1, 17, the subscript sigo is exceptionally turned towards the right.
• The aw of pau is not, as has been stated, like the aw of the pas given in Prof. Fühler's Table II. Col. xviii. No. 28, but differs from it in this that the shorter horizontal line is placed below, not above, the longer one.