________________
174
EPIGRAPHIA INDIOA.
(VOL. XXI.
Ganga king Srīpurusha for whom we have a sure date in Saka 7101 and who began to rule, according to the Dēvarahalli plates', if they are accepted as genuine (and I think they can be), in A.D. 726. But the most striking resemblance the present grant bears in respect of palæography is to the Anpigeri inscription of the 6th year of the reign of the Early Chalukya monarch Kirttivarman II (i.e., A.D. 752), the form of every letter except l being exactly alike in both the records. As zegards individual letters in the present epigraph, we have the initial vowel a in aneka (11. 3 and 4), arunúruvaru (1.7), ardharh (1. 14), arunúru and agrahara (1. 17). The initial à occurs only once in Arida (1. 8). The curves at the ends of these two letters have not yet closed completely at the top. The initial i consisting of two dots below a double curve occurs thrice in Idevetta (1. 13), in idu (l. 16) and itah-param (1. 17). Initial è occurs in line 13 and o in line 16. Among medial vowels
is distinguished from 1 by a small loop in the circular i sign (of. Lakshmi with nivāsa, 1.3). Medial u is marked in two ways; when it is attached to the letter r it is denoted by a hook bending downwards at the proper left of this letter but in other cases it is denoted by a U-shaped symbol at the bottom of the letter to which it is added.(cf. purusha and guna in line 3). In medial ū the length is indicated by the addition of a downward curve. No distinction is made between short and longe and o. Medial ai is made up of two strokes, one attached to the serif or the talekattu of the consonant and the other to the letter itself, both placed on the proper right (e.g., Kai in Kaikėya, 1.2). Medial o is merely a combination of the e and the ā strokes, the one on the proper right and the other on the proper left of the consonant. Among the consonants, the epigraph contains the letters i, j, b and l which along with kh (not found here) furnish, according to Dr. Fleet, the leading test letters in determining the approximate period of undated records. The n which occurs only once in tenkannā (1. 12) differs from ; only in the absence of the centre prong. We have , in rāja (1.2), jana (1.4), rājēna (1. 6), gotraja (1. 8), jamali (L 16) and as a second member of the conjunct consonant in peljavasi (1. 14). B appears twice, first in bahu (1. 5) and a second time in kombe (1. 15). All of them are of the earlier type found in records prior to the ninth century. L is used more frequently and though it is of a cursive type, the down-stroke of the letter on its proper right side is not yet prolonged up to the top of the letter on the left (e.g., vallabha and Pallava in line 1, vipula in line 4, tale in 1. 8, etc.). According to Fleet this form of I cannot be placed much before A.D. 800 in records coming from Western India. But it should be noted that this cursive form of the letter already appears in the Raygad Plates of the Early Chalukya king Vijayaditya dated Saka 625 and in the Bopgaon Plates of the same king dated Saka 640. The record includes final n (1.9) andr (u. 10, 17 and 18). Lingual d can be distinguished from the dental d by the lower part of the letter turning upwards and ending in a loop as in du of paduvannā (1. 12) and de of müde (1. 16). But the distinct form of d is not shown in nda of Chandamanāsēna (L. 5) and ndam of karsapindam (1. 15) and, as Fleet has remarked, " it was seldom, if ever, the early practice to use the distinct form of the d in the combination nd". The Dravidian , as well as ! are represented in the record, the former in arunārvvarum (1.7), Neydalgere (l. 13), niriraga, (1. 14), nürirpattentu (1. 15) and asunaru (1. 17) and the latter in kalani (1. 11), Peramale (1. 12), Gārapāli (1. 12), aļivor (1. 17) and alidorā (1. 18) and as the first component of the conjunct consonante in ildu (1. 10) and peljavasi (1. 14). These two letters differ considerably from their later varieties used, for instance, in the
Ibid., 1918, p. 42. Np. Dar, Vol. IV. pp. 298 fl. and plates. • Below, p. 204. • Abovo, VOL. VI, p. 41.
Above, Vol. X, plate between Page 16 and 17. • Brom ink-Impressions in the posscasion of Mr. K. N. Dikshit. Aboro, Vol. VII, p. 203.
