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$ 25.)
INDIAN PALEOGRAPHY.
26. - The Säradā alphabet; Plates v. and VI. A. - The Sārada script, which is easily recognised as a descendant of the western Gupta alphabet, appears since about A. D. 800 in Kashmir and in the north-eastern Pañjāb (Kāngra and Chambā). The oldest known Säradā inscriptions are the two Baijnāth Prasastis from Kiragrāma (Kängra), dated A. D. 804; see plate V, col. I. Not much later are the coins of the Varma dynasty of Kashmir, where the Sāradā forms are likewise fully developed. And it is not improbable that the Bakhshāli MS., found in the Yusufzai district (plate VI, col. VIII), belongs to the same or even a somewhat earlier period. The third specimen of the Sārada in plate VI, col. IX, which ultimately is derived from BURKHARD's plate I. in his edition of the Kashmirian Sākuntala,. dates perhaps only from the 16th or 17th century; it has been given merely because at present no reproductions of more ancient MSS. are accessible. In consequence of the frequent emigrations of the travel-loving Kashmirian Pandits, Sāradā MSS. are found in many towns of North-Western India and further east in Benares, and marginal glosses in Särada characters are found even in ancient Nāgari MSS. from Western India. A [57] modern cursive variety of the Sāradā is the so-called Takkari or Täkari? of the Dogrās in Jammu and the neighbourhood, which of late has been imported also into Kashmir.
B. - A general characteristic of the Sāradā of all periode is found in the stiff, thick, strokes, which give the characters an uncouth appearance and a certain resemblance to those of the Kuşana period. The following signs show, already in the earliest period, peculiar developments :
(1) The 1, which consists of two dots, placed side by side, and compare the l of the Bower MS.) a ra-like figure below, which represents the other two dots (plate V, 4, I; VI, 4, IX).
(2) The quadrangular ca (plate V, 15, I; VI, 20, VIII, IX).
(3) The lingual da, which shows in the middle a loop, instead of an acute angle, and . wedge at the end (plate V, 22, I; VI, 27, VIII, IX).
(4) The dental ta, which, being derived from a looped form, has lost its left half, while the right has been converted into a curve (plate y, 25, I; VI, 30, VIII, IX).
(5) The dental dha, which is flattened at the top and is below so broad that it resembles a Devanagari pa.
(6) The va, which, owing to the connection of the left side of the curve with the topstroke, closely resembles dha (plate V, 38, I; VI, 43, VIII, IX).
(7) The quadrangular da, which exactly resembles a Nagari sa (plate V, 39, I; VI, 44, VIII, IX).
(8) The angular medial : (plate V, 43, I; VI, 43, VIII), and the detached o, which stands by itself above the line (plate y, 24, I; VI, 31, IX), and without doubt is derived from the Gupta o (plate IV, 84, IV).
(9) The rat which, as a first part of ligatures, is inserted into the left side of the second letter, just as in the Aphsad inscription,
The other, letters of the earlier documente differ very little from those of the western Gupta alphabet, and the changes, which are found, all occur also in the sonte-angled script.
1 Compare, for this paragraph, Kashmir Report (J.BBRAS. 12), 31; J.ASB. 60, 88.
O.CMI. pl. 4, 5. * Boventh Oriental Congress, Aryan Section, 183 ; IA, 17, 88, 276.
• SB.WA. CVII. *A good facsimile from a Bärada M8, of the same period is found in the Catalogue of the Berlin Sanskrit and rakrit M88., Vol. 2, 8, pl. 9; an inferior one, from the India Office MS. 8176, together with a table of the letter and ligatures, in Pal. Soc., Or. Ser., pl. 4.
SBWA, CXVI, 684. T Kashmir Roport (J.BBRAS. 12). 89: for the phabet. J. IGAS, 1871, 004. See above, $ 24, C, 3.
