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INDIAN PALEOGRAPHY.
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plays by the Cahamāna king Vigraha IV., and by his poet-laureate Somadeva, have been found at Ajmir, and a large Jaina Sthalapurāņa in a number of Sargas, impressions of which (unpublished) I owe to FÜHRER and G. H. OJHA, exists in Bijholli (Rājputāna).
Bricks, showing single or a few letters, have been known for some time, as specimens have been found by CUNNINGHAM, FÜHRER and others in various parts of India, and even in Burma. But recently a set has been discovered in the North-West Provinces by Hoer, on which Buddhist Sutras are inscribed, the characters having apparently been scratched on the moist clay, before it was baked.3
H. - Paper. During the period to which this work refers, paper was hardly known or at least little used in India, as its introduction is only due to the Muhammadans. RAJENDRALĀL MITRA, however, asserts that a " letter-writer" by king Bhoja of Dhārā proves its use in Mālva during the 11th century. The oldest .paper MS. in Gujarāt is said to date from A. D. 1223-24.5
Paper MSS, dated Vikrama-Samvat 1384 and 1394 (A, D. 1927-28 and 1337-38), the leaves of which are cat according to the size of palm-leaves, have been discovered by PETERSON at Anbilväd Pāțan. It is very doubtful if any of the ancient MSS. from Kasbgar, which are written on a pecnliar paper, covered with a layer of gypsun, are of Indian origin; HOERALE believes that all of them were written in Central Asia.?
I. - Ink. The gldest undoubtedly Indian term for ink is maşi or maşi, frequently spelt masi or masi. The word, which occurs as a raria lectio already in a Grhyasūtra, is derived from the verb mas (himeāyām), and means etymologically "powder." Further, it serves to denote several kinds of pulverised charcoal, which were mixed with water, gum, sugar and so forth, and used for the preparation of ink.° BURNELL is mistaken when he asserts that in classical Sanskrit kiterature masi,"ink," occurs only in late works; it was known to Bāņa (about A. D. 620) and to his predecessor Subandhu.10
BENFEY, HINCks and WEBER have derived meta, another word for "ink," from the Greek Meas. But it is, no doubt, the feminine (viz., masi) of the common Prakrit adjective maila, "dirty, black," which cannot have been borrowed from the Greeks. Il Melā, likewise, was known to Subandha, who uses the denominative melānandāyate, “becomes an inkstand."12 The Kogas offer for " inkstand" also melamandā, melandhu, melandhukā, and maşimani, and the Puriņas masipatra, maşibhanda and maşiküpika 13
The statements of Nearchos and Q. Curtius (see above, page 6), according to which the Hindus wrote on cotton cloth and on the inner bark of trees, i. e., Bhūrja, make it very probable that they used ink already in the 4th century B. C. To the same conclusion points the fact, that in some letters of the Asoka edicts dots are occasionally substituted for loops.14 'he oldest specimen of writing with ink, on the relic-vase of the Stūpa [92] of Andher (seo
1 IA. 20, 201 ff. - (Now edited by KIEL HORN in Göttinger Festschrift, 1901.] 1 O.ASR, 1, 97; 5, 102.
Proo. ASB. 1896, 99 ff.
* Gongh's Papers, 16. 6 See my Catalogue of MSS. from Gujarat, &o., 1, 238, No. 147.
• Fifth Report, 123, 125, + WZKM. 7, 261 ; J.ASB. 66, 215 f1., 258 f.
& BRW. and BW., sub voce raşi. Indian prosoriptions for preparing ink are found in RAJENDRALĀL MITRA's notes, Gough's Papore, &c., 16 f.; Kashmir Report, 30.
10 See, e... Vsavadatta, 187 (HALL) : Harsonrita, 95. 11 See now also ZACHARIAN, Nachrichten Gött, Gos. Wins., 1893, 235 ff.
12 BRW., sub hac voce. 13 Mandā and randa, water vessel' (compare also nandikā, nādi, well, and wānulipata, 'oover of a well!) are derived from gandayati and mandayati, 'to cause to rejoice, to refresh.'
14 B.IS, III, 61 f. 69,
