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xlviii
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY
[CHAPTER V
IV.
DETAILS MODERN
yold II Total And
v old. new.
OM
DTAILS TRANSITIONAL.
modern ve-Vaud
Trans V& V
yl-vau
ve you
Vau
V. Vad
13!
elao
MONO
consonant a certain number of slightly curved strokes, Ece Figure 22. These strokes may be made in two ways: either they may slant from ahove downward to the top of the perpendicular line, as in ló (a), or they may run laterally, level with the top, as in lô (b) It will be seen at once that if the lateral stroke was used with the old three-pronged form of y, its attachment to the top of the medial or the right prong was likely to interfere with the left prong, and thus to obscure the true form and meaning of the syllable (see Figure 23 e). It was to obviate this inconvenience that the fashion arose to write the syllable with the new form of y, whenever the lateral stroke was used, as in yê (c) and yo (1), but to retain its old form, whenever the superior stroke was employed as in yê (c) and yô (d). This rule is invariably observed by the scribe of the first portion (parts I-III) of the Bower Manuscript. The scribes of the second portion (Part IV) and of the third and fourth portions (Parts V-VII) never use the lateral stroke, and accordingly they also never use the new form of y.
The subjoined Table exhibits all the occurrences of the letter y in the first portion of the Bower Manuscript:COLUMN. 1. II. 1 III.
VII. VIII. Total Total DETAILS OLD. Total Total
Total Parte.
yo. Mas 179
146 1,833 969
884
6 8 0 1 I-III
1,611 1,170 142 129 7 12 | 18 20
583 1,028
583 In Parts I-III the consonant y, old or new, and in combination with any vowel, occurs altogether 1, 511 times (col. I). In 1, 170 cases (col. II) the old form is used, and in 441 cases (col. V), the new form (transitional or modern). In the 1,170 cases of the old form, any vowel combination (exc. yau) occurs (ya, ya, yi, yi, yu, ya, yê, yai, yo). Among them the combination with the vowels ê, ai, ê, occurs 142 times (col. III, and detailed in col. IV). and in all these 142 cases the vowel is made with the superior stroke. On the other hand, in the 441 cases of the new form (col. V), the only vowel combinations which occur are those with e, ai, ô, and au; and in all those 441 cases the vowel is made with the lateral stroke. The total number of the combination of the vowels é, ai, ê, au with the consonant yis (142 plus 441, or) 583 (col. III), and that number is so large that it is out of the question to attribute to mere accident the clean distribution of the superior and lateral strokes between the old and new forms of y respectively: it can have been made only of set purpose. And if it is so made, the explanation of its reason, above given, appears to be the most probable. But whatever be the true explanation, the fact of the clean distribution is indisputable; and so is the other fact that the new form (transitional and modern) never occurs except in combination with the vowols é, ai, 6, au.
Turning now to the evidence of the dated, or practically dated, records of the Gupta period in north-western India, they show that the two facts, just mentioned, occur, in conjunction, only in the earliest portion of that period, that is, before 400 A.D. It is this circumstance which enables us to determine, to a degree of close approximation, the date of the writing of the Bower Manuscript. The following is a list of the inscriptions which, for the present purpose, come into consideration.
(1) 372 A.D., a calligraphic stone inscription of Vishnuvardhana, at Bijayagadh, Long. 77° 20' (F. GI., No. 59, p. 252, Plate xxxvic). In several ways this is an instructive record. The total of the cases of y with any vowel (e.s., yasah, púruvâyâm, yûpô, etc.) is eleven. Among them there are two cases of yê and one of yô (Fig. 23). All three are made with the lateral stroke; but yô (a), in breyo, line 4, is made with the modern form, while yê (6) in dhê yêna, 1. 3. and vriddhaya, L. 4, shows the transitional form. In Gupta inscriptions, as
