________________
248 )
top of “vais evidently a vowel mark and has much affiliation with similar marks in the Kalsi inscription. Thus according to him it is "vi" and not long “vi”. D.C. Sircar on the other hand takes this letter with its upper vertical stroke as a compound letter “dva" or “dvam”8 which according to him is a shortened form of the siddham. The suggestions of D.C. Sircar were categorically rejected by several scholars like Dani, T.P. Varma, C.S. Upasaka, etc. They all unanimously maintained that the form of “da” opening on the right is not seen in the early period. However, Dani and T.P. Varma could not suggest any definite reading.. C.S. Upasaka had other view. He says that the medial sign of "i" seems to have been attached wrongly as no such use is seen in other records. He thus considers the long media) "i" attached with the letter "va” as a scribal mistake 10 But this view cannot be accepted. This inscription contains a few letters quite short in comparison to other letters. The shortening of length of a letter owing to the presence of vowel mark is also visible in other letters of this inscription. It may be retaining some earlier forms of writing or it may be some provincial variations. It is also present in the Anwaleshwar inscription of 2nd century B.C. recently noticed from Rajasthan, Thus, we cannot rule out these possibilities simply by saying a scribal mistake. The letter apparently seems to be long "vi". In this way the reading comes as :
(1)
(4)
line left middle
right raya bhagava
(te) 80 (4) chaturasiti-va
(se) na ye sali malini
(ye) ram ni (va) the majhimika
(ye) The purport of this inscription is not clear. Sali Malini, appearing in the third line, seems to be a proper name of a lady, who had some relation with Madhyamika, a town situated near Chittor.
8. D.C. Sircar, op.cit, p. 240/Journal of the Bihar and Orissa Research Society
Vol. XXXVIII, pp. 34-38. 9. Thakur prasad Varma, The Palaeography of Brahmi Script (Varanasi.
1970) p. 76. 10. Chandrika Singh Upasaka, The History and Palaeography of Brahmi Script
(Nalanda, 1960), p. 186.
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