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Shri Mahavir Jain Aradhana Kendra
www.kobatirth.org
Acharya Shri Kailassagarsuri Gyanmandir
(II) FROM PALÆOGRAPHICAL VIEWPOINT
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turies afterwards. This left-faced aspect of the letter (p) is what may be said to represent Paścimănana.
The letter ·TH' (a) which has been called in the present work as Dhanvi or bowman gives more definite clues regard. ing the time of the alphabet than the letters mentioned before. It is well-known that in the Asokan script 'TH' used to be represented by a circle with one dot exactly in the middle, and it continued unaltered up to the beginning of the fourth century as in the grant of Pallava Sivaskandavarman, and even in the Samudragupta's inscription. It was exactly in the inscription of Samudragupta that'TH'took another shape in which the dot in the middle took the form of a straight line cutting the circle in the middle. In this form it resembles a bow drawn to its fullest length and charged with an arrow. It can thus be easily imagined why this letter should be designated as Dhanvi.
Another letter which renders some help in determining the time of the Jayākhyasamhita is the letter 'Y' (a) which has been designated as Caturgati of four directions'. In the Asokan script the letter had only three directions one coming from above, one going towards the right, while the other going towards the left. It was only in the beginning of the 2nd century, for instance, in the Kuşhān Script that the letter developed a tendency to grow, in the left side, over the original form, a circular knob, which may be called the fourth direction of the letter.
But much more definite and perhaps the best clue for the determination of the age of the Jayakhyasaṁhstā is furnished by another important letter, namely 'N' (a) which has been called in the book as Nara or man. The evolution of the letter is well-known and quite simple. In the Asokan script it was represented by a vertical line with a horizontal line underneath touching the previous line in the centre. In Kuşhān script it was modified and the horizontal line below developed a circular knob towards the left, the end part of the knob
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