North Indian Inscriptions

RECORDS OF THE SOMAVAMSI KINGS OF KATAK.

these tops into other ; and the result was, that the mâtrâs here are not always perfect : but the intention is evident. In E., in which the upright strokes were capped in the same way, many of the letters present a still more disjoined appearance ; but there can be little doubt that this was induced largely in the preparation of the lithograph, which is plainly not altogether a ṁechanical one, and that the intended general style was precisely the same as in B., C., and D. There is, indeed, one letter, ph, in respect of which a distinction has to be drawn between A. and F. on the one side, and B., C., D., and E. on the other : for some reason or other, in the latter four charters,─ probably from aiming generally at copying a more antique style,─ ph is exceptionally formed, throughout, with only the half mâtrâ, over the left-hand part of the letter;¹ see, for instance, phalam and âsphôṭayanti, B. lines 18, 23, and muktâphala and sphârî-bhavach, E. lines 19, 1, and contrast these words with aphala and âsphôṭayanti, A. lines 25, 29, and aphala and dattât=phalam, F. lines 49, 50. In other respects, the charters are all in unison : and the facts are as follows,─ jh does not occur, and ṭh occurs only subjoined ; the kh, g, ñ, ṇ, th, and ś are what may be called round-top letters ; the ṭ and dh have no mâtrâ ; the l has a half mâtrâ, over the upright stroke on the right hand, rather than a full one ; and all the other consonants have the full mâtrâ : among the intial vowels, ê, ai, ô and au are round-top letters, and a, â, i, î, and u have the mâtrâ ; û does not occur. In dealing with the question of the mâtrâs, the instructive letters are p, m, y, sh, and s.

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In the Aphsaḍ inscription of about A.D. 650, the grant of Vinâyakapâla of A.D. 794-95, the Dêôgaḍh inscription of A.D. 862, the Gwâlior inscription of A.D. 875-76, and even the Harsha inscription of A.D. 973, these five letters are without the complete mâtrâ,─ having tops on only the left-hand part of them. But the Khajurâhô inscription of A.D. 953-54 presents the fully developed mâtrâs in the five letters in question, as well as in the others which admit of it; and they appear also in the Dêwal inscription of A.D. 992-93,² in the Nanyaurâ copper-plate grant (North-West Provinces) of Dhaṅgadêva, of A.D. 998 (Ind. Ant. Vol. XVI. p. 202, Plate), and in the Jhûsî grant (North-West Provinces) of Trilôchanapâla, of A.D. 1027 (id. Vol. XVIII. p. 34. Plate). The transitional period appears to be illustrated by the Pehoa inscription of about A.D. 900, where, for instance, in patau, line 1, êkatâm, line 1, ôdayaḥ, line 6, gatêshu, line 1, and sadvṛitta, line 11, the p, m, y, sh, and s distinctly have only the half mâtrâ over the left part of the letter, though in the majority of cases the mâtrâs of even these five letters are complete ; and still more pointedly by the Asnî inscription (North-West Provinces) of Mahîpâla, of A.D. 916-17 (Ind. Ant. Vol. XVI. p. 174, Plate), which very clearly shews the letters in question both with and without the complete mâtrâ. And the result from this feature is, that the present charters need not be placed after A.D. 950, but can hardly be placed before A.D. 900.

......An examination of individual characters leads to much the same result ; except that the forms of k and ph, which represent almost the last stage before the development of the modern forms, seem to necessitate an appreciably later period. A similar instance of the k with the markedly round shape of the left-hand part of it which exhibited in these charters,─ see, e.g., kaṭakât, A. line 1, and paramabhaṭṭâraka, B. lines 1, 2,─ occurs, by some chance or other, in the word ârka, line 21, of the Gwâlior inscription of A.D. 875-76 ; and this instance must probably be taken as shewing that the form was known then, though it had not been introduced into epigraphic use : but, in the remainder of that record, in the Dêôgaḍh and Asnî inscriptions, and even in the Harsha and Dêwal inscriptions, the k is decidedly of the pointed type : the round type is followed first in the Pehoa inscription of about A.D. 900 ; and it re-appears in the Khajurâhô inscription, and in the Nanyaurâ and Jhûsî grants. As regards the ph with
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......¹ In dattât=phalam, E. line 45, where the ph has the complete mâtrâ, the engraver’s tool seems to have slipped.
......² Some of the strokes are rather thin ; with the result that the complete mâtrâ, is sometimes wanting, or in the lithograph seems to be so. But it appears clear that the fully developed mâtrâs were intended throughout.