North Indian Inscriptions

RECORDS OF THE SOMAVAMSI KINGS OF KATAK.

the complete mâtrâ, as exhibited in aphala, A. line 25,─ (the same word in F. lines 49, 50 shews essentially the same type, but a later form in which the right-hand stroke is continued down to the bottom line of the writing),¹─ the same type, and almost the same form, occurs in the Pehoa inscription of about A.D. 900, in sat-phalâ, line 15, and dvirêphô, line 19 : the only clear difference in form is, that in the present charters the stroke to the right and downwards, which turns p into ph, is left open, whereas in the Pehoa inscription it is turned back on to the upright stroke from which it starts, as also, for instance, in the word phalaṁ, lines 26,29, in the grant of Vâkpatirâja of A.D. 974 or 975 ; but perhaps the Pehoa inscription shews also,─ especially in the word dvirêphô,─ in a rudimentary shape, the continuation of this stroke, downwards in a slanting direction to the right, which produced the next form of this letter before the final development of the modern form, and which illustrated very plainly in the Ujjain grant of Bhôjadêva of Dhârâ, of A.D. 1021 or 1022, in the word phalaṁ, line 14 (Ind. Ant. Vol. VI. p. 54, and Plate). The other records, quoted above, however, shew the antique ph of the Aphsaḍ inscription and earlier records, which is of a very different type ; and so does even the Pehoa inscription, when the ph is in conjunction with s,─ see sphurita, line 2, sphâram, line 8, sphârî- bhavat, line 9, sphuran, line 11, and sphûrjat, line 14. The antique ph appears again in the Nanyaurâ grant (North-West Provinces) of Dêvavarmadêva, of about A.D. 1050 (Ind. Ant. Vol. XVI. p. 202, Plate), in phalam, line 16.

>

But the grant of Chandradêva and Madanapâladêva, of A.D. 1097 (Ind. Ant. Vol. XVIII. p. 12, Plate), reverting, in the word phalam, line 20, to the later type, shews also a form which is later than the form of that type used in the Pehoa inscription, and which was arrived at by making the stroke to the right and then downwards start, not from the top, but from the side of the p, and also by continuing it markedly still further down in a slanting direction to the right, without closing it in at all on the side-stroke from which it starts. This last form,─ evidently the latest stage before the final development of the modern form,─ appears also in the grant of Madanavarmadêva, of A.D. 1134 (Ind. Ant. Vol. XVI. p. 208, Plate), in phalam, line 19 ; and in all the later records which I have examined. And the transitional period, when it was developed, seem to be marked by the Gwâlior inscription of Mahîpâla, of A.D. 1093 (Ind. Ant. Vol. XV. p. 36, Plate), which shews the antique type in ôtphulla, line 1, and phalaṁ, line 11, but the later type, and the later form of that type, in sphurati, line 2, sphuṭa, line 12, and sphaṭika, lines 38 and 39. This third form of the later type is undoubtedly of later origin than the form which appears in the present charters. But the form of the later type which we have in the Pehoa inscription of about A.D. 900 seems to be as certainly of earlier origin than the form used in the present charters ; for we have it in Western India in records of A.D. 754 and 807 (Ind. Ant. Vol. XI. p. 112 and Plate, gulpha, text line 12 ; and p. 160 and Plate phalam, text line 57).

......Of the vowels,─ a, â, u (û does not occur), and ô do not present any matter for special comment ; they are simply developments of the types which occur through all the records mentioned above. The form of i,─ which, with an addition, makes also î,─ is a very peculiar one. In A. lines 11, 22, 37, 39, 42, the short i is denoted by a straight line (in fact a mâtrâ) with two circle below it ; in B. line 32, the straight line is turned into a wavy line (and so also in C. line 33, and D. line 36) ; in E. lines 39, 57, the circles are still preserved, but (if the lithograph shews the letter completely) the straight line or mâtrâ is broken up into two disconnected points ; and in F. line 64, the top of the letter is a wavy line of another shape, and there are semi-circles, instead of circles, below it : the long î occurs only by mistake for î ; in A. lines 16, 21, it is the short i of that record, with, below it, a twirl from the left to the right, then downwards, and then upwards to the left ; in F. line 44, it is made by a wavy line, two circles below it, and, below
__________________________________________________________________________________________

......¹ The type used in B., C., D., and E., is the same with that used in A.; but there is the difference in form already noted, that the mâtrâ is not complete.