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EPIGRAPHIA INDICA
stone tablet, which was found near a temple of Hanumat at Mantrawâḍi and is now stored in
the kachêri at Shiggaon.
At the top of the stone, there are sculptures representing the goddess Lakshmî, squatting andfacing full-front, with an elephant on each side, standing towards her ; the tips of the trunks of
the elephants, which are uplifted, meet above her head ; and each of them holds, apparently, a
flower over her.─ The writing covers an area about 2’ 0½” broad by 3’ 9¼” high, and is mostly in a
state of very good preservation. In addition to the record edited and shewn in the collotype,
there is one line of writing below the sculptures, which are, as usual, on a surface which projects
somewhat in front of that part of the stone which bears the body of the record. It is in
characters of the same type with those of the body of the record ; and it gave the name of the
writer : but the greater part of it is damaged and illegible ; we can only recognise, at the
beginning of the line Śrî-Rê(?)vayyana, and at the end likhitam, with perhaps a cross-mark
below the m, as if to shew that something is to be supplied here,─ namely, possible, the aksharas,
standing before the Svasti of line 1 of the body of the record, which are not wanted there and
seem to be meaningless.─ The characters are Kanarese, boldly formed and well executed. The
size of them ranges from about ¾” in the dha of dharmmadoḷ, line 22, to about 1¾” in the va of
goravaruṁ, line 8 ; the lchi of pelchisal, line 15, and the ṭṭa of koṭṭar, line 17, are each about
2⅜” high. The lingual ḍ is not very clearly, if at all, distinguished from the dental d. As regards
the palæography,─ the ṅ does not occur.
The j occurs four times, in lines 2, 3, and 8, and is, in
each case, of the old square type : the exact form aimed at in this record, is illustrated best in
the jâ of râjâdhi, line 2, No. 2 ; it is a closed form, of that particular shape from which there
may have been derived, quite directly, the back-to-back j and the open j which we have in the
Doḍḍahuṇḍi inscription of Nîtimârga and Satyavâkya.[1] The kh occurs three times, in lines 6,
17, and 20, and again in likhitam in the line below the sculptures : in each case, it is of the
later cursive type ; and the form of it is practically identical with the modern form of the
present day ; it is seen best in the kha of akhaṇḍita, at the end of line 17. The b occurs more
often, and is of the later cursive type, throughout ; the intended form of it is seen very clearly in
the bâ of bâdhâ, line 16, No. 11, and is to be recognised as almost identical with the modern form
of the presently day. The l occurs more freely, and is, also, of the later cursive type, throughout, including the l in likhitam in the line below the sculptures ; the particular form of it aimed at
in this record, is perhaps exhibited most clearly in the la of kâlaṁ, line 17¸ No. 2. Except in the
l of rakshisal, line 15, where it is hardly to be detected, in the l, as presented in this record, we
can recognise a feature which played an important part in the process by which the later cursive
type of this character was evolved from the old square type, namely, the miniature representation, of the principal part of the old square character, which stands here in the centre of the
later cursive character.
In the development of the later character, the first step was the prolongation, with a sweep to the right, of the downstroke with which the formation of the original
character ended,─ a feature which is well illustrated in the Hattî-Mattûr inscription of the time
of Kṛishṇa I. ;[2] that was eventually followed by a continuation of that stroke up to the top line
of the writing ; and, meanwhile, the principal part of the original character was diminished,
rounded off, and raised, until the original leading characteristic of the old square letter was almost
entirely lost. In some Kanarese fonts of the present day, it has disappeared altogether,─ for
instance, in the font used, in accordance with the general custom, in the Rev. Dr. F. Kittel’s Kannaḍa-English Dictionary ; on the other hand, the miniature of the principal part of the old square
character is distinctly recognisable in the font used for the words presented in Kanarese characters in the compilation entitled Bombay Places and Common Official Words. In lines 7, 8, 14,
20 (twice), 21, and 22 of this record, we have a peculiar form of the m, for which at present
the earliest limit is fixed by its occurrence in para-dattam=bâ in line 14 of the Kanarese grant of
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[1] See Vol. VI. above, p. 42, and Plate.
[2] Vo. VI. above, p. 160, and Plate.
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