North Indian Inscriptions

INSCRIPTIONS OF THE PARAMARAS OF MALWA

strike it. The height of the letters varies from .3 to .5 cms., excepting that of those employed in the sign-manual of the king, which are slightly bigger.

..The characters are Nāgarī of the 10th century A.C. An interesting feature to be noted about the head-strokes of the letters is that most of them show curvatures or zigzags in the middle and some of the resemble a small crescent. To note the forms of some of the letters, we find that the left limb of the initial a is a curve with a slanting stroke below, as in anēka, 1. 10 and atula,1. 11 ; but occasionally it also represents a form in which the curve is surmounted by a small vertical stroke so as to make the letter show its modern from as in adṛishṭa, 1. 19. The initial i is represented by two loops placed horizontally and subscribed by the sign for medial u ending in a sharp curve below; cf., e.g., iti,11. 17 and 20. The initial ē resembles a triangle with its apex below, cf. ēvam, 1.8. Of the consonants, kh consists of two triangles joined by a horizontal line above, see –nakha-, 1. 3; the forelimb of g is also formed as a triangle with its appex above; see yōga-, 1. 15 ; and the nasal ṅ is devoid of its dot, as in śārṅgi-,1. 2. Ch exhibits two forms–– one in which the loop is triangular and the other in which it is as in modern Nāgarī ; both these forms are to be noticed in vidyuch-chakra-, 1.1.. The nasal ñ occurs once in ājñā, 1. 21, where it is used as a subscript of j. The lingual ṇ almost resembles the modern 1, as in śōṇa-, 1. 1. The letters t, n, i and bh have retained their antique shape ; see e.g., nēttra-.1.1. and -bhujyamāna-, 1. 12. Attention may also drawn to the two transitional forms of dh, one in vidha, 1. 8, which is rare and in which the left limb of the letter is endowed with a horn above; but generally we find this letter without the horn, as in vasudh-ādhipatya-, 1. 15 and sādhu- and vudhē, both in 1. 25. In vudhē, again, the forms of both the consonants are alike but in vudhvā, 1. 22, the consonant of the first of the letters differs in form from those of the rest two. Little distinction is observed between the shape of p and y ; see Vappaiya-, 1. 5, and ripu, 1. 10. The form of ph in phalaṁ, 1. 24, differs entirely from that which is used throughout the rest of the record. The letter r presents at least three different varieties, one formed by a vertical stroke with a horizontal bar attached to its middle on the left, cf. –ari 1. 5 ; another when the bar originates from the top-stroke itself, as in ḍaṁvara, 1. 1 ; and the third when the horizontal stroke has a wedge attached to it in middle, as in kaḍāra, in the same line. With reference to the medial vowels, we find the sign for ā sometimes replaced by a crescent attached to the extremity of the top stroke of a letter, e.g. in kaḍāra and saṭā, both in 1. 1, and chūḍā in 1. 12. The vertical of the medial short i is often slightly bent to the right at the bottom, as in tasmin, 1. 5, and likhitaṁ, 1. 26.

..The language is Sanskrit and the inscription is composed in prose and poetry. Altogether there are seven verses which are not numbered. With reference to orthography, the following peculiarities are to be noted : (1) the letters b and v have the same sign throughout ; see ḍamvara 1.1 ; (2) a class-consonant following r and also t preceeding it are doubled, as in garjji-tarjjita, 1. 2 and nēttra, 1. 1, respectively, but there are exceptions like darpa, 1. 2; (3) the signs for the medial ē and ō are denoted either by the ūrdhva-mātrā, as in kulē, but also by the pṛishṭha-mātrā, as in dēva, 1. 3, and mōsha, 1.5. In the case of the medial ai and au, one mātrā appears at the top and the other, before the letter, as in Vairisiṅgha, 1. 6, and dhautā, 1.7. The pṛishṭha-mātrā is not fully developed ; it is often only a short curve attached to the left of the top-stroke; in all these examples ; (4) siṁha is twice spelt as siṁgha in 11.1 and 6, puṇya as puṇṇa in 1. 19, kshuṇṇ as kshunna, 1. 3, and tṛiṇa as triṇa in 1. 16 but not in the line that follows it ; (5) sandhis are occasionally not observed as noted in the text ; (6) the visarga is changed to s in 11. 2 and 23 ; and finally, (7) there is a general tendency to represent class-nasals by anusvāras, even wrongly at the end of a stich sometimes, though very rarely we find the n used, e.g., in narēndra, 1. 24 and in some other cases.

GRANT B (No. 2)

..Like the previous one, this grant too is incised on two rectangular copper-plates, each measuring about 20 cms. in breadth and 13 cms. in height. Both the plates are incised on the inner side only. As shown by a hole of the diameter of about .5 cms. and cut through the lower and upper sides of the first and the second plates respectively, both of them were originally held together by a ring, probably along with the same of the plates of grant A, about which we have already remarked above. The edges of the plates are fashioned thicker and raised into rims. The writing consists of 13 and 16 lines respectively, covering a space 19.2 cms. broad by 12 cms. high on

Home Page