Page:The Origin of the Bengali Script.djvu/104

70 4. Ma is looped in form but the lower horizontal bar is perfectly so. There is no slanting.

5. La shows the horizontal straight line which joins the curve or hook to the right vertical straight line.

6. Na is of the looped form.

7. Ha still shows an acute angle but at the same time exhibits a downward curve projecting from the lower angle.

Few inscriptions have been discovered in Northern India which can safely be referred to the 10th century A.D. The reason for the absence of records is not far to seek. The period was a very troubled one and saw the fall of mighty empires. The vast fabric of the Gurjjara-Pratīhāra Empire, imperfectly welded together, was rapidly falling to pieces. Family discord, fanned into flame by neighbouring monarchs, rushed the decay of the Gurjjaras of Kanauj. In the far East the ancient Empire of the Pālas was fast crumbling away. The Pālas were between two fires. The Gurjjara-Pratīhāras in the West, and Mongoloid tribes from the North, were doing their best to annihilate them. We have seen that in the latter part of the 9th century Magadha (South Bihar) and Tīrabhūkti (North Bihar) had been wrested from the Pālas. South Bihar actually formed a part of the Gurjjara Empire. In the North there was a commotion among the Mongoloid tribes of the Sub-Himalayan regions. Perhaps it was the result of a movement among the Nomads of the Trans-Himalayan deserts, the last wave of which reached the Northern barrier of India. The force that was transmitted through the rocky barrier served to dismantle the tall fabric constructed by Dharmmapāla. The Mongoloid tribes, dislodged from their submontane pastures descended into the plains and conquered North Bengal. In 966 A.D. we find a king of Gauda, who professed the Brāhmanical faith, but acknowledged descent from a Non-Aryan clan (Kāmboja).