Page:The Origin of the Bengali Script.djvu/33

Rh (2) the form of lingual ṣa is peculiar and resembles the form found in the Kālsi edicts, probably, it was the precursor of the looped lingual ṣa found in Eastern India in the 4th or 5th centuries A.D.;

(3) the form of ha is primitive and resembles that of the Siddapura edicts;

(4) the form of ṣa shows an advance—the upper hook has been lengthened to form a slightly slanting second horizontal line.

The form of the remaining letters in Column XVII of Plate II of Bühler's work does not call for remarks. The inscriptions on the railing-pillars and cross-bars at Bodh-Gayā exhibit further changes, though they were incised only about fifty years after Daśaratha's time:—

(a) a shows two forms. In the word Amoghas, the first letter is decidedly of southern appearance (e.g. Pl. II, Col. VIII, 1.); the other form is to be found in the various inscriptions of the noble lady Kuraṅgi and resembles that used in the Hāthigumphā inscriptions (Pl. II, Col. XXI, 1);

(b) ka has invariably the dagger-shaped form which was current up to the end of the 6th century A.D. and was formed by the elongation of the vertical line of the older Maurya form, cf. ka in Tabapanaka, Kuraṅgiye , Sakaputrasa , Cetika ;

(c) kha occurs once only, in Bodhirakhitasa where it resembles the form used in the oldest inscription in Mathurā (Pl. II, Col. XX, 10); there is a very slight difference between these two forms, the Eastern variety form as found in the Bodh-Gayā inscription, being slightly longer than that of the Western variety;