Page:The Origin of the Bengali Script.djvu/39

Rh and Fergusson, adopted by Bühler and Rapson, defended by myself and finally accepted by Mr. V.A. Smith. The inscriptions of the Ku āṇaKuṣāṇa [sic] period (1st and 2nd centuries A.D.) are more abundant in North-Western India. On this point Bühler says: "The next step in the development of Brāhmī of Northern India is illustrated by the inscriptions from the time of the Kuṣāṇa kings Kaniṣka, Huviṣka and Vāsuska-Vāsudeva, the first among whom made an end of the rule of the older Śakas in the Eastern and Southern Punjab. The inscriptions with the names of these kings which run from the years 4 to 98 (according to the usually accepted opinions, of the Śaka era of A.D. 77-78, or of the 4th century of the Selukid era) are very numerous in Mathurā and its neighbourhood, and are found also in Eastern Rājputānā and in the Central India Agency (Sāñei)."

In subsequent years a number of inscriptions have been discovered in North-Eastern India, which can without doubt be referred to this particular period:—

(i) the Bodh-Gayā Fragmentary inscription on the diamond throne (vajrāsana);

(ii) the Sārnāth Umbrella-staff inscription of the 3rd year of Kāṇiṣka;

(iii) the inscription on the base of the Bodhisattva Image dedicated in the 3rd year of Kaṇiṣka;

(iv) the inscription at the back of the Bodhisattva image of the 3rd year of Kāṇiṣka;