Page:The Origin of the Bengali Script.djvu/54

30 G.E. 141 = 460 A.D. But in an undated inscription of the same king, we see that the Western forms are gradually taking the place of Eastern ones. In the Bihār pillar-inscription of Skandagupta, the first half of the record shows uses of Eastern forms in the majority of cases:—

Only in one instance we find a Western variety form, viz:—agrahāre (L. 13). But in the second half of the record, we find that the Western variety form of ha has invariably been used, in all cases. In the second half of this record there are two instances of la:—(i) kulaḥ (L. 28) and saulkika (L. 29), but as the facsimile given in Dr. Fleet's work is incomplete and does not contain these lines, it is not possible to compare the forms of la used in the second half of the inscription with those of the first half. I have found that the Bihār pillar-inscription has suffered much from exposure in the weather, after the publication of Dr. Fleet's work, and at present it is not possible to get a clearer, and more complete, inked impression than the one taken for Dr. Fleet. On the clear evidence of the Bihār inscription of Skandagupta, we have the fact that Western forms were replacing the Eastern ones in the alphabet of North-Eastern India in the first half of the 5th century A.D. The Pāli grant of Lakṣmaṇa, of the Gupta year 158 = 477 A.D., shows no form, in the alphabet used, which has any resemblance to those of the Eastern variety. The Pāli grant should be included among North-Eastern inscriptions, instead of North-Western ones, as it was found about thirty miles from Allahabad