Page:The Origin of the Bengali Script.djvu/66

40 the tripartite form is being used in all cases, in the Gupta year 283 = 602 A.D. So also in the case of the Muṇḍeśvarī inscription, we find that the tripartite form alone is used in 636 A. D. Consequently, we have to admit that the use of the bipartite form of ya, in the Bodh-Gayā inscription of Mahānāman, in the Gupta year 269 = 588 A.D., is premature. There are other reasons which lead us to believe that, though this record was found in North-Eastern India, the alphabet of the locality was not used in incising it, which on the other hand was done by a man from Western India. We have a similar case in the Bhitāri pillar- inscription of Skandagupta, which, though found in Eastern India, shows the use of the Western variety of the North-Indian alphabet; and the Sāñcī inscription of the time of Candragupta II which, though found in Western India shows the use of the Eastern variety of the alphabet. The alphabet used in the Bodh-Gayā inscription of Mahānāman cannot be taken to represent the ordinary Eastern variety of the Epigraphic alphabet of North-India in the 6th century A.D. for the following reasons :—

the Amaunā grant of Nandana and the Paṭiākellā grant of Śivarāja show the exclusive use of the tripartite form of ya; consequently, we have to admit that in the Eastern variety of the Northern alphabet the tripartite form of ya was in use in the 6th century A.D.; the prevalence of acute angles at the lower extremities of letters is exceptional, and, not of common occurrence, in these records.

The ordinary 6th century epigraphic alphabet of North-Eastern India is then to be found in the following inscriptions:— the Amaunā grant of Nandana, the Paṭiākellā grant of Śivarāja,