Page:The Origin of the Bengali Script.djvu/77

Rh (31) We find one form of ha, and the only changes noticeable are the elongation of the curve or hook in the right limb of the letter, and the introduction of the wedge at the top and the slanting of the hitherto horizontal base line.

The next inscription of the Eastern variety is the Deo-Baranark inscription of Jīvitagupta II, the great-grandson of Ādityasena. Most probably, this record was incised in the earlier part of the 8th century A. D. The following inscriptions of Eastern India may be taken as type-specimens for the 8th century A. D.:—

1. The Deo-Baranark pillar-inscription of Jīvitagupta II. We have a certain date for Adityasena in the Shahpur image-inscription. Three full generations elapsed between him and Jīvitagupta II. If these generations be taken to be short and to have covered fifteen years on the average, we arrive at the 8th century A. D. as the date of Jīvitagupta II. Consequently it may be affirmed that the Deo-Baranark pillar was incised either in the first or the second decade of the 8th century A. D.

2. The Khālimpur grant of Dharmmapāla, the year 33.

3. The Bodh-Gayā image-inscription of the time of Dharmapāla, the year 26.

It is now quite certain that the reign of DharmmapālaDharmapāla [sic] fell in the 8th century A. D., because he was a contemporary of—

(i) the king Indrarāja or Indrāyudha of Kanauj who is stated in the Harivaṁśapurāṇa to have been living in the Śaka year 705=783 A. D.,