Page:The Origin of the Bengali Script.djvu/78

50 (ii) a king named Cakrāyudha, whom he offered the throne of Kanauj, and who was defeated by the Gurjjara-Pratīhāra king Nāgabhaṭa II,

(iii) the Gurjjara-Pratīhāra chief Nāgabhaṭa II, for whom we have a certain date in the Buchkala inscription of V. S. 872 = 815 A. D.,

(iv) the Rāṣṭrakūṭa king Govinda III whose certain dates range from 794—813 A.D.

The Deo-Baranark inscription of Jīvitagupta II is in a bad state of preservation and the facsimile given in Dr. Fleet's work has not been well reproduced. We find here the forms of initial vowels have not changed. Ka, ga, ca, ja, ṭa, ṭha, ḍa, da, dha, na, bha, ma, ya, and ha also have not changed. We find changes in the cases of—

(1) ṇa, in which we find the right hook or curve further lengthened downwards,

(2) in the case of ta also we find a similar increase in the downward length with a very slight, almost imperceptible, curve at its lower extremity,

(3) in tha, we find the top of the latter broadened, most probably due to "the elongation of the ends of the wedges and of the use of long straight strokes", cf. yathā in (L. 14),

(4) we find two forms of pa: (a) the older form, in which the acute angle is still prevalent; and (b) in which the acute angle, though present, is less remarkable and has given place to a downward elongation of the right vertical line e.g. in the ligature spa