गुप्त अभिलेख संग्रह (जे. एफ. फ्लीट - गुप्त सम्राटों एवं परवर्ती नरेशों के ऐतिहासिक पाषाण व ताम्रलेख)

4 CORPUS INSCRIPTIONUM INDICARUM VOL. III
instance, by the coins given by Mr. V. A. Smith in the Jour. Beng. As. Soc. Vol. LIII.
Part I. Plate ii. Nos. 3, 7, 9, 10, and 11,—we meet with at least two perfectly distinct
alphabets in their inscriptions, in addition to the one now under notice. The Êraṇ inscrip-
tion of Samudragupta, No. 2 below, Plate iiA., and the Udayagiri cave inscription of
Chandragupta II. of the year 82, No. 3 below, Plate iiB., are in a 'box-headed' and 'nail-
headed' variety of the Central India alphabet, which has hitherto been called the Nerbudda
Alphabet and the Vâkâṭaka Alphabet, and which, in addition to the very distinctive form of
m, has all the leading characteristics of the southern alphabets. The Sâñchi inscription
of Chandragupta II., again, No. 5 below, Plate iiiB., is distinctly in the characters of the
southern alphabets. And the Junâgaḍh rock inscription of Skandagupta is in a somewhat
later modification of the Saurâshṭra or Kâṭhiâwâḍ alphabet, exhibited with all its leading
characteristics in the inscription of Rudradâman, on the same rock, of which we have a
lithograph in the Archæol. Surv. West. Ind. Vol. II. p. 128, Plate xiv. It is perfectly plain
that the alphabets varied, not according to dynasties, but according to localities; and, in
establishing any system of comparative palæography, we must select territorial, not dynas-
tic, names. I would propose calling the alphabet of the inscription now under notice, the
general North India Alphabet of the fourth century A.D. The characters include two letters
which, after the Pâli period, lay for a long time in disuse in the southern alphabets, and
were not revived for a considerable time after the present period; viz. the lingual ḍ, as distinct
from the dental d, exhibited in krîḍatâ, line 14, ḍavâka, line 22, and vrîḍita, line 27;
and the lingual ḍh, exhibited in virûḍha, line 18. On the other hand, in the ḷ which
occurs in vyâluḷita, line 8, kaurâḷaka for kairaḷaka, line 19, saimhaḷaka, line 23, and laḷita,
lines 27 and 30, they include a letter which properly belongs exclusively to the southern
alphabets and languages; and its occurrence here seems to furnish an unconscious piece of
evidence to the effect that some, at least, of the conquests attributed to Samudragupta in the
south of India, were actual facts; in the other inscriptions in this volume, this letter occurs
only in the word aḷi, 'a bee,' in line 1 of the Tuśâm rock inscription, No. 67 below, Plate
xlA. In śôbhâ, line 18, vishṇugôpa, line 19, and gô-śata, line 25, the vowel ô is formed
in rather a peculiar way, which, so far as the right-hand stroke is concerned, is followed also in
the vowel â as attached to the same consonants, e.g. in śâsana, lines 23 and 24, and
gâṅgam, line 31. In respect of r in combination with a following y, we have to notice that,
as in the case of other consonants, the y is doubled, and the r is written above the line, e.g.
in vîryya, line 13; whereas, in a somewhat later development of this alphabet in Central
India, it became the custom, as in the case of y in conjunction with other letters, to write
the r on the line, with a single y attached below it, e.g. in maryâdayâ, line 6-7, and kuryat,
line 12, of the Majhgawâm plates of the Mahârâja Hastin, No. 23 below, Plate xiv. The
characters also include, in the numbering of the verses, forms of the numerical symbols
for 3, 4, and 8; the intervening symbols are destroyed.—The language is Sanskrit; and
the inscription is in verse as far as the end of line 16, and the rest in prose.—In respect of
orthography, the only points that call for notice are (1) the doubling of k, in conjunction
with a following r, e.g. in parâkkrama, line 17, kkriyâ, lines 27 and 28, and vikkrama, line
30; (2) the doubling of dh (by d, as required by the rules), in conjunction with a following
y and v, in addhyêya, line 16, and sâddhv-asâddhu, line 25; and (3) the use of the south-
ern ḷ, in the instances pointed out a few lines above.
The inscription is non-sectarian, being devoted entirely to a recital of the glory,
conquests, and descent, of the Early Gupta king Samudragupta. It is not dated;
but, as it describes Samudragupta as deceased, it belongs to the time of his son and