1921.] On the Discovery of the Neolithic Indian Seript. 211 
From the observations made above it follows that if 
the implement, in question, with the marks on it were 
palaeographers and_philologists. Prof. Bhandarkar — read 
the scripts as forming the word ‘ Maata’ meaning a head- 
man or chieftain.! He assumed that at the time when these 
r 
given by Pandit G. H. Ojha.* This palaeographical contro- 
versy. is, however, of no interest to us irom our presen 
point of view as whether the earliest form of the Brahmi 
script was from right to left or from left to right and 
inscribed during the neolithic time. The fifth neolith men- 
tioned by Prof. Mitra, with a mark on it, was also obtained 
from the same locality and I have no additional remark 
ment in question bears the catalogue number 998. the speci- 
mens with numbers 996 and 997 were both obtained from 
Shillong. This fact, coupled with Mr. Cockburn'’s description 
1 Speaking about the word ‘ Maata ’ Prof. Mitra observes that 
‘« it survives to-day curiously enough, such is the 
brought about probably by social circumstances, in the lowest d gr ed 
class in India, the cleaners of refuse—the ‘mehtar’ and the ‘ mehtua 
these very people were actually princes and chieftains 
It may bie ed, however, that even at the prese 
of Chitral is called a ‘ mehtar_ or ‘ mihtar.’ 
Ojha: The palaeography of India, p- 27. 
