292 Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. (June, 1911. 
Kalana inline 12. — Pratipalantyam in line 22. 
Abhiiasa is ae? DE >: Bingans sg aye oe ee 
Nalena 
9? 
We also find two forms of the superscript form of long I. 
We have two cases of the older forms:—Sri Dharmmaditya 
in line 2 and Pratipalantyam in lines 22-23: as well as two 
cases of the 6th century form :—Upakriya in line 8 and Sima 
in line 23. We have also two forms of Jha in this inscription. 
One is the earlier form resembling the Greek letter 6 which 
is to be found in the word Apratiratha and the word Abhyar- 
thana in line 9, and the acute-angled 6th century form of the 
letter to be found in T'atha@ in line 11 and line 14. 
The lingual sa throughout is of the looped form, which is 
one of the characteristics of the Eastern variety of the early 
Gupta alphabet. The form of Ma is peculiar; it has the form 
which is to be found in the Bharadi Dih Inscription of 
Kumaragupta I.! 
(2) The Grant of Dharmmiaditya, no date. 
The collotype plate published by Mr. Pargiter is very 
indistinct and its paleographical peculiarities cannot be 
determined with certainty. So far as I have been able to 
ties in the case of La. In one case the Eastern form of the 
early Gupta alphabet occurs, e.g., Mandala in line 4, but in all 
other cases the 6th century form with the usual acute angle 
has been used. There are altogether seven clear instances of 
its use, and what is still more remarkable in one case where 
the letter has been used as 4 superscript the Nagari form has 
been used, e.g., Slokani in line 24. In this case the form used 
is clearly the Nagart form, or more accurately, the Eastern 
variety form of the 9th century A.D. The East is very 
conservative, and even so late as the time of Devapaladeva of 
Bengal the form used resembles the Gupta form rather than 
the Nagart. In the Ghosrawa Inscription of Devapiladeva the 
form used is that of the early Gupta alphabet without any 
acute angles.” The earliest certain date of the use of this 
form of La in the East seems to be the Dighwa-Dubauli Plate 
“ — Mahendrapiladeva of the Vikrama year 955=898 
Instances of the use of the 6th century form of La:— 
1 Ibid., p. 458, pl. xix. : 
* Ind. Ant., vol. xvii., p. 309. Biihler, Indische Paleographie, 
Tafel v, col. v, 37. 
8 Ind. Ant., vol. xv, p. 112, 
