1898.] Annual Address. Ql 



architecture, painting, coinage, drama, relio^ion, mythology, science and 

 philosophy, I may note, as two of the main results of his review, the 

 conclusions that the Gandhara or Peshawar school of sculpture followed 

 the lines of Roman art, and is not the direct descendant of pure 

 Greek art ; and that the history of that school was practically at au 

 end by A.D. 450. 



All the specimens of writing which I have hitherto referred to are 

 examples of what is called the lapidary or diplomatic style. It is the 

 style which was peculiar to the clerks of the *' kutcherries" or offices of 

 the government or other great establishments, and which was used by 

 them for the purpose of engrossing royal edicts, donations, etc. The 

 manuscript copies, prepared by these professional writers, were afterwards 

 reproduced by skilled artisans on stone or copper or other enduring^ 

 material ; and it is in these reproductions that the inscriptions I have 

 referred to have come down to us. In most cases probably the origiuHl 

 writing was made by the professional scribe on the permanent material 

 itself. Anyhow, if any were made on perishable material, such as palm- 

 leaf or paper, none have come down to us. The requisite of the diplo- 

 matic style of writing is that it should be kalligraphic, that is, clear and 

 legible, and more or less elegant and ornate. In these respects it differs 

 from what is called cursive writing, or that which is used in correspond- 

 ence and all the ordinary concerns of life. Here the object is not perma- 

 nence but quickness ; the letters are formed with a running hand, they 

 have a tendency to join one another, and to modify their original shape. 

 On the other hand, diplomatic writing has a tendency to conserve older 

 and simpler forms. It represents conservation in the history of the art 

 of writing, while cursive writing represents progress. It follows, there- 

 fore, as a general principal in palaeograjphy, that advanced forms of 

 letters mark cursive writing, and that if we meet with a few letters of 

 a cursive form in a document otherwise written in older forms, they have 

 been adopted from the fashions of the cursive writing of the period. 

 Gradually these adoptions grow more extensive; but by the time they 

 include the whole circle of the alphabet, the changes in cursive writing 

 have also advanced a step further. It thus comes to pass that the 

 diplomatic writing of any particular period represents on the whole 

 the state of the cursive writing of the period immediately preceding. 

 These are principles which are now generally admitted in Indian 

 palaeography, but it was Hofrath Prof. Biihler who first directed pro- 

 minent attention to them. 



It is obvious that cursive writing, as a rule, can only be expected 

 to be met with in manuscripts. No manuscripts, as I have already 

 remarked, have come down to us, dating from the earliest period of 



