1896. ] N. N. Vasu—Nagaras and the Nagari-alphabet. 117 
khas (a city) in the district of Basti. Moreover there is a number 
of ancient villages called Nagaram found in the Deccan. 
We are also in similar difficulty with regard to the name Nagara. 
In North-Bengal, there are two rivers of that name :—one running 
from Purniya to Dinajpur; another from Bagura to Rajshahi. In the 
district of Dacca there is a village of that name. In Rajputana proper 
there are some 9 or 10 places, all bearing the name Nagara, of which 
three may be called towns. One of these three is in the state of Jai- 
pur, another in Marwar, and the remaining one 10 miles south-west of 
Ranthambhor. In the Santal Parganahs, there is a fortified village 
called Nagara. Close to Chitor in Rajputana there is a very ancient 
town called Nagari. By the punch-marked coin, discovered here and 
its concomitants, Sir Alex. Cunningham has proved conclusively that 
this town was established many centuries before the birth of Christ. 
But he says that the ancient name of this locality was Tambravati- 
nagari. 
None of the above-mentioned places affords us any hint by which we 
may ascertain the mother-country of the Nagari-alphabet. 
There lives a powerful tribe named Nagara, in the mountainous 
tract of Kabul in Afghanistan. Many days have not elapsed since these 
Nagaras declared war against the British Government. A friend of 
mine has jumped to the conclusion, that the Nagara-alphabet has been 
named after this tribe. He is of opinion that as the Aryans have 
gradually entered into India from Central Asia; so the alphabet of 
this tribe somehow or other found its way into India. I cannot support 
the theory of my friend. These Nagara-men, although they belong at 
present to the religion of Islam, are all descended from the Rajputs ; 
and they point to Rajputana, as their former residence. Under such 
circumstances how can it be imagined that the Nagaraksara was im- 
ported into India from the North of Kabul ? 
Besides the above, there is another Nagara, an extensive division 
in the district of Ahmadnagar in the Bombay Presidency. The area of 
the tract is 619 sq. miles! Here there isa class of Brahmanas styled 
Nagara. Ahmadnagar is also called Nagara, but only by the natives of 
that place. They say that the tract was well-known as Nagar long before 
the establishment of the present town in 1411 A.D, by Sultan Ahmad. 
These Nagara Brahmanas generally look upon the Nagara-khanda of the 
Skanda-purana as the authority regarding their origin. It is stated in 
the Nagara-khanda that Nagara is another name for Hatakéevara on 
the Sarasvati. The Nagara Brahmanas of the Nagara division assert 
that the Hatakégvara of the Nagara-khanda is no other than the ancient 
1 Bombay Gazetteer, Vol, VII p. 608, 
