130 N. N. Vasu— Nagaras and the Nagari-alphabet. [No. 2, 
gada copper-plate grant of Danti-durga Khadgavaloka dated 675 Caka 
comes to our notice! The arrangement of letters in this plate is very 
interesting. The letters 7, @, gh, c, 2, dh, n, v and jw of this plate have 
the appearance of the ancient Gujarati (cave) character, but all the 
other letters exhibit a development of the Nagaraksara. Indeed the 
circulation of Nagaraksara came to be wider owing to the efforts and 
exertions of the subsequent Rastrakita kings of Gujarat.2 The gradual 
development of the Nagaraksara is regularly observed in the following 
copper-plates :— 
Plate. 
Names of the donor. | Dates. | Ref. 
757 Caka. | Indian Antiquary, Vol. 
XIV, p. 200. 
» |Journal of the Bombay 
Branch of the Royal Asia- 
tic Society, Vol. XVIII. 
1 | Rastrakita-king Dhruva II 
2 | Indra Nitya-vargsa e-- | 836 
3 | Govinda Suvarna-varsa...| 855 ,, | Indian Antiquary, Vol. 
XII, p. 280. 
4 | Krisna Akala-varsa ...| 862 ,, | Journal of the Bombay 
Branch of the Royal Asia- 
tic Society, Vol. XVIII. 
» |Lndian Antiquary, Vol. XII, 
p-. 266. 
5 | Amodgha-varsa... ... | 894 
wo 
The likeness of ¢, dh, n, € and some other letters of the copper- 
plate of Dhruva II, although inscribed in the most ancient Nagaraksara, 
can be traced to the Guptaksara; but clear manifestations of modern 
Nagari are met with in the plates of Govinda Suvarna-varsa, Indra Nitya- 
varsa and Amodgha-varsa. ‘The vowel-signs of the copper-plate of the 
Dhiniki grant, Bhatta-Narayana was in Gujarata in the year 794 Samvat. Raja- 
cékhara’s ‘ Prabandha-cintamani’ says that the Gauda-king Dharma was con- 
tinually an implacable enemy of Amaraja, disciple of Jainacarya Bappa Bhatta. 
Bappa Bhatta’s diksé (initiation) took place in 807 Samvat. About that time 
or a little after, the Gauda-king Dharma (pala) came on the scene. Narayana 
Bhattaraka in his old age came to Paundravardhana. Consequently it is proved 
from the facts of that period, that Bhatta Narayana who came over from Lata- 
déca and Dharmapala were contemporaries. We shall see afterwards that from 
a very early time Gujarata had a connection with Gauda-déca. 
1 Journal of the Bombay Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, Vol. II, p- 371; 
and Indian Antiquary, Vol. XI, p. 110. 
2 Descrepancy arises only in the case of the copper-plate of Rastrakita king 
Karka-suvarna-varsa, dated 734 Caka, which is inscribed in the caye-alphabet of the 
Deccan. (Indian Antiquary, 1883, p. 153.) 
