1855.] On the Epoch of the Gupta Dynasty. 393 



this dry subject iu greater detail ; but, I have some further observa- 

 tions, that I am desirous of offering on the general topic of the 

 early status of Indian systems of writing. 



Prinsep has himself suggested the enquiry as to how much of 

 change of alphabetical symbols might be incident upon the use of a 

 more perfect language, as compared with the requirements of the 

 local Pali. Another point of important bearing on the main ques- 

 tion, is the probable modification the written or cursive literal signs 

 were subjected to as opposed to the stiff and formal outlines of the 

 characters of the rock inscriptions ? 



Up to this time, it has been usual to consider the old Pali writing 

 as the basis of all Sanskrit alphabets, we need not contest this 

 inference, but we may fairly enquire, if we have reached the date of 

 the first use of that character, in the epoch assigned to the early 

 Buddhist inscriptions ? the reply would reasonably be in the nega- 

 tive ! This system of writing, in its sufficiency for all purposes of 

 its own proper linguistic expression, may well have continued for a 

 lengthened period unchanged, as far as inscriptions were concerned, 

 at the same time, that there may have been a progressive advance 

 in the cursive hand, of which we have no immediate record. 



"We have evidence, in sufficient abundance, to prove that the 

 Eastern nations often availed themselves of a cursive hand, in 

 common with the more formal character reserved for inscriptions. 

 These would each be naturally affected, in the ultimate determin- 

 ation of forms — by the material which had to receive the writing. 



Thus the straight wedge-shaped elements of the cuneiform alpha- 

 bet* were singularly well fitted for easy expression on tablets of 

 Babylonian Clay, and equally suited to rock inscriptions, while the 

 written hand executed only on a smooth surface, presented no diffi- 

 culties to any series of curves or complicated lines. In addition to 

 leatherf and other materials, the ancient Persians, we also learn 

 wrote upon Tds% (Birch-bark). The Indians we know adapted this 



* Layard " Discoveries/' &c. 346 and 601, &c. J. B. A. S. XVI. 215. 



t Assyria— P. H. Gosse, London, 1832, p. 546. 



% Hamzse Ispahan! ^°s\ *r£)" c_>U6 } p # $q\ an( j xxv> « Libri invent! sunt, 

 in quibus depositae erant varise eorum disciplines, omnes lingua Persica anticpia 

 scripti in cortice tuz." See also Ayin i Akberi, II. 125. 



