246 
R. Hoernle —Three further Collections of 
[No. 4. 
(2) Initial short i, with the apex turned to the right, disappears 
from the third century. After that date, the apex is turned to the 
bottom, in the Bower MS. it is to the top. See fl. 22£> 2 , 23a 5 . 
(3) Medial short i, made by a nearly perfect circlet, extremely 
rare, even in the most ancient records. From very early times (first 
century) it is usually made by a line curving to the left. See fl. 22a 4 * 
(bhi), 22a 5 (ti), 23a 7 (pi). 
(4) Medial long i, made by a line curving to the left , like short i, 
but more convoluted; disappears from the beginning of the fifth 
century (last seen in the Bilsad record 414 A.D., in hi, gri) and is not 
found in the Bower MS. It occurs regularly here, see fl. 22a 2 (sthi, vi, 
mi), 22a 4 ( dhi), 22a 8,6 (ri), 222> 5 (■ ni) 235 9 {hi), et jpassim. 
(5) Medial short u, in the form of a straight line, attached to the 
bottom of the consonant, disappears from the end of the sixth century. 
After that date curves or wedges are used; the latter also in the 
Bower MS. See fl. 2.1a 1 , 22a 8 , 236 5 ( su ), 21 b b and 23a 6 (pu), 22a 4 ( hu ), 
22a 6 (mu), 23a 1 (ju ), 23a 8 ( dhu ). 
(6) Initial e, with the apex turned upwards (A), disappears from 
the end of the fourth century (last seen in the Allahabad record, 375 
A.D.). After that date the apex is turned to the bottom, in the Bower 
MS. to the left. See fl. 22a 5 and 226 6 . 
(7-11) Ka, rjga, ja, na , and ra made with stiff straight lines, 
disappear with the end of the sixth century, ja and na even earlier. 
After that date the lines are curved and the ends wedged. In the 
Bower MS., the ends of the vertical lines of ha and ra are always 
wedged, and the lines of ja and na are curved. See fl. 22a 4 {he, ham), 
21a 1 , 23a 6 {pga), 23a 1 (ju), 236 9 (na), 23& 7 (ra), et passim. 
(12) Ya, in its tridental form, disappears from the end of the 
sixth century. 89 After that date its square form is universal, while 
an intermediate form occurs with the vowels B, ai, b, au, from about 
370 to 540 A.D. In the Bower MS. the only forms that occur are the 
tridental and the intermediate. In the Macartney MS., the tridental 
form alone occurs, thus showing that it cannot be placed later than 
370 A.D., and probably dates from much earlier. 
(13) The numeral figures 1, 2, 3 and 20 are of an ancient type. 
See the left-hand margin on the obverses of fl. 21, 22, 23. In the Bower 
MS. the same forms are used, though occasionally the figure 3 has a 
more modern form. 
I may add that the superscribed conjunct r is, in our manuscript, 
always written above the line; see fl. 216 s , 23a 7 (rva), 22 b 1 (rta), et 
89 See ante, pages 21G and 217. 
