101 
1898.] Dr. Hoernle— Two Copper-plate Grants of Ratnapala. 
spelling of which name (jyamdyihd occurs in the Bargaon grant 1.61. 
Possibly the curious spelling in 1. 18 yuyyate for yujyate may be due to 
a similar cause ; so also the form ya in 1. 50, for ca ; though these would 
rather be survivals of an old prakritic fashion which has not survived 
to the present day. 
Palmographically it may be noted that the avagraha occurs only 
four times, in 11. 26, 58, 59, 63, though there were sixteen other occa¬ 
sions for its use. 
An r preceding a consonant is always formed above the line, even 
with y; e.g .* 1. 21, ageary am. 
The guttural nasal y is, as in the Nowgong grant, throughout made 
without a ringlet; see 11. 3, 4, 14, 15, 17, 27, 33, 35, 41, 43, 60. The 
initial short i is also made exactly as in the Nowgong grant by means 
of two ringlets placed above a hook; e.g., in 1. 35, Taika ; 11. 8 and 45, 
iva ; 1. 24, iti. Also kh and r are made after the older fashion. All 
this shows that the Bargaon grant cannot be very far apart, in age, 
from the Nowgong grant. 
The anusvara, in the Bargaon grant as well as in the Nowgong 
grant, is formed by a ringlet, placed (in the usual way) above the line. 
In the Gauhati grant it is occasionally placed on the line. 2 In modern 
Baqgali the latter position is universal. This shows that the Gauhati 
grant must be appreciably later than the Bargaon and Nowgong grants. 
The virama occurs twice to indicate a final consonant in 1. 23, 
samyak , with the full form of k, and in 1 . 23, mandam with a slightly 
truncated form of m. In both cases it is attached to the foot of the 
letter. In the case of final t, n and m specially modified forms are 
used; thus the final form of t occurs in 1. 5, jag at, 1. 7, akdrslt, and 
1. 63, ’ghat. The final form of n occurs in 1. 54, jdnapadan and 1. 55, 
prablirtin and sarvvdn. The final form of m occurs in 1. 2, tandavlm, 
1. 16, rdjyam , 1, 32, mandalam, 1. 33, alaykdram, 1. 39, sdrthdndm , 1. 48, 
gambhiryam and vlryam, 1. 65 atmanam and alydm, 11. 69 and 72, dlydm. 
As these final forms, as well as the forms of the guttural nasal, 
anusvara and r, are peculiarly serviceable as test-letters in determining 
the chronology of the Baggali-Asami script, I have, in the accom¬ 
panying lithographed table of facsimiles (Plate XI), prepared a small 
conspectus of them. The reigns I have selected are the following : 
( a ) Pala kings of Bengal (Bihar) : Dharmapala, c. 840-875 A.D., 
facsimile of his grant in this Journal, Yol. LXIII, Plate 
IIT. Narayana Pala, c. 925-950 A.D., facsimile of his 
grant in this Journal , Yol. XLYII, Plates XXIY, XXY ; 
* The ringlet is so small that the blank core is sometimes almost invisible in 
the photograph, producing the appearance of a mere dot. 
