DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.36954#0174
lb, identified by LEVI as "Avadana de Samgharaksita" (cf.
P/. "Gilgitl")6.
A palaeographical reason for the sudden popularity of the Proto-
Sarada script may be suggested. Due to the introduction of a
new-shaped the fashion of writing in northern India
underwent a considerable change. Mss. and inscriptions written
before the late sixth century A.D. show comparatively regular
lines. Later on, the lines vary between thick and thin ones as
P/. 200 a result of a slanting shaped tip of the pen. The introduction
of this pen had a revolutionary effect upon Indian and Central
Asian scripts. It became fashionable to use the new invention
But the very elaborated ornate Gilgit/Bamiyan script with its
tiny, knotted was not suitable for being written with such
a pen. It could only have been developed to such an artistic
degree with the help of the pen with a pointed or somewhat
square tip that was formerly in common use. The new pen re-
quired a script with clear straight lines such as that known from
the Proto-Sarada mss.
Although the kingdoms of Ku^a and Khotan had adopted the
ornate type of script, they did not develop it to such an artistic
degree as is known from mss. written in the calligraphic ornate
type. Mss. in Sanskrit, and somewhat later in Tocharian and
Khotanese language, found in the Ku^a and Domoko oases,
prove that from about the fifth to the sixth century A.D. scribes
of Tocharian and Khotanese origin may first have copied Sanskrit
mss. most of which were written in the ornate style. They used
Chinese paper instead of the Indian palm-leaf as their writing
material, and cut the paper according to the palm-leaf shape. At
first their attempts had been comparatively clumsy. The neat and
narrow lines of the palm-leaf patterns were written larger and
also rather more legible. This attempt may be exemplified by two
paper mss.: one, found at §or^uq near Qara§ahr, is written in
Sanskrit, and the other one is a Khotanese ms. from the Hoern-
le collection (H. 144 NS. 83) most probably originating from
6 A striking example of the transitional state of development from the cal-
ligraphic ornate type to the Proto-3arada is published in SHT 1, Cat.-No.
643, T. 39.
7 DANI 1963: 133 wrongly speaks of the "twist of the pen".
112
P/. "Gilgitl")6.
A palaeographical reason for the sudden popularity of the Proto-
Sarada script may be suggested. Due to the introduction of a
new-shaped the fashion of writing in northern India
underwent a considerable change. Mss. and inscriptions written
before the late sixth century A.D. show comparatively regular
lines. Later on, the lines vary between thick and thin ones as
P/. 200 a result of a slanting shaped tip of the pen. The introduction
of this pen had a revolutionary effect upon Indian and Central
Asian scripts. It became fashionable to use the new invention
But the very elaborated ornate Gilgit/Bamiyan script with its
tiny, knotted was not suitable for being written with such
a pen. It could only have been developed to such an artistic
degree with the help of the pen with a pointed or somewhat
square tip that was formerly in common use. The new pen re-
quired a script with clear straight lines such as that known from
the Proto-Sarada mss.
Although the kingdoms of Ku^a and Khotan had adopted the
ornate type of script, they did not develop it to such an artistic
degree as is known from mss. written in the calligraphic ornate
type. Mss. in Sanskrit, and somewhat later in Tocharian and
Khotanese language, found in the Ku^a and Domoko oases,
prove that from about the fifth to the sixth century A.D. scribes
of Tocharian and Khotanese origin may first have copied Sanskrit
mss. most of which were written in the ornate style. They used
Chinese paper instead of the Indian palm-leaf as their writing
material, and cut the paper according to the palm-leaf shape. At
first their attempts had been comparatively clumsy. The neat and
narrow lines of the palm-leaf patterns were written larger and
also rather more legible. This attempt may be exemplified by two
paper mss.: one, found at §or^uq near Qara§ahr, is written in
Sanskrit, and the other one is a Khotanese ms. from the Hoern-
le collection (H. 144 NS. 83) most probably originating from
6 A striking example of the transitional state of development from the cal-
ligraphic ornate type to the Proto-3arada is published in SHT 1, Cat.-No.
643, T. 39.
7 DANI 1963: 133 wrongly speaks of the "twist of the pen".
112