the "notched ya." The form of la is generally cursive. One important exception is to be found, in the extremely cursive form, used in the Jaugaḍa separate edicts, which is essentially the same to be found in the Eastern variety of the Early Gupta alphabet of the 4th and 5th centuries A.D. The position of the Jaugaḍa edict is somewhat peculiar. The edicts of Dhauli and Jaugaḍa, though relegated to the Southern variety of the older Maurya alphabet, stand in an intermediate position. "The Southern variety is most strongly expressed in the Girnār and Siddapura edicts, less clearly in the Dhauli and Jaugaḍa edicts by differences in the signs for a, ā, kha, ja, ma, ra, sa, the medial i, and the ligatures with ra."[1] Most probably, the cursive forms of ha and la, found in the Jaugaḍa separate edicts, were imported from Northern India, as will be seen later on. In the North-Eastern variety, the usual form of ha is also cursive. The extremely cursive form of this letter, in the Jaugaḍa separate edicts, is peculiar and an importation from the North.[2] This statement is corroborated by the discovery of a slightly different cursive form in the Allahabad separate edicts, line 1 in the word mahāmāta.
C.The Younger Maurya Alphabet.
The last eight columns, of Plate II of Bühler's tables, represent the younger Brāhmī alphabet of Northern India. The letters are taken from six series of inscriptions—
(i) The Nāgārjunī cave-inscriptions of Daśaratha, ca. 200 B.C.
(ii) The inscriptions on the Toraṇas, railing-pillars and cross-bars of the Bhārhut Stūpa, ca. 150 B.C.
