Hi Martin and Tyler,

Here's a detail from a snakes-and-ladders chart dated samvat 1818 (though I suspect it may be perhaps even a good deal later). It may not be exactly what you are looking for, but it does an interesting job of combinining devanagari and Gujarati script. The 'k's and 'l's are clearly Gujarati script, while the 'd's and the connecting line at the top is clearly devanagari. I guess it might just be a regional adoption of Gujarati graphemes into a predominantly devanagari-writing area, but I have only seen very few examples of it elsewhere.

Best,
Jacob

Tyler Williams via INDOLOGY skrev den 2017-10-23 18:58:

Dear Martin,

It's a very interesting question. Vernacular manuscripts from the
Gangetic plain, Rajasthan, and Gujarat, from the late sixteenth
through the eighteenth centuries, also exhibit inconsistencies in the
use of graphemes like these (more so in the latter two regions). In
those cases, I've wondered if it was due to itinerant scribes (known
to work in the region) with little familiarity or investment in the
texts, but in the end I don't think this sufficiently explains the
phenomenon. I have not been able to discern any consistent
orthographic logic in the instances that I have seen. Am curious to
hear what others have to say.

Best,
Tyler

On Sun, Oct 22, 2017 at 10:15 PM, Martin Gansten via INDOLOGY
<indology@list.indology.info> wrote:

Apologies for what is perhaps a very basic question:

I have always unreflectingly accepted the common distinction between
northern ('Calcutta-style') and southern ('Bombay-style')
Devanagari. Recently, though, I noticed that some manuscripts mix
the two -- for instance, using a 'northern' _ṇa _but a 'southern'
_a_, or even alternating between the two kinds of _ṇa _(in the
same copyist's hand). Is there any special significance to this --
for example, particular regions and/or historical periods in which
the two styles were less distinct? Or should it just be seen as a
personal quirk of the scribe (perhaps an itinerant one)?

Thanks in advance for any light on this,
Martin Gansten

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