Ian,
I am by no way a specialist when it comes to stone pieces, but the one you showed could be 16th or 17th century - I am sure the text will show.
Wh have however come a stem further as we now know taht the stone is from Gujarat and likely to be quite old. To this comes that a katar of the same kind as shown in the Hanza is shown.
This katar base was used for centuries, but the earliest I have seen is in the Hamza, and I think it is safe to say, that the stone must be older than 18th century, so 16th to 17th century would not surprice me.
Photographing text on an old worn stone is at best very difficult, and to get someone why knows many if the different languages to go and have a look may be even more difficult.
Emanuel,
Thank you for the pictures they are quite interesting.
Yes we know that the katar was used in Deccan, south India, Rajasthan and maybe even more to the north in the 16th century. It does howeven seem as if it was used less in Rajasthan than to the south - although there is very little evidence to prove this.
It would be fantastic if proof could be found of how the katar developed from the drawing Rajendralala Mitra shows to the fully developed katar shown in the Hamza and other miniatures from the time.
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