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EPIGRAPHIA INDICA.
to extract from those occurring in the canonical works of the Buddhists, the proof that the Pâurdņik religions flourished at the time when those works were composed. If, e.g., we learn from the Bhikkhupáchittiya, II, 1, that the ox of a Brahman in Takshasila was called Nandivisalo " as big as Nandi," it is not doubtful that the animal had received its name in honour of Siva's vehicle, and that Saivism was popular at the time when the Suttavivhanga was composed and probably earlier.
The last point which calls for remark is the identification of the numerous geographical names which the inscriptions offer. A small proportion of the latter causes no. great difficulty. Erakina, as must be read instead Dharakina, is without doubt the modern Erau in the Sågar district of the Central Provinces, which on the ancient copper coins is called Erakana or Erakaņa, and in Sanskrit Airikiņa." Mahisati is the ancient town of Mahishmati, identified with the modern Mandal," Pokhara, the ancient Pushkara and the modern Pokhar near Ajmir, Pratițhåna (the base of the male proper name. Pratithana) either Allahabad or Paithan on the Godavari, Ujent, the modern Ujjain, and Vedisa the modern Besnagar.
Further Kuraghara, which appears five times, I would identify with the village of Kuraraghara, which according to the Buddhist scriptures lay in Avanti or Eastern Malva, and was the residence of Mahakachchayana.* Kuraraghara is, of course, the etymologically correct form of the name, and Kura ghara, a corruption by a kind of haplophony, which occurs more frequently in geographical and other names. The Indian Atlas, Quarter Sheet, No. 53 N.E., shows in 23° 38' N. Lat., and 77° 5' E. Long.. an apparently not inconsiderable place, called “Kurawar,' which may be the modern representative of Kuraghara.
With respect to the remaining towns and villages it is difficult to offer more than more or less uncertain conjectures, because there is no indication to which part of India they belonged, and because many of the names occur scores of times on the map of India, and more than once even in the immediate neighbourhood of Sånchi-Kakanada. Thus it is possible to suggest that Tuba vana may be identical with the southern district of Tumbavana mentioned in the Brihat-Samhita, XIV, 15, or with its chief town; that Sonara, the etymon of the adjective Sonaraka, is the modern Sonåri close to Sanchi where some stupas exist; that the name of Påðåna, the etymon of the adiective Padaniya, is preserved in the modern Parana, Lat. 23° 86' N. and 76° 38' E. Long. (Ind. Atl. Q. Sh. No. 63 N. W.); and that Na(m) dinagara and Kapasigama correspond with the modern Nandner', Lat. 23° 4' N. and Long. 76° 6' E. (Ind. Atl. Q. Sh. No. 53 N.W.) and Kapasi Lat. 23° 28' N. and Long. 77° 54' E. But it must not be forgotten that there were, and are, several 'Nandinagaras' and Nandners, and that another Kapasi' is found at no great distance in Lat. 23° 55' N. and Long. 77o E. The same remarks apply with still greater force to such places as Madhuvana, Udubaragbara, the etymon of the adjective Udubaraghariya, and Aba, i.e. Amba, the etymon of Abeyaka; for the corresponding modern Madhuban, Mahu, Umra or Umrer and Ambagan are found over and over again in the neighbourhood of Sånchi and in more distant districts. For the present it is not advisable to do more
* Fleet: Corpus Inscr. Ind., vol. III, p. 18, note 2. » Cunningham: Ancient Geography, p. 488.
** Jhúsi, opposite to Allahabad, -see Führer: Monumental Antiquities and Inscriptions in the North-Western Provinces and Oudh, p. 138. -Ed. E.I.
See Dr. Wenzel's Index: Jour. Pali Test Soc., 1888.
