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No. 11.)
MAUNGGUN GOLD PLATES.
101
No. 11. - MAUNGGUN GOLD PLATES BY MAUNG TUN NYEIN, HONORARY ARCHEOLOGICAL ORPIQER, BORMA. These two gold plates were found in a brick last year by some people who were digging foundations for a new pagoda at Maunggun village near Hmawza in the Prome district. They were sent by Sir Frederic Fryer, the Lieutenant-Governor of Burma, to Dr. Haltzsch for transmission to the British Museum, London.
Each of the two plates bears three lines of writing and is inscribed on one side only. The letters show through on the reverse. The weight of the first plate is 110 grains, and that of the second 148 grains. The inscriptions consist of quotations from the Buddhist scriptures. They are in the Pâli language and are written in characters which, it is believed, were in vogue in the first century A.D. when the kingdom of Prome (81rikhettark) was in the zenith of its power. The alphabet corresponds to a large extent with that used in the inscriptions at Pagan of the fourth and fifth centuries, and several of the letters also resemblo those of the South Indian class of alphabets. It is probable that the Burmese written language was mainly derived from India, whence colonists settled in Prome which was once a sea-port town.
TEXT.
First Plate. 1 Ye-dhammi-hetupabhava t esam-heta-Tathagato Aha-tesañ=cha-yo-nirodho
evam vådi-mahåsamano-ti | chattaro-iddhipada 2 chattâro-sammappadhana chattáro-satipatthana chattari-ariyasachohini chata
ves[A]rajjâni pañoh=indriyani pañcha-chakkhani chha 3 asaddhåraņâni satta-bojjhanga ariyo-atchingikos-maggo nava-lokattard
dhamma dasa-baláni chuddasa-Buddha-koni atthârasa-Buddhadhammâni
Second Plate. 1 | Yo.dhamma-betapabhava t esa[m]-heta-Tathagato-dha tesañ=cha-yo-nirodho
evaryadi-mahasamano-ti iti-pi-so-bhagava-arabar 2 sammâsambuddho vijj&charaṇasappanno sagato-lokavida anattaro-purisadammasarathi
satthå-devamanussanan Buddho-bhagavå-ti 3 svåkhyto-bhagavata-dhammo Bandithiko akáliko ehipassiko opaņšyiko
pachchattaro-veditavvo viññûhi-ti 11
TRANSLATION.
First Plate. Whatever laws are prodaced from cause, the cause of these the Tathagata has expounded, as well as the cessation of both the cause and the effect. This is the teaching of the great ascetic.
(He has also explained) the four means of obtaining supernatural power (iddhipdda); the four kinds of right exertion (sammappadhána); the four kinds of earnest meditation (sutipatthana); the four sublime truths (ariyasachcha); the four subjects of fearlessness (vesdrajju);
* From the original plates. As in Professor Bühler's editions of the Asoka edicts, words written cuatia uously in the original are conneeted by hyphens in the transcript. * Read Gaddldrandai. • Bend affhangiko.
• Read yoni. Read rampasso.
• Rend opanayiko.
