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EPIGRAPHIA INDICA.
[Vol. V.
the five moral qualities (indriya); the five kinds of vision (chakkhu); the six kinds of uncommon wisdom (asddharapa (Adna]); the seven requisites for attaining sapreme knowledge (bojjhanga); the sublime eightfold path; the nine transcendent conditions (lokuttard dhamnd); the ten forces (bala); the fourteen requisites for the attainment of Buddha nood; the eighteen attributes of a Buddha.
Second Plato. Whatever laws are produced from cause, the capse 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.
For these reasons (viz. previously acquired virtues) the Blessed one (Buddha) is called the Venerable one, the truly and perfectly enlightened Being, one endowed with knowledge and conduct, the Happy one, one knowing the universe, the Preeminent one, the Bridler of men's wayward passions, the Master of gods and men, and the blessed Buddha.
The Blessed one has well expounded his law, whose benefits are evident to the eye, which is advantageous at all times and seasons, which can boldly invite criticism, which can, if closely observed, lead up to Nirudna, and with whose details, severally, the wise should be acquainted.
No. 12.- AHMADABAD INSCRIPTION OF VISALADEVA:
[VIKRAMA-]SAMVAT 1308.
By Rev. J. E. ABBOTT, B.A. This inscription is on a pillar in the mosque of Ahmad Shah I. (A.D. 1411-1443), in the Bhadrat AhmadAbad. I edit it for the first time. The inscribed pillar is to the right of the palpit and faces the lattioed gallery. The letters are on the whole well preserved, though a few are damaged. The inscription is complete, with the exception of the beginning and end of the first line, which contain a part of the date. The name of the month is therefore lost. The language is Sanskrit, but influenced by Gujarati, forming & mixed language common at that period. The form of the letters is such as is found in the inscriptions of Visaladeva and other Chaulukya kings of that period.
The inscription belongs to the reign of Visaladeva and is dated in (Vikrama-]Bamvat 1808 (about A.D. 1251), on the 11th day of a month the name of which is broken away, on a Sunday. It records the gift of a trellis window or screen (jale) in the temple of Uttarkvara at Mahinsaka, by one Péthada, & servant of Sodhaladevi.
The question of special interest is the identification of Mahinsaka, the place in which the Flinda temple stood, which Ahmad Shah used as material for his mosque. If it is to be identified with some place distant from Aḥmadabad, there are three places of similar name, which might be derived from MAhimsaka, vis. Månså and Mésans to the north of Ahmadabad. and Mahisa in the Thasra taluks of the Kaira collectorate ;' but none of these places contains rains that suggest of their having been used by Ahmad Shah as the quarry for his mosque. The anal custom of the Muhammadan conquerors was that of desecrating Hinda temples and modifying them on their own site to suit their purposes as mosques. If such were the case
For a decription of this monque see the Bombay Gazetteer for Ahmadabad, p. 275 ; Hope's Architecture of Ahmadabad ; and Arch, Survey Reports for 1874-75, p. 4f.
I am indebted for information regarding Menal, Mésand and Mahial to Mr. F. 8. P. Lely, who has kindly bad inquiries made regarding these places, and to Lieutenant Carter, who has persoually visited the ruins of Mahisi.
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