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EPIGRAPHIA INDICA.
[ VOL. IX
TEXT. 1 Siddha[m] maharajasya deva(pntrasya]" 2 Kåņishkasya savatsaré [1073 3 gri 2 di 9 êtayê purvay[8] 4 [u]tardyam na[va]:kayam' [h]85 [rmya]n-[d]ata[ru]? priyatâm dôvi 8 grå [masya].”
REMARKS. 1 The anusvára is indistinct because it is crossed by the line forming the base of the sculpture. — 2 The reading of the bracketed characters is certain, though the surface of the stone has peeled off at the corner.-3 This figure also has suffered from the peeling off of the surface, but the reading is beyond doubt-4 The é is very indistinct, and the correct reading may possibly be purvaya or purvayan.-5 At first sight one might feel inclined to read natarayan, but the base-line of the first letter is quite straight, whereas na has a distinctly curved base. I feel therefore sure that what appears to be the continuation of the base-line to the left, is merely due to a flaw in the stone.-6 The two convergent side-lines of the va are not very distinct, just as in the same letter in line 3, and there appears a vertical in the middle which makes the letter look almost like na. But this line is far too thin to really form part of the letter and must be accidental.-7 The bracketed letters of these two words are more or less damaged, but the reading seems to be sure.--8 The ê-stroke is added to the top of the letter, whereas in de in the first line it is added in the middle.-9 The last two letters are da naged, but only the ya can be said to be conjectural
TRANSLATION. Success! In the year 10 of the maharaja dévaputra Kanishka, in the second month of) sommer, on the ninth day-on that date specified as) above a temple was given in the northern navamiki (?). May the goddess of the village be pleased!
NOTES. The orthography of the inscription is very irregular, double consonants, long vowels and the anusvára being frequently not expressed in writing. A long å appears in the word hármya. According to the St. Petersburg Dictionary the same form is found also in the Taitt. År. VI, 6, 2 instead of the ordinary harmya occurring in the corresponding verse in Atharvav. XVIII, 4, 55. In hårmyan=datain the final m is converted into the nasal before the following mate, which is rare in inscriptions in this dialect. Another instance is found in the concluding words of the Mathurâ inscription, above Vol. I. p. 386, No. 8: priyatâm-bhagavan-Rishabhasrih, which at the same time help us to understand the phrase found at the end of the present record : priyatan davi gramasya.
Of greater interest is the spelling of the king's name, Kanishka, with a long vowel in the first syllable and a lingual. With regard to the latter point, the seven Bråhmi inscriptions that have preserved the name are in perfect agreement. In the Kharoshthi inscriptions of Suê Vihar and Zedas the name is read as Kanishka, in that of Manikyala as Kaneshka, but I am by no means sure whether in the two last mentioned inscriptions the readings Kanishka and
1 Mathuri inscr. of S. 5, Vnd. Ant. Vol. XXXIII. p. 84 ff., No. 4; Mathura inser. of s. 7, above Vol. I. p. 391, No 19; Mathura inscr. of S. 9, Vienna Or. Journ. Vol. I. p. 173, No. 2, and Ind. Ant. Vol. XXXIII. p. 37, No. 6; Mathura inuer., Ind. Ant. Vol. XXXIII. p 149, No. 25; Sarnath inscr. of S. 8, abovu Vol. VIII. p. 176. No. 3o; Sárnáth inscr. of S. 3, above Vol. III. 179, No. 34. • Ind. Ant. Vol. X. p. 326.
3 Journ. 18. Ser. VIII. Vol. XV. r. 137. • Jout. 4.. Ser. IX. Vol. VII. p. 8.
