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No. 17.)
THREE KSHATRAPA INSCRIPTIONS.
237
The inscription contains six irregular lines of varying length and unconth writing, covering a rhomboidal space of about 3 ft. 7 in. in width by about 1 ft. 10 in. in height. The engraving, which is shallow, is on the whole in a fair state of preservation. The average size of such letters as , m, P, and b is about 1
The characters of the inscription are of the same general type as those of other Kshatrapa inscriptions, and the above remarks on the palæography of the Gunda inscription are, with a few exceptions, applicable to this one also. The letters of this epigraph lack, however, all regularity and finish ; they have a decidedly cursive character. Observe, for instance, the form of the uncombined m, which is sometimes denoted by the older X-shaped form of the earlier inscriptions and sometimes by a more advanced form which is met with, regularly, only in the records of the Gupta dynasty. The letter t appears to have been drawn with prongs of unequal length, both curved, one of them being slightly longer than the other, In tra the subscriptr is marked by drawing the free end of the right prong to a little distance to the left; thus this ligature and the uncombined t are indistinguishable from each other when either of them is badly drawn. Of initial vowels the inscription contains i (1. 5) and u (1. 6). Subscript consonants, excluding and y, are expressed by the ordinary full signs of the letters, as in the Gunda inscription described above. No final consonants appear in this record. Sporadically one notices the flattening out of the serif of the letters into a thin horizontal top line, so that in some cases it becomes extremely difficult to say whether the top-stroke is only a serif or the sign of a, 2 or 0, which is marked by a slight prolongation of the serif. The length in st (1. 5) is denoted by a distinct spiral, which is a further development of the form which was met with in the Gunda inscription. To judge by the instance of bhātrabhiḥ (for bhrātribhil) in line 6, no distinction was made in writing between the subscript r and the medial si. The diphthong au is marked by the addition of an upward stroke, slanting to the right, to the sign of o. On two occasions the engraver has omitted the syllable tra in writing Kshatrapas(ya. Lastly it may be observed that the first line of the inscription contains four numerical symbols, 100, 20, 5 and another about the reading of which there is some doubt; it may be either 6 or 7.
The language of the inscription is a mixed dialect. In this specimen the Prakritisms are slightly more numerous than in the Gundi inscription. One may notice the frequent use of sa for the termination of the genitive singular in 11. 1 and 2 in addition to the verbal form utthavita[m] in 1, 6, The sense of the record, as it stands, is incomplete, and, to judge by the two final syllables starga] in l. 6, it should seem that a few syllables or words, in an additional line which is now lost, are missing. (Regarding the irregular genitives (e.g. mahakshat[r]apasa, 1.1) see remarks on Inscription No. I.-Ed.]-As regards orthography the only point worth drawing attention to is the sporadic doubling of the consonant before r in papau[t]trasya in l. 2; but it should be added that the reading of the ligature is not absolutely certain. Of words not found in dictionaries the inscription contains one, viz. fatra, of which, moreover, the meaning is not known. Prof. Lüders hesitatingly identifies it with the Prakrit word sata in an inscription from the Kanhöri caves (Lüders' List, No. 985), for which he, also doubtfully, suggests the meaning seat.'
The inscription refers itself to the reign of the king (and) Maba-Kshatrapa Lord Rudrasēns and records the erection of a satra (meaning P) by the brothers of Khara[r]pattha, the son of Pratāśaka of the Managa gotra. Previous editors of the inscription have read in l. 6 Pranāthaka instead of Pratāśaks and Khara-pautra instead of Khara[r]pattha. Onr. reasons for adopting the reading which we have will be found in the remarks on the transcript, below, p 238. The inscription gives the following pedigree: king and Maha-Kshatrapa bhadramukha Lord Chishtans; his son, king (and) Kshatrapa Lord Jayadāmen; his son, king and
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