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262
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA.
(VOL. XIX,
which I use for similar purposes: the reduction scale is, of course, always the same, and also the position of the single letters in regard to the neighbouring ones, their inclination and height above or below the average, is exact.
The letters ga, tu, SD, 9, and a P don't occur in the inscription, x only onoe. Most of the letters are well shaped and clearly distinguishable. But n ) and rare vary. ing, as in most Aramaic inscriptions, to such a degree, that, as a matter of fact, palæo. graphy alone does not furnish the means of fixing their value, and etymology must decide. Fig. 2 shows, that, moreover, d 7 and k can assume a shape so closely resembling r or ni, that you will understand, why in several words that I am unable to explain, I have given, in the transcription, the various possibilities of reading. The true reading can only be reached at by the etymology of the whole word.
The surviving slab being unfortunately only a fragment of the inscription, a continuous text and translation is far beyond my capability to give. I must confine myself to some remarks:
Line 1: I do not venture to restore the word, although this seems not impossible to me. Its ending in mi indicates a fem. plur. in the stat. indeterm.
Line 2: The first word has the prep. 5 " to " and the termination of a fem. noun with encl. pron. of the 1. pers. The noun itself shows the pa'il form of a root 10 (priest), or of 101. The second word is the prep. Wy "unto." It is worth remarking that the 5 in this preposition assumes already a distinct shape, the horizontal stroke being pronouncedly longer than in the other examples of 5. This development, not unusual to Aramaic, leads through Pârsik to the Awestic letter for o.
Line 3: First word is a fem. plur. in the stat. determ. either from the root 112 "to exist,” henoe "essence, nature," or more probable, the same word as in the following line, the missing first letter to be supplied at the end of the preceding line. The second word is the prep. Sy, as before.
Line 4: The first word seems to be a verb, at least, its termination in 1 is a common verbal termination. A root exists, e.g. in Arabic, but I have no means to ascertain whether it is also found in Aramaic or not. Possibly, as the word stands at the beginning of the line, it might be incomplete, the preceding letters may have been at the end of the foregoing line. The second word is the stat. determ. fem. plur. ending in Nhi of the noun NOV , pa'il of the root 10" to dwell," hence "the dwellinge."
Line 5: Begins with the copula 1, preposition 5 (dat.) and the noun an, to which is attached the encl. pron. of the 3. pers., hence "to his father." The second word is the auxiliary verb 777 " to be," the third letter partly destroyed, but certain.
Line 6: The first word does not look much like an Aramaic one. In taking the first letter 11 as the last one of the word preceding at the end of the foregoing line, and the second letter as the copula, the word might be reduced to Aramaic dimensions, and become derived from the common root InD, as a pa'il fem. with pron. pers. of the l. pers. But this is rather a forced way, and there are in the following lines three more words that look not only non-Aramaic, but resist every attempt of explaining them as Aramaic. Thoy, too, begin with, or contain at least the same 17 at the beginning, which is well known to me from OP. and Greek, and, hence, must exist in Indian. Therefore, I prefer to leave the explanation of these words to Indologists. The hu-, Gr. eù, if this interpretation be right, shows that the words in question belong to a moral sphere of ideas, I mean something like the Zoroastrian "good thoughts, good words, good deeds," to which there is probably something corresponding in Buddhism. The second word of line 6 seems to be. although its second letter is somewhat mieshaped, the pron. dem. 731 "this."
