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EPIGRAPHIA INDICA.
[VOL. XXII.
as was expected. As remarked above, there was one text of the record which was engraved in three different places in the Hathi-bäḍā. When this structure began to fall into disrepair, one stone block containing the greater portion of one inscription was carried to and stuck up into the Ghōsündi well; two small fragments of another inscription taken as far as the boundary stone between Ghōsüṇḍi and Bassi; but the larger part of the third is in situ, that is, still forms part of the Hathi-bāḍā itself, this last being now brought to light by the Government Epigraphist, as stated above.
Let us now turn to the epigraphic details of each. We have observed that here we have one common text running through three different inscriptions-all, however, originally incised on the block slabs of the Hathi-bāḍā. The best preserved of these is that found in the Ghōsündi well and now removed to the Victoria Hall, Udaipur. Here not only is the greater portion of the record preserved, but its letters also remain in good condition. It was originally in three lines. The next best preserved record is that found by Dr. Chakravarti, and, though preserved in fragment, it yet remains part and parcel of the original building. It is in two lines, each containing naturally more words than those of the first record. Of this inscription practically as much has been preserved as of the first, though its letters are faint and weatherworn. Of the third record only two small fragments are so far known, as pointed out above. The first of these, which we shall call A, was first brought to the notice of the scholars by Kavi Raj Shyamal Das and transcribed in the Jour. Beng. As. Soc., Vol. LVI, Pt. I, pp. 77 ff., No. 1 and Pl. V. It was afterwards edited by me in Memoirs A. S. I., No. 4, p. 119, and by Mr. K. P. Jayaswal in Ep. Ind., Vol. XVI, pp. 25 ff. with the help of the estampages provided by me. The second of the three copies, which we shall call C, is being edited by me here for the first time according to the ink impression kindly supplied by the Government Epigraphist. Of the third copy, which we shall call B, only two fragments have been recovered. One of these was first noticed by me in Memoirs A. S. I., No. 4, p. 120. Both together were afterwards transcribed but erroneously considered to be part of the first copy, that is, of A by Rai Bahadur Gaurishankar Ojha in A. S. I., An. Rep., 1926-27, p. 205 and thereafter by Mr. B. R. Halder in Ind. Ant., Vol. LXI, p. 203. All the three copies are now being edited here with a view to see whether and how far we can restore the original text.
The characters of these texts according to Bühler1 belong to an alphabet which "probably prevailed at least in the latter half of the 4th and in the 3rd century B.C." Mr. Jayaswal, however, seems to be right in observing that "the only thing that can be said with certainty is that the script is later than Asōka's time." The letters g, p, and v of our inscriptions are a clear proof of this. The top of g is not angular, and p and have not a round base as in the Asökan script. The only records with which the Hathi-bāḍā epigraphs can be profitably compared are the inscription of Heliodorus found at Besnagar and those of Bahasatimitra at Päbhosa. And a comparison will convince us that the Hathi-bāḍā records are perhaps slightly later than that of Besnagar, but decidedly earlier than those of Päbhosa. The top of g in the Besnagar inscription is as angular as that of Asōka's, but is almost round in the Hathi-bāḍa inscriptions. This shows that perhaps the Besnagar record is slightly prior to those of Hathi-bāḍā. On the other hand, the p, b, h, and I of the Päbhosa have cornered and flat bases, showing that these inscriptions are decidedly later than those of Hathi-bāḍā. All things considered, our epigraphs may be assigned to the beginning of the first century B.C.
1 Indian Paleography (trans. by Fleet), p. 32.
Above, Vol. XVI, p. 27.
A. 8. I., An. Rep., 1908-09, pp. 128-29, Pl. XLVI. Above, Vol. II, pp. 242 ff and Pls.
