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EPIGRAPHIA INDICA
(Vol. XXVIII
records referred to by Waddell. That these two inscriptions were also not similarly carried away was possibly due to the extremely mutilated condition of the images on which they are engraved.
Of the two image inscriptions in the Bhaikshuki or arrow-head alphabet copied by me at Uren, one, found on a broken Buddhist image at the Siva-sthanz of the village, has one line of writing, only a few aksharas of which have been preserved. The other one was found by me on the base of a mutilated Buddhist image lying half buried by the side of the main road running through the village. This inscription is fortunately in a quite satisfactory state of preservation. There are altogether four lines of writing covering a space of about 1.8 inches in breadth and 9.8 inches in length. The fourth line is short and covers only about half the length of the other three lines. Each akshara is about 4 inch in height.
The most important feature of the inscription is its palaeography. C. Bendall, who first discovered the alphabet employed in the epigraph under discussion in bertain manuscripts from Nepal and fully described it, was inclined to identify it with the Bhaikshuki lipi mentioned by al-Biruni as being used in Udunpur in Pūrvadēša (probably the Uddandapura-vihåra located at modern Biharsharif near Patna) and as being " the writing of Buddha," probably meaning thereby that it was prevalent among Buddhist Bhikshus or monks. The alphabet is characterised by the use of arrow-head marks usually at the top of the letters and, in some letters, also at the sides. Bühler therefore described this script as "the arrow-head alphabet." Bendall and Bühler believed that the script is the immediate offspring of an ancient form of Brahmi retaining South Indian features in some letters and Northern characteristics in a few. An image inscription from Gayā, written in this alphabet but showing wedges instead of arrow-heads at the top and, in some cases, at the sides of the letters, was published by Bendall in 1890. Some years ago Dr. N. P. Chakravarti edited an inscriptio n written in the Bhaikshuki or arrow-head alphabet, which comes from Kara about 41 miles from Allahabad. Another inscription in the same script is said to have been noticed on an image of Jambhala which is now preserved in the Indian Museum, Calcutta, but that epigraph is as yet unpublished. I edit below three out of the four Uren inscriptions referred to by Waddell as written in the Bhai kshuki or arrow-head script, the first from my own impressions and the second and third from the photographs published by that scholar.
The characters of these inscriptions closely resemble those found in the manuscripts as reproduced in Bühler's Table VI, columns xviii-xix; but there are some slight variations. In the first epigraph, among initial vowels, we have a (line 3), ā (line 1) and ė (line 3). Among these, a differs from the form of this letter in the manuscripts in having its lower loop and curve not fixed below the upper body of the letter. Of the consonants, phas & curved base and an arrow attached to its left limb as in the Kara and Gaya inscriptions. The forms of m and s are not distinguishable. N has been written differently in lines 2 (cf. dhammāņām) and 3 (cf.
samano). The marks of interpunctuation are the usual single and double danda ; but, at the
Proceedings of the Seventh Oriental Congress, Aryan Section, pp. 111 ff., and those of the Tenth Oriental Congress, part ii, pp. 151 ff.
* Sachau, Alberuni's India, Part i, p. 173. Ind. Ant., Vol. XXXIII, Appendix, p. 60; Palaeographic Table VI, columns xviii-xix.
Cf. Ind. Anl., Vol. XIX, pp. 77-78. There are some mistakes in Bendall's transcript of this epigraph. It actually reads (1) Sri-dharmmavarada-hétu || Sri-Vra(Bra)hma-paulra-sangha-pe-(3) lala-Sri-rapd-Kuyaksha. pålita-putra-Ahavama. (3) Hasya deya-dharmmo=yan R. D. Banerji edited the same inscription in the Vangiya Sahitya Parishat Patrika, Vol. XX, pp. 163 ff. without noticing that it had been previously published. I DOW preserved in the Vangiya Sahitya Parishat, Calcutta.
Above, Vol. XXII, pp. 37-39.
Op. cit., p. 37, note 4. The note is based on a statement of R. D. Baterji in his paper referred to above. My attempts to trace the image in the Indian Museum bave proved unsuccessful.
