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314
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
[NOVEMBER, 1874.
church, and on which is also a sentence in Syriac in the ordinary Estrangelo character, * to judge by facsimiles of MSS. of a period not older than the 10th century. At all events these crosses are long subsequent to the time of the Apostle Thomas.
In this paper as formerly printed I attempted to read and explain this inscription as follows:-
1. Yin riya mn un drd-i dnmn:
2. Mün ann msiha af alhá-i mdm af rød-i (or rkki) aj asar bokht:
In English: "(1) In punishment (?) by the cross (was) the suffering of this (one): (2) (He) who (is) the true Christ, and God above, and guide ever pure."
In a review of my pamphlet † Dr. Martin Haug suggested a different reading for some words (ríkhi for rád-i; raziya for rjya ; vanbart [P vandard] for un drd, as he writes me), and the following translation :-"Who believes in the Messiah and God above and in the Holy Ghost is redeemed through the grace of him who bore the cross." Dr. Haug takes anın to be a verb without the Persian termination that one usually finds. He considers that the order of the persons of the Trinity distinctly proves the inscription to be Nestorian in doctrine and origin.
Dr. E. W. West, in a review of the same pamphlet in the Academy I, proposes greater changes in the reading, and a totally different translation, but he expresses an opinion that no two Pahlavi scholars will probably ever agree about the proper translation. His reading
nslation. His reading and version are as follows : -The longer line, “with tolerable certainty," --Mún ámen meshikha-i avakhsha-i madam-afrás aj khárbukht. Of the shorter line, which he regards as " much more uncertain," he gives, as perhaps the most likely reading, "-süldd i min van va dard-i denman. Taking the lines in this order he translates them thus :-“What freed the true Messiah, the forgiving, the upraising, from hardship? The crucifixion from the tree, and the anguish of this." Or, secondly, by taking the lines in the reverse order, “The crucifixion, &c. which freed, &c.," or, "which the true Messiah, &c. freed from hardship."
The difficulty and uncertainty attending the deciphering of all Pahlavi inscriptions are still so great (notwithstanding the labours of Müller, Haug, Justi, Thomas, and others in Europe, and of the learned Parsi priests in Bombay) that at present I shall not attempt to discuss this very interesting relic any further, especially as Dr. Haug promises a detailed criticism. In the example of this inscription, which contains only the longer sentence, and a shorter one in Syriac at the foot, I think that my reading of amn as an adjective is still to be preferred, for otherwise it would be difficult to make ont a satisfactory sense. If my reading be allowed, the whole would run: (Syriac) "Let me not glory except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ;" (Pahlavi) "Who is the true Messiah and God above and Holy Ghost." This statement appears to be intended to contradict the Manichæan doctrine that the crucified Messiah was the son of a poor widow, and not Jesus. If these Pahlavi inscriptions were Manichuan, they would be in a different character. It seems to me not unlikely, however, that relics of the Manichæans may yet remain to be discovered on the west coast of the Peninsula, where they once were very numerous.
The text of the grant B throws a little light on Pahlavi pronunciation. The following names occur in it: Marvân Sapir I so and Isod áta virai. Now the pronunciation of the South Indian alphabets has certainly not changed since the probable date (8th century) of this inscription, so it is evident that the modern Pahlavi pronunciation has varied in some letters. Sapir is now pronounced Shapir; but it is, however, evident by the above that the Pahlavi ś or sh was the same as the Sanskrit s, and the Pahlavi s the same as the Sanskrit s about the 8th century, as these words are written with Grantha letters, there can be no doubt as to the pronunciation.
The original grant of the privileges of a factory to the Persians is to Iravi Korttan; what the Persian original of this name is, I cannot guess.
In order to bring together here all that I can find relating to the Persians in Southern India, I give (figs. 2 and 3) the Sassanian and
• It is the first half of Gal. vi. 14 ("Let me not glory except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ"); an obvious addition by poople who wanted to make all orthodox according to Nestorian views.
+ Beilage zur Allgemeinen Zeitung (No. 29), Jan. 29, 1874.
I Academy for 1874, p. 97.. As I shall prove elsewhere (in a Manual of 8. Indian Palcography).
