Book Title: Indian Antiquary Vol 06
Author(s): Jas Burgess
Publisher: Swati Publications

Previous | Next

Page 72
________________ 48 THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY. [FEBRUARY, 1877. táni cha padányamini: prisidiya, larsaniyd, old Kasmir Bhûrja manuscript acquired last abhirúpa, pratirúpá: year for the Government of Bombay I have also "(In order to show) how much has to be found 2 for the usual Sarada I (4), and this supplied, the author) says: "adorned with sign is likewise a representative of Ichka. palaces, khka.' By adding here the word chka, 1 The Kshatrapa, Valabhi, and Gupta sign for an indication has been given that including the 100 m I take, not for a corruption of su 7, but noun adorned-with-palaces' (pádádiya) FOUR of ég, which it resembles very closely. Su nouns (have to be read)." was probably a faulty pronunciation for su. Now two things are clear from this passage, - The third point, and the most interesting firstly, that Malayagiri knew chka to express the one, is the question of the origin of these Nagari numeral four; and, secondly, that he considered numerals. The old idea of Prinsep, according the sign shka to be a word, and not a figure or to which the figures were to be representaanku. He consequently pronounced khka, and tives of the initial letters of the cardinal nursedid not read chatvari (4) for it, as he would have rals, has to be given up. But hitherto no done for the ankı y. That is exactly what satisfactory solution of the problem has been Pandit Bhagvanlal asserts; and Malayagiri's found. Pandit Bhagvânlal has tried, as he tells statement shows that the nature of the Nagari me, the syllabic method of notating numbers of numerals was known, to the Jainas at least, as Arya bh a ta and those used in the Mantralate as the thirteenth century of our era. . sástra, without success. Nor can I pretend to In the second place I have to express my produce the key to this mystery. I would only dissent from the Pandit's views on some details. point out that the occurrence of the Anuná. It seems to me that he is mistaken about the silca, of the Jihv amíliya, and of the Upadh maphonetic value of the Nagari numerals for 'four.' niya among these figures indicates that they I think all the various signs are intended for were invented by Brahmans, not by Vâņiâs, nor ķhka (X), 1.e. the Jihvámáliya plus ka. There by Buddhists, who used Prakrit. I shonld not is a form of the Jihvá múliya which consists wonder if they were finally traced to one of the merely of a loop attached to the left-hand side ancient Brahmanical schools or charanas, where of ka, just above the horizontal stroke. It the practice of designating certain collections occurs in the Gupta inscriptions, e.g. in the of roots or words, e.g. of the roots dá, do, de, Jhalrapâthan inscription of Durgagana, dai by ghre, and the use of letters and syllables 1. 9*, in the Kasmirian sâradà alphabet (), to denote affixes (e.g. pha for ayan, tha for ika, and in the Jaina manuscripts, where it looks dha for eya), and to indicate changes in the like sha, e.g. a 3 aniakhkanıņa. In an | roots, have existed since very early times. ON THREE MÂLWA INSCRIPTIONS. BY NILKANTHA JANÅRDAN KIRTANE. While at Ujjain in November 1875, I obtain average, contains 35 letters. In the left corner ed & copper-plate grant or inscription, which of the second or last plate is engraved the had been brought to the local authorities by a figure of Garuda holding in his right hand a farmer, who found it while digging in his field. cobra de capello ;for what purpose the reader This led to the acquisition of two more inscrip- will easily imagine. The numeral stands at tions, one of which is a copper-plate grant, the beginning of the grant. The last two the other is engraven on a stone. characteristics are common to both the copperThe first in chronological order is that of Sri plate inscriptions; and the characters in which Vák pati Raja Deva. This inscription is on all the three are written are those of the old two plates of copper, that were held together by Kayastha Sanskrit alphabet, in which the padtwo copper rings inserted through holes made in mátrá is very frequently used. I got this the plates. The rings are now wanting. Each inscription of Vâk pati from the archives of the of the plates measures 12 by 86 inches. The in- Contral India Agency, and am indebted for it scription contains 34 lines, and each line, on an to the kindness of Sir Henry Daly and Pandit • Ind. Ant. vol. V. plate to p. 180.

Loading...

Page Navigation
1 ... 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 324 325 326 327 328 329 330 331 332 333 334 335 336 337 338 339 340 341 342 343 344 345 346 347 348 349 350 351 352 353 354 355 356 357 358 359 360 361 362 363 364 365 366 367 368 369 370 371 372 373 374 375 376 377 378 379 380 381 382 383 384 385 386 387 388 389 390 391 392 393 394 395 396 397 398 399 400 401 402 403 404 405 406 407 408 409 410 411 412 413 414 415 416 417 418 419 420 421 422 423 424 425 426 427 428 429 430 431 432 433 434 435 436 437 438 439 440 441 442 443 444 445 446 447 448 449 450 451 452 453 454 455 456 457 458