________________
258
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
[SEPTEMBER, 1881.
with túraiit and forming a compound with sädika.
Tíram is the Sanskrit túryani "musical instru- ment," "music." The whole would then mean "the music of the gods, gay with dancing." But it does not quite satisfy me. The three words sädika, samada and túra might respectively refer to the three groups of dancers, singers, and players on instruments. That the inscription refers to the amusement-scene below which it stands is, of course, unquestionable.
15. Four Inscriptions on the outer face of the lower bas-relief of the South Gate Pillar, on Plate xv, left side, are transcribed on Plate liv, Nos. 33-36, and referred to on pp. 29 and 134. At the latter place they are read-Misakosa achhari; Alambusa achhard; Padumávati achhará; and Subhada achhard. In the former, sudasana is given instead of Padumávati; also Misakosi, Subhada and Alambusá. The actual readings are :
(a) Misakesi achhard, or in full, Missa kesi achchhard. There is a slight production of the horizontal line of the vowel e to the right beyond the perpendicular line of the k, which at first sight looks like the vowel o; as if the word were Misalcosi; but I have no doubt that this is owing to an accidental slip of the mason's chisel. Its Sanskrit equivalent is Misrakeši apsará, i.e., “the Apsaras Miśrakesi."
(b) Alan
busá achhard, or, in full, Alaribusá achchhard ; in Sanskrit Alambushá apsará, i.e., "the Apsaras Alambush."
(c) Padumávati
achhará, or, in full, Padumavati achchhará, in Sanskrit Padmávati apsard, i.e., "the Apsaras Padma
on Plate xiv, left side, are transcribed on Plate liv, Nos. 41 and 42, and referred to on pp. 11, 27, 134, 135, where they are read Erapato nága rája bhagavato vandate and Erapato ndga rája respectively. The former is spelt on the stone thus :
(a) Erápato nágarájá
bhagavato vadate. The last word, of course, is vandate (or vandate); the anusvåra being, as usual, omitted. It means : "Airâpata the Serpent-King worships the Blessed One." In Sanskrit it would be Aird vato nagarajá bhagavantan: vandate. The genitive bhagavato is noticeable. Usually the verb vand takes in Pali, as in Sanskrit, the accusative of the object of worship; but according to a general Pali rule the genitive may occasionally be substituted for the accusative; of this nsage the present case is an example. There are two more points of interest in this inscription. In the first place, the preservation of the atmanepada form vandate is noteworthy; in the ordinary Páli, as a rule, only parasmaipada forms are used;" the former practice agrees with the old Prakrit of Chanda. In the second place, the form of the name Erdpato for the Sanskrit Airavatah, with the very unusual change of a sonant into a surd, is noticeable. Another instance of this occars in the name Kupiro, for Sanskrit Kuberaḥ or Kuverah, on Plate xxii, No. 1. In the old Hindi of Chand, the name appears in the mongrel form Airápati. The other inscription reads
(b) Erapato (ná]garaja. The letter nd is not legible; it being exactly on the line of breakage of the stone; one-half of the inscription is on Plate xv. Correctly spelt, the legend would run Erápato nagarája, in Sanskrit Airávato nagarájá, i.e., "AirAvata, the Serpent-king." The explanation of the scene is correctly given on p. 27, with one exception. The three figures behind the kneeling king are not "a Nâgs and two Nagnis," but king Airavata himself, accompanied by two (Naganl) wives ; this is shown by the fiveas an example, sfmadharassa varisde, i. e., "I worship the mark-bearer." To construe the sentence elliptically as Gen. Cunningham does, supplying "feet of" or "bodhitree of" is bardly admissible.
15 See Kachchayana (ed. Senart), p. 268; Kuhn's Beiträge, p. 98.
18 See my edition of the Prakrita Lakshana, p. lii. 11 Other examples will be found in Kuhn's Beiträge, p. 40.
See Prithiraj Rasau, canto xxvii, verse 2.
Vati."
(d) Subhada achhara, or, in full, Subhadda achchhard, in Sanskrit - Subhadrá apsard, i. e., "the Apsaras Subhadra.”
16. Two inscriptions on the inner face of the middle bas-relief of the South Gate Pillar,
11 Curiously enough, the photograph reads tarar, the long & being invisible, though, on the stone, it is as distinct as the rest of the word.
* This is not included among the facsimiles on the accompanying plate. 13 On p. 11 någa raja, on p. 27 nagaraja..
* See Kachchiyana (ed. Senart) p. 156, sutts 38. The same usage obtains in Prekrit; see Hemacbandra (ed. Pischel), p. 98, sutra ii, 134, where the verb vand is given
