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PAHLAVI INSCRIPTION FROM BAGHDAD.
223
14. May this eulogy, composed by famed Chauluky a race; while Maham shabh û(), Lakshmidhara, remain as long as the earth the keeper of the great seal and all the other carries the most excellent water (of Ganga) Panchakulas, performed" (the work) of writwhich proceeds from Isa, as long as (Vishnu) ing the superscription Sri' while the Lord of disguised as a tortoise (supports the earth), as ! Chandrå vati, the chief of the feudal barons, long as sun and moon (exist), as long as the the illustrious D hår å varshad ê va being the song of the first excellent poet" and the speech only possessor of a regal parasol, protected the of Vyása” (survive).
earth; while the illustrious Prah là danaSamvat 1265, on the 15th day of the light dê va," an expert in all the fine arts and useful half of the month of Vaisakha, on a Tuesday; sciences, a most worshipful prince, was the during the prosperous and victorious reign of heir-apparent; at that time Kedårarási caused the illustrious Bhimadeva, the supreme this song of praise to be composed. (It was Lord and king of great kings, the saviour of the engraved on stone) by the mason......Palhaņa.
AN ENGRAVED STONE WITH PAHLAVI INSCRIPTION FROM BAGHDAD.
BY E. W. WEST, PH.D., MUNICH. The late Dr. A. D. Mordtmann, writing study I was able to discover the order in which from Constantinople on the 11th November the lines ought to be read, as well as several 1875, enclosed to the late Professor Haug of connected sentences and well-defined words. Munich some ink impressions of a stone talis- It appeared from this examination that the man engraved with a long inscription in inscription contained all the Pahlavi letters Pahlavi characters, which impressions he had except gh, a letter which is not used in received some days before from Baghd â d. Sasanian Pablavi, though it occurs on the He remarked that the characters seemed to be Pahlavi papyri of the eighth or ninth century those of the seventh or eighth century, and lately found in Egypt. The sentences, also, so though he could decipher some isolated words, far as they could be read, were too idiomati. such as nafshman, pavan shem-e yazdán, &c., yet cally correct to be the production of any he could nowhere discover & connected sen- modern writer. I was, therefore, able to assure tence. He, therefore, had some slight suspicion Dr. Mordtmann, when sending him an attempt that the inscription might be a forgery, more at a fragmentary translation of about threeespecially as, notwithstanding its great length, fourths of the inscription, that there was every he thought it did not contain some of the probability that the inscription was genuine. letters of the Pahlavi alphabet. He further Owing to several scattered words being still mentioned that its native owner wanted £45 unintelligible, this tentative translation was, for the stone.
no doubt, too unsatisfactory for Dr. Mordtmann This letter was handed to me on my return to make use of, as I heard nothing further about from India in June 1876, just after the death it. I likewise sent copies of the inscription to of Professor Haug. It contained one impres- some of the Parsi Dasturs in India, to see if sion of the obverse, two of the reverse, and four they could suggest a more complete translation, of the edge of a circular stone about 14 inch in but their attempts furnished me with only two diameter and inch thick. And the inscrip- or three verbal improvements. tion consisted of a single line around the figures After an interval of four years and a half I on the obverse, five concentric lines round those
asked Mr. Thomas a few months ago whether on the reverse, and three lines round the edge he had heard of this inscription, when he of the stone. The characters were, nearly all, informed me that he had received a set of very distinct, and after careful examination and impressions of it some years before from Sir * Valmiki's Ramdyana.
inscriptions we read (Srikararadau) mudravy parin # The Vedas, Purinas, etc.
pari panthayati.
Srikarana lit.* making Sri,' then obtains the meaning Paripanthayati in the same meaning, but used as a transitive occurs in the inscription of Sarangadeva in
"Prahladanadeva, the younger brother of Dhare. the temple of Vastupala at Abu of Sarvat 1350, in the varsha, was a poet who wrote several Sanskrit plays; Nadola plate of Kumhrapkla of Sath vat 1213, and in the Bee Rep. on Search for Sanskrit 18. Bombay, 1872-73, inscription of Visaladeva of Sarivat 1317. In all these I p. 4.
of Secretariat."
Sarangadeva in
