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308
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
[NOVEMBER, 1888.
for 1861.62 and 1871-72, Archæol. Survey of 7, and of the conjunct ry in dchárya-varyam, India, Vol. I. p. 38, and Vol. III. p. 120, as in line 7, and audúryam and viryan, in line 16 well as in his Ancient Geography of India, Vol. (but not in sthitêr-yah, in line 11), compared, I. p. 44. But the original edition and trans- e.g., with the initial á of amradvipa in line 9, lation, as well as these references to them, and with the ry of yatir=yatah in line 7, of the appear to have entirely escaped the attention Bodh Gayà inscription. Exactly the same of Mr. A. M. Broadley; for, in a paper on the alphabet appears to be employed, e.g., in the Buddhistic remains of Bihår,' which he pub- short Nålandâ inscription of Gôpåla, of which lished in the Journ. Beng. As. Soc., Vol. XLI. a photozincograph is given in Archæol. Survey Part I., and in which on pp. 268-274 he gave of India, Vol. I. p. 15; and a still further two transcripts and translations of this very development of the same alphabet we have in inscription, one by Dr. Rajendralal Mitra and a short inscription of Mahipala, which is in the the other by Dr. R. G. Bhåndarkar (accompa- Bihar Museum. As regards the present innied by a rather useless photozincograph), scription, I may also perhaps draw attention he treated the record as if it had never been to the forms of the final t and n (followed by brought to public notice before. One cannot the sign of viráma) in asmát, line 17, sakalán, wonder at the somewhat severe tone, caused line 7, and bhikshún, line 9, and to the excepby the entire omission of Captain Kittoe's tional denotation of tta by the sign for tu, in name by Mr. Broadley, which pervades Sir sankirttanan, line 5, and Kirtti, line 13.-The A. Cunningham's latest remarks on the anti- language is Sanskrit, and, except for the openquities of Ghôgrå wå, in Archæol. Survey of ing symbol representing or, the inscription is in India, Vol. XI. p. 171 ff.; here it is sufficient verse throughout. In line 6 we find the to say that the stone containing the inscription, wrong form abhyupétum (for abhyupaitum), which no longer bears Kittoe's name,' has been which is also met with elsewhere; othertransferred to the Bihar Museum, where it is at wise the grammar calls for no particular present.
remark. As regards lexicography, I would Though the inscription has been edited and point out that the kirti has in line 17 translated three times, & critical edition of it
been employed in the sense of an edifice' appears still to be desirable, and I therefore or a temple,' a meaning which has been re-edit it, at Mr. Fleet's request, from an assigned to the word kirti by Hêmachandra. excellent impression supplied by him,
-As regards orthography, v has throughout The inscription contains 19 lines. The been used for b; instead of anusvára the dental writing covers a space of about 1' 11" broad n has been employed before the dental sibilant, by 1' 2'' high, and it is in a state of perfect and the guttural i before the palatal sibilant, preservation almost throughout.-The average in sansára, line 1, dhvansi, line 18, vansa, line size of the letters is about 16.-The 4, and vansau, line 17; and the rules of sandhi characters belong to the northern class of have been neglected in bhikshún ári., line 9, alphabets, and they present a further and in samvșiténa, line 12, and étam=vidhaya, development of the characters which we line 17. meet, e.g., in the Bodh Gaya inscription of The inscription is a Buddhist inscription; Mahânâ man, of wbich a photo-lithograph has and it records (line 14) the erection, probably been given ante, Vol. XV. p. 358. This is at the place where the stone containing the clearly shown by a general comparison of the inscription was found, of an edifice for a vajráforms of the consonants and the signs for the sana or diamond-throne,' by a personage named medial vowels; and it is proved in particular, | Viradêva, an account of whom takes up by far e.g., by the form of the initial & in acharya, line the greater part of this record. Viradêva, the
loc. cit., p. 173. Although Kittoe's statement has been removed, traons of Roman letters can, to judge by the impression before me, be still recognized below the last line of the inscription.
The measurements of the stone given by Mr. Broadley are wrong.
• The peculiar form of the sign for 4, and of that for ry, has misled Captain Kittoe to state that the inscrip
tion, in line 7, has achdya (instead of acharya), and induced Dr. Bhåndårkar to put a sign of interrogation after the words audhryam and viryan in line 16. In Dr. Bhånd Arkar's impression the words acharya-varya in line 7 were illegible; and Dr. Rajendralal has prepus ya lua instead.
See ante, Vol. XV. p. 857.
