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OCTOBER, 1893.]
cubic foot in size and which bear a portion of both inscribed surfaces. The total volume of all these is approximately 200 cubic feet; while the total volume of the original stones above ground must have been at least 325 cubic feet, taking an average thickness of 13 inches. This leaves a difference of 125 cubic feet, representing the volume of the missing portions.
KALYANI INSCRIPTIONS..
275
"All that is now visible does not exceed half of this, if, indeed, it is as much. It is clear, then, that some portions of the stones have either been removed from the site, or are lying buried near it.
"With regard to the possibility of some pieces of inscribed stone being buried near the site, the Plate, "General Plan of the Site of the Kalyanî Inscriptions," shews a slight mound near the south-west corner and a small hollow at the south-east. The former does not rise more than twelve to eighteen inches above the natural surface of the ground and appears to be composed of broken brick, possibly debris from a ruined pagoda opposite. The hollow is circular, and about two feet deep, with brickwork shewing round its edge. This may possibly be the top of a well which has been filled in, but this is doubtful. There is a small mound at its edge, which is made up of brick work, partially broken away and overgrown by bamboos. The only other mound is that shewn in the General Plan" about the centre of the line of stones. This is very small, having been formed by ants round the base of an old bamboo clump, now cut down. Two stones have already been taken out of this and it could not possibly contain more of any consequence. The ground slopes slightly from the base of the stones and the pieces shewn in the plates were lying on the slopes, either on the surface, or partially buried to a depth of only three to four inches below it.
"The general inference, then, is that the probability of finding any considerable amount of inscribed stone buried in the vicinity is very small.
"Building up the various parts of the stones would be attended with considerable difficulty, since the stones are inscribed on both sides. The only portions available for connecting the parts are, therefore, the broken surfaces (these in many cases have a considerable slope to the horizontal) and the outside edges; so it would be exceedingly difficult to fix the centre portions. For the same reasons, also, it will be necessary to build them up in a vertical position."
The above report, having made it clear that the restoration of the stones, if possible at all, would be attended with much difficulty, advantage was taken of a set of ink impressions taken by the late Prof. Forchhammer, and found among his papers, to aid in piecing the broken stones together.
The work of restoring the stones on paper from Prof. Forchhammer's fragments was in itself a matter of no small difficulty, but it has been successfully accomplished, so far as the materials at hand sufficed for the purpose. For this work the MSS., from which the text given in this Journal was compiled, were of great value, and their general accuracy was proved by the fact that with their aid the text of the original stones could be followed so closely as to admit of the fragmentary impressions collected by Prof. Forchhammer being arranged in the order, in which they must have originally been inscribed on the stones.
When the fragments of the text were thus restored, they were fixed on to large sheets of paper, the original forms of the stones were roughly drawn in, and the spaces left between fragments blackened over. The sheets were then photo-lithographed and the results reproduced in Flates I. to V1., entitled "Restored Portions of the Pâli Stones of the Kalyani Inscriptions of Dhammachêtî, 1476 A. D."
These plates are now in the hands of the engineers, and it may be possible yet to restore these most important stones and preserve them from further destruction.
The credit of the difficult and ingenious work of piecing together Prof. Forchhammer's fragments is due to Mr. Taw Sein-Ko.
