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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
[DECEMBER, 1893.
Pagoda at Syriam, and in the far-renowned in Burma) Kalyani Dêng (sima) at Pegu, and round the great Shwêmòdd Pagoda at the same place.17 Whether these images were originally made for the pagodas, or were taken from the Caves by the devont and there deposited, is a question to be settled hereafter. For it must be remembered that it is still a fortunate thing in Burma for a p'aya (image of Gautama Buddha) 'to travel,' as tho people put it.
Careful search may unearth inscriptions of value in the D'ammaba Cavo. Some of the small terra-cotta figures, or, more strictly, tablets impressed with figures, that have become detached, are found to have sometimes, but not commonly, notes painted on the back. The only one of two or three picked up in this Cave, which is sufficiently complete for reading is that given below, full-size.
cinayo
Facsimile, full size, of the unscription on the back of a terra cotta tablet
impressed in front wla ao Image of Gautama Buddha. From
the Dammatâ Cave. The chardoters of the inscription are Talaing and the language is Talaing, and it means:18 "Nge Leh offered to the pagoda curry stuffs from his ancestral fields, fish, and property."'19
17 Lately there has been printed by the local Government a perfunctory and well-nigh valueless production called List of Objects of Antiquarian and Archæological Interest in British Burma. It is confined mainly to the names of the principle pagodas in the country and the folk-history thereof. It is useless for any purpose, except to find the names of the pagodas, and is not even thea of use, if there is more than one pagoda in a place, as the actual situation of each is never indicated.
18 It must be borne in mind however, that in the present condition of scholarship as regards the Fortbei Indian languages, every epigraphic reading should properly be regarded as tentative.
*I fancy we must assume from this that the pions Nge Leh held a feast from the produce of his ancestral fields and offered property to the paroda, and also let loose some fish as a good work: (jivita dina: swita dind. See Shwe Yoe's The Burman, Vol. II. p. 40 f.)
