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154
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
[JUNE, 1904.
In the third line Bühler twice read saha, whereas the photograph leaves no doubt that in both cases the correct reading is saha. This spelling of the word is not uncommon in the Mathura inscriptions ; see above, p. 158.
No. 82. -Mathura Jains image inscription;
edited by Bühler, Ep. Ind. Vol. I. p. 389, No. 15, and Plate. This inscription is only a short fragment transcribed by Bühler as :
... sê êta[syâm] pûrvvâyâm Kottiyâtð ganatô ... The reading sé is badly warranted by the photo-lithograph, the é-stroke and the cross-bar of the mátrikd being hardly discernible, while the right down-stroke of the matrik& is much longer than it ought to be. In a note Bühler adds that he must be the remnant of either vind or trinse, but this again is not supported by the photo-lithograph. What is still visible of the sign preceding the supposed bé cannot possibly have formed part of either vi or tri, but looks exactly like the right half of the figure 10. In that case the next sign also must be a figure, and I think, there can be little doubt that it is 7; compare this figure in the Mathurâ inscriptions, Ep. Ind. Vol. I. p. 383, No. 4 ; p. 887, No. 10 ; p. 391, No. 19 ; p. 396, No. 30, and especially p. 891, No. 20. I therefore read the fragment :
... 10 7 éta[syan] půrvvây&m Kottiyâtð gaņâtô ... and take the 17 to be the number of the day.
No. 33.- Mathura Jaina image inscription;
edited by Growse, Ind. Ant. Vol. VI. p. 219, No. 8, and Plate. According to Rajendralala Mitra, on whose authority Mr. Growse relied, this short fragment reads :
Siddhajivikasya datta-bhikshusya vihậrasya and means of the monastery of Dattabhikshu, who had accomplished the object of existence." The real purport of the record has been recognised long ago by Bühler, who referred to it, Ep. Ind. Vol. I. p. 383, note 60, but his transcript is not quite accurate. The inscription reads :
Siddha[m] ! Vâchakasya Dattasishyasya Sihasya ni ... The last word is to be restored to nivartand, and the meaning of the words is: "Success! At the request of the preacher Siha (Sinha), the pupil of Datta," Bühler has already noticed that this Siha is mentioned again as the spiritual adviser of a lay-woman in a Mathura inscription probably dated in Sam. 20 (Ep. Init. Vol. I. p. 383, No. 4). The present inscription therefore is to be referred to about the same time.
Nos. 34, 35, and 86.-Mathura pillar inscriptions ; edited by Rajendralala Mitra, Journ. Beng. A8. Soc. Vol. XXXIX, Part I. p. 128, Nos. 54, 56, 6, and Plate; and by Dowson, Journ. Roy. As. Soc.
New Ser. Vol. V. p. 186, Nos. 12 and 13. The first and second of these inscriptions are on the base and plinth of a pillar, and the third is on the base of another piilar. If any trust can be put in Rajendralala Mitra's facsimiles, they are, for palmographical reasons, to be placed in the time of the Kushana rule at Mathura. As Rajendralala Mitra's and Dowson's transcripts differ in many respects, and the facsimiles are very poor, all that can be said is that the first inscription refers to the son of a certain Vasumihira, while the second and third mention a person who was the son of Simhs, and whose own name ended in-mihira and probably was Vasumihira as given by Dowson. At the end of the second inscription Rajendralala Mitra read ména dévidharmdya ri trine, Dowson imena deriddharma parity, and at the end of the third Rajendralala Mitra dhammabhikshada, Dowson deva dharma pu. There cannot be the slightest doubt that in both cases the correct reading is iména déyadharma-parityagena, and that these words are to be completed in analogy to a phrase used in another Buddhist inscription from Mathura :
