Indian Antiquary Vol 37

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 36

THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
[FEBRUARY, 1908.
Mr. Smith mentions five Kharowthi inscriptions with dates above one hundred. They are
(1) The Takht-i-Babãi inscription of Gondophernes or Guduphara, the year 103.46 (2) Dr. Waddell's Kaldara inscription, the year 113.16 (3) The Panjtar inscription, the year 122.17 (4) Mr. Caddy's Loriyan Tangai inscription, the year 318.18
(5) The Hashtnagar pedestal inscription, the year 384.10 Mr. Smith speaks of another inscription of the year 113 from Kaladara Nadi, which mentions a Kuşana king, but I have failed to find it. Probably it is still in site. Mr. Smith does not mention it in his list of dated inscriptions. The last two inscriptions of the five above should be omitted as Dr. Vogel has proved that they refer to an era the initial year of which must be in the 4th century before the Christian ora.
Mr. Smith refers these dates to the Vikrama era. The first inscription will be dealt later on. The date of the second inscription, if referred to the Vikrama era, becomes 113 + 56 A. D. which is too early. Dr. Bühler, in editing this inscription, made the following remarks :
"The letters which vary between 1 and 2 inches in height and have been cnt deeply and boldly show the type of the Saks period which is known from the Taxila copper-plate of Patika and the inscription of his contemporary Sudāsa or Sodasa on the Mathura Lion Capital." In his Indische Palaeographie Dr. Bühler divides the Kbaroghi documents into four chief varieties -
(1) The archaic one of the fourth or third centuries B. C. found in the Asoka edicts. (2) The variety of the second and first centuries B, C, on the coins of Indo-Grecian kings. (3) The variety of the Saka period, first century B. C. to first century A. D., found on -
(@) The Taxila copper-plate of Patika. (6) The Mathare Lion Capital inscription.
(6) The Kaldara inscription. (4) The strongly cursive script of the first and second centuries A. D. which begins with the Takht-i-Bahai inscription of Gondophertes and is fully developed in the inscriptions of the latør Kupana kinga Kaniska and Huvi ka as found on -
(1) The Zeda inscription, the year 11. (2) The Manikyala inscription, the year 18. (3) The Suë Vihär copper-plate, the year 11. (4) The Wardak vase, the year 51.30
16 Cunningham, 4. 8. R., Vol. V., p. 58, pl. XVI., fig. 3, and Sonart, Journal Asiatique, 8. série, tom. XY,p. 114, et planche.
* Bühler, Vienna Oriental Journal, pp. 55 and 397, and Senart, Journal Asiatique, sério, tom. XIII, p. 586, et planche.
11 Cunningham, 4. 8. R., Vol. V, p. 61, and pl. XVI., fig. 4.
10 Senart, Journal Asiatique, 9° série, tom. XIII, p. 526, et planche, and Vogel, Annual Report of the Archeological Survey of India (New Series ), 1908-4, p. 858, and pl. LXX, fig. 4.
10 Senart, Journal Asiatique, 9. série, tom. XIII, PP. 528—37, and Vogel, Annual Report of the Archaological Survey of India (New Series), p. 251.
30 Taxila oopper-plate of Patika, E, I, Vol. IV, p. 56, and plate. The Mathura Lion Capital inscriptions edited by Bühler and Bhagwanlal Indraji, J. R. 4. 8., 1894, p. 525, but no facsimile has yet been published. The Zeda inscription, Senart, Journal Asiatique, 8 série, tom. XV. p. 135, et planche. The Manikyala inscription, Senart, Journal Asiatique, 9e sério, tom. VII, p. 1, ot planebe. The Su Vihar plate, Hoerale, I. 4., VOL X. p. 324, and plato.