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JUNE, 1909.)
THE WALA OLAY SEAL OF PUSHYENA.
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145
THE WALA CLAY SEAL OF PUSHYENA.
BY PROFESSOR E, HOLTZSCH, PH.D., HALLE (SAALE). The legend on this seal was published by Bühler in this Journal, Vol. XII, p. 274 f. The 1 seal is now in the British Museum. At the desire of Dr. Fleet, who sent me an excellent photograph of the original, I subjoin a fresh transcript, to accompany the illustration which is given for the first time.
Regarding the provenance of the seal, its dimensions, and the alphabet of its legend, I may refer to Böbler's article. The letters of the inscription are sunk in and reversed. Consequently the letters of the metal or stone matrix, of which it is an impression on clay, must have borne raised letters which had not been reversed by the engraver. As stated by Bühler, the last letter of the fourth line is damaged, aud the end of the third line is lost. Also at the end of the second line the photograph shows the beginning of a letter which is cut away, but can be supplied from the context.
There is only one important detail in which the subjoined transcript differs from Bühler's. In the first line of the seal the name of Pushyāna's ancestor is not Jayaskandha, but Jayadratha. According to the Mahabharata this is the name of a mythical king of Sindhu-Sauvira, who was killed by Arjuna.
ΤΕΣΤ,3 1 A Jayadrathād-avyavachchhinnat-raja
2 vagasya srir-mmshist]āj-A[h]ivarma .. - 3 sūno[r]=mahārāja-maha.... 4 patio-Pushyāna[sya] [11]
TRANSLATION (The seal) of the Mahārāja Mahi[sēnā] pati Pashyona, the son of the glorious Maḥīrāja A[h]ivarman, whose family of kings (i.e., whose pedigree of royal ancestors) is uninterrapted from Jayadratha downwards.
NOTE ON THE USE OF IMAGES IN ANCIENT INDIA.
BY STEN KONOW. In the introduction to bis well-known essay on Buddhist Art Dr. Grunwedel remarks that the art of ancient India owes its rise to Buddhism, and he, as well as other authorities: lays stress on the fact that it is essentially ornamental. M. Foucher says, the ancient Indian sculpture did not know detached statues . .. it is a well-known fact that the later Indian school only counts some few ones which have not been placed against a wall or a pillar. The reason is that sculpture was considered as a purely ornamental art." Dr. Grünwedel has also shown how wood-carving and the goldsmith's craft have existed in India from the oldest times and paved the way to an Indian school of sculpture. The oldest Indian sculpture known up to the present time is found on old
(From the fact that the legend is roversed and sunk, and from the shape of the mus of olay which bears it, it would seem that the impression was made for the purpose of stamping the legend on documents, cloth, or any other non-metallic substance. In the accompanying illustration, the goal is presented so that the legend reads rect, not in reverse as it does on the original.-J. F.F.] 2 See Prof. Jacobi's Index, p. 209.
From a photograph applied by Dr. Fleet. • The subsoribed ofchchhinnas is faintly visible on the photograph.
• As implied by Dr. Fleet's translation (Indian Epigraphy in The Indian Empire, Vol. II, p. 89), this is probably a mistake of the engraver for bri-mahārāj. The hof - Ahivarma is damaged and hence looks almost like d or. Reatore - Ahivarmanal.
Bühler proposed to restore -mahātināpati.. Rorue de l'Historie des Rolizione, Vol. 80 ( 1894), p. 337.
