Indian Antiquary Vol 58

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Charles E A W Oldham, S Krishnaswami Aiyangar, Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarka
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 102

92
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY
[ MAY, 1929
people. Kilts were worn at all ages, and this figure I should take to be some 2,500 years later than those from Mohenjo-daro"; that is to say, he dated it at about 800 B.C.
In the course of my wanderings in the Aden Hinterland, I came across a very large num. ber of inscriptions and sculptures with the name of Wadd inscribed on them. Many of them have been published in the Corpus Inscriptionum Semiticarum, but no sculpture was found which had words on it purporting to say that it was the " image of Wadd," with the exception of that described in this paper. Hence its special importance. It has been under my observation since 1922, when it first came to my notice. It once belonged to the Bombay Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, which gave it to the Prince of Wales Museum of Western India.
It is described in Vol. V of JBBRAS., 1844, pp. 30-40, by James Bird, who renurked on it as follows: "No. 1 of the inscriptions from Mareb is executed on the figure of a person on foot and reads :
BADAWYADAWA بدوي عدوا
signifying a Bedawin of the opposite coast', from which it will appear that these figures must have been taken from a Christian Church, wherein were represented the characters of the several tribes." Dr. Bird is, however, not accurate in his decipherment of the inscription, and in consequence there is an error in his subsequent deduction. The inscription above the head of the image is to be read from right to left. The first character has unfortunately been badly damaged, but from traces on the stone itself it can be safely
read. The inscription is in Sabæan characters
2, which
are the equivalent of the Hebrew any
and the Arabic
The commencing words, Sabwan, are all from the same root and mean 'form, an appearance, external state or condition, state with respect to apparel and the life, or garb" : hence
an ime. The terminal word of the inscription, ab, in Sabæan
was,and is still,
used by she Arabs as an honorific title. It is used in the Qur'an (V, 127) for Abraham and his sons. It also means a feeder, patron or master, when used as an attribute, but standing alone it now means "God ", and must in ancient days have designated a God with divine qualities. It has been found accompanying specially the god Wadd in the Himyaritic inscriptions (vide C. 1. 8., ii, pp. 385-387). The translation of this inscription, therefore, by "Image of Wadd Pater" is correct.