1890.] Dr. L. A. Waddell — Note on an old inscription from Mungir. 191 



The following paper was read— 



Note on an inscription in Kiitila characters, from a stone recently un- 

 earthed at Mndgal-dsrdnia (Kashtaharani ghat) Mungir, ivith ink impres- 

 sion of inscription. — By L. A. Waddell, M. B. 



The inscribed stone, from which is taken the accompanying ink 

 impression, was found by me a few weeks ago lying at Kashtaharani 

 Ghat, the dsrani, or hermitage, of the celebrated Saint Mudgahxputra, 

 on the Granges at Mungir. The priest in charge of the ghat and temple 

 infoi'med me that the stone appeared about three months ago at the side 

 of the ghat on the receding of the flood-waters of the Ganges, and on 

 being thus exposed it was carried up one or two steps of the ghat and 

 there deposited, where I found it. 



The stone is a narrow oblong slab about 27 inches long, and about 

 5 inches broad, and 3j inches deep, roughly chiselled on its upper and 

 lower surfaces, and evidently had been originally built, or intended to be 

 built, into a wall. The inscription extends along the smooth narrow 

 lateral face of the stone, covering nearly the whole extent of that sur- 

 face. The stone is in excellent preservation, as the ink impression 

 attests : this excellent state of preservation is doubtless owing to the 

 stone having remained buried in the mud for several centuries. The 

 inscription is entire, and the date is distinctly engraved ' Samv. 13.' The 

 relatively modern form of the letters suggests that the era here referred 

 to may be that of Lakshmana Sena, which commenced in the first 

 quarter of the twelfth century A. D. 



It will be interesting should the inscription, amongst other infor- 

 mation, throw any light on the etymology of the name ' Mungir,' in 

 regard to which opinion is divided. The recognized modern way of 

 spelling the name of Mungir seems a sort of quasi scientific compromise 

 between the sevex-al forms Mongir, Monghyr, Mungger, &c. The native 

 mode of spelling the name is still the same as that recorded by Dr. 

 Buch.ananin his Statistical Survey at the beginning of the century, viz., 

 Mungger (<JCS?2r) Part of Dr. Buchanan's note on the etymology of the 

 word I quote here, especially as the volume containing it* is not in the 

 Society's library — " in an iuscriptionf seven or eight centuries old found 



at the place the name is written Mudgagira, the hill of Mudga, and 



not Mudgalpuri, or the abode of Mudgal. The existence of the saint 

 and prince of that name is perhaps therefore problematical, as Mudga 

 is the Sangskrita name for a kind of pulse, the Phaseolus mungo of 

 Linnaeus, from whence also the vulgar name of the place (Mugger) is 

 probably derived." 



* Eastern India, Vol. II, p. 45. 



t This is evidently the ' Mnngir Copper-plate grant ' described iu Vol. I of 

 the Asiatic Researches, and now, I believe, in the casfcody of the Society. 



