192 Dr. L. A. Waddell — Note on an old inscription from Mungir. [JuLT, 



As apparently favouring Dr. Buchanan's opinion as to the probable 

 derivation of the name, it is to be noted that the modern Hindi name of 

 the kind of pulse called mudga in Sanskrit is mung. But on the other 

 hand the mung bean does not affect hilly or rocky sites, and its cultiva- 

 tion is widespread throughout the Gangetic plain. It seems not unlike- 

 ly that the vulgar name of the fort, viz., Mungger, is merely a Muham- 

 madan perversion of the old name, somewhat like the change by which 

 ' Naba-dwip ' was converted into ' Nadiya.' 



The fact that the Sanskrit Mudga can become, in Prakrit, in the collo- 

 quial mung, is almost equally favourable to a derivation from the Sage 

 Mudgal; as in ordinary parlance many letters of the old names are 

 elided, thus the classical Kastaharani Ghat close at hand is popularly 

 called ' Katharni,' and the Chinese pilgrim Hiuen Tsiang in the 7th 

 century also mentions the Sage Mudgalaputra in connection with this 

 neighbourhood ;* and the hermitage of this Sage here is still a favourite 

 place of Hindu pilgrimage. It seems therefore moi'e probable that the 

 place derives its name from this Sage than from the sjDecies of pulse 

 called ' mung.' 



It is somewhat remarkable in this regai'd to find that now-a-days 

 what is locally known as Muu-pahar — a name which is synonymous with 

 Mun-giri — is not Mungir itself, but the cluster of rocks presently in mid- 

 channel of the Ganges, about Ij miles north of the Mudgalasrama and 

 called in the Trigonometrical Survey maps the ' Beacon rocks.' These 

 rocks are also called ' Mun pathar ' or the ' Sage's rock.' 



Translation. 

 Om. Salutation to the holder of the trident, on whose head the 

 fleeting Ganga, sporting like a piece of white cloud, appears like a 

 garland composed of the Malatl flower. 



To the family of Mukuteshvara belonged the far-famed Kulanandi. 

 He had a sou Vijayanandi by name. From him was born the son versed 

 in politics named Dharetipaka. He had a wife named Amba who was 

 as a second Arundhati. She became his beloved. By her he had a son 

 Gopalitakrama. This man was like a bee in the lotus of the feet of 

 Bhagiratha, i-he king. Having acquired money by honest means, he, 

 afraid of the transmigration of the soul, constructed this building dedi- 

 cated to S'ambhu for the increase of his own merit and that of his 



parents. t 



Samvat 13. 



* Si-yu-Ki translated by Beal, Vol. II, p. 188. 



f The inscription is in verse. The third verse is defective as the first foot 

 contains one Syllable less and the fourth contains two Syllables less in the fourth 

 foot. Hence there is some doubt as to the reading of proper names Dharetiparka 

 and Gopalitakrama. 



