52 G. A. Grierson — Report on investigation at Bodh-Gaya. [April, 



Dated Howrah, the 29th November, 1895. 



From — G. A. GRrERSO^■, Esq., Ph. D., c. i. e., Magistrate of Howrah, 



To — The Secretary to the Government of Bengal, General Department. 



With reference to your Xo. 408 T.G., dated the 31st October, 1895, 



I hare the honour to report, that I left this for Bodh-Gaya on the 9th 



instant, and examined the masons' marks referred to. 



2. I now beg to forward herewith a report of what I saw there. 

 I regret that it is not more satisfactory. 



3. I may add that I have consulted Dr. Hoernle, and he has 

 authoi-ised me to state that he agrees with the conclusions arrived at by 

 me. 



REPORT. 



Dr. BtJHLER, in his study on the Indian Brahma alphabet (page 

 30), refers to a discovery of Sir A. Cunningham at Bodh-Gaya in the 

 following terms : — 



" In the cloistered walk, which Asoka erected over the supposed 

 Cankama of Buddha, there is a double row of pillars, eleven on each 

 eide, which bear the following letters* — 



" On the south side — a, a, i, t, u, u, e, ai, o, au, ah. 



" On the north side — fa, na, jha, ja, cha, ca, na, gha, ga, hha, Tea. 



" The characters, of which some specimens are given, op. cit. Plate 

 X, No. 1, are of the same type as those of Asoka's Edicts. t They are, 

 no doubt, anasons' marks, and intended for numbering the pillars ac- 

 cording to the simplest and most natural system of notation by means 

 of the letters. As the Indian masons are neither great scholars nor 

 quite illiterate,J it may be assumed that the alphabet, which they used, 

 is the popular one of the elementary schools of the day. As far as it 

 goes, it closely agrees in its character with that still taught in the 

 modem indigenous schools, and omits, like it, and like the alphabet of 

 the Lalita vistara, the vowels r, f, 1, I. If it omits also the eleventh 

 vowel am, giving ah in its place, that is no doubt due to a mistake of 



* Cauningham, ilahabodhi Gaya, page 8; Plates Y, No. 3, and X, Xo. 1. 



t It ■will be shown below that the aa with the round top and the peculiar cha, 

 which they contain, occur also in the Edicts. 



X The Indian masons, the Sntradharas or Tardliakins of the older literature and 

 the Siletas of our days, occupy an intermediate position between the Aryan and the 

 S^Qdra classes. They wore, and still wear, the sacred thread, and they once possess- 

 ed, and still possess a small amount of Sanskrit learning. The rules of their craft, 

 which they commit to memory, are written in Sanskrit, and are at present largely 

 mixed with Prakrit and barbarous bastard forms. 



