58 



G. A. Grierson — Report on investigation at Bodh-Gayd. [ApriLj 



the other case, if the position of this base has been altered, the position 

 of other bases may have been altered too, and, as evidence of the order 

 of the ancient Brahma alphabet, the whole row of bases is valueless. 



Unless, therefore, the letter on No. 5 can be shown to be some 

 Brahma form of 77a, with which I am unacquainted, these masons' marts 

 prove nothing. Dr. Biihler states that the letter ya occurred in 

 Sanskrit and not in Pali. If therefore, the mai'k does represent rja, it 

 affords valuable evidence of the fact that the Sanskrit alphabet was 

 written when the masons' marks were made. I 



The letter on No. 7, cha^ has the form ^ instead of the more usual ® . 

 According to Dr. Biihler, it occurs once in the Kalsi A9oka inscrip- 

 tion, and frequently in the inscriptions of Hathigumpha, Nanaghat, 

 Mathura, and the Western Caves. 



To sum up this portion of the subject. 



The following table shows (a) the marks on the pillars as Sir A. 

 Cunningham saw them, (b) the marks which I have seen, and (c) the 

 complete series of marks which should have been on them if Sir A. 

 Cunningham's theory is correct : — 



I have examined these pillar bases with the greatest care several 

 times by both morning and evening light, and I cannot discover even • 

 the faintest trace of any of the letters seen by Sir A. Cunuingham, and 

 which I have marked in column (6) as not existing. 



I now proceed to describe the condition of each pillar-base in the 

 northern row. Each base, as mentioned by Sir A. Cunningham (Maha- 



