Captain Tod's Comments on a Sanscrit Inscription. 



185 



rather say it had the appearance of a grand fire-temple, than that of being 

 intended for defence. It is in shape the frustrum of a pyramid, from 

 eighty to one hundred feet in height, artificially raised : the exterior slope 

 of each side (faced with brick) forming an angle of about seventy-two 

 degrees with the horizon. Still the terre-pleine at top is considerable ; and 

 the palace of Prithwiraja would have been standing to grace it, but for 

 the guns of Mons. Perron, when he put a stop to the schemes of sove- 

 reignty of George Thomas, who had established his court in these " Halls of 

 the CiEsars," now a heap of ruins. Nor are there any traces of those 

 erected by Kilhan and HAMivifR, " in which they placed the spoils of 

 the foe." 



The Inscription, which I obtained through the kindness of my friend 

 Colonel Skinner, had been saved from the general wreck of these halls, by 

 the materials being taken to erect a small Musleman place of worship ; and 

 this slab was built into the wall in a reversed position. It was afterwards 

 presented to the Marquis Hastings : but, as it reached this nobleman at a 

 very busy period of his career, in 1818, I know not what became of it. 



Of the precise import of the term A' si* I am ignorant; but, most pro- 

 bably, it is derived from some ancient tribe now extinct. Aswa was a very 

 common termination of the names of the princes of the ancient dynasties 

 of India, with probably similar import to that used by the Persian monarchs. 

 The Assaceni were a nation in the Indies, described by Alexander's his- 

 torians. 



Asigarh, or Asidurg, is celebrated as the scene of contest between the 

 Hindus and early Muhammedans. It was by this route, that most of 

 ShahAbuddin's attempts were made to wrest the throne of Hind from the 

 subject of the Inscription, PrithwibAja ; and often did the warriors of the 

 mountains of Cdbul find their graves before A' si. Even now it presents the 

 appearance of a great sepulchre all around, but especially to the west. The 

 route was by Pdcapattan, the town of Purity, on the Setlej, to Bhatner and 

 Fateh-dbdd, to A' si and Delhi. It was by this route Timur, in the very 

 commencement of the nintl; century of the Hejira, taking advantage of 

 civil strife, entered India, when the last of the race of Khiliji filled the 

 imperial throne. 



The scope of the Inscription is to commemorate a victory obtained by 



* Asi (with both vowels short) signifies a sword. A'sa is a bow H.T.C. 



