Mr. Colebhook^s Notes. 46l 



On collation of those two vedas and their schoHa, I find occasion to 

 amend one or two passages in the version of it formerly given : but for this 

 I shall take another opportunity. 



That remarkable hymn is in language, metre, and style, very diffe- 

 rent firom the rest of the prayers with which it is associated. It has a 

 decidedly more modern tone ; and must have been composed after the 

 Sanscrit language had been refined, and its grammar and rhythm perfected. 

 The internal evidence which it furnishes, serves to demonstrate the impor- 

 tant fact, that the compilation of the vedas, in their present arrangement, 

 took place after the Sanscrit tongue had advanced, from the rustic and 

 irregular dialect in which the multitude of hymns and prayers of the 

 veda was composed, to the polished and sonorous language in which the 

 mythological poems, sacred andprophane (purdnas and cdvyas), have been 

 written. 



C. {Page 154.) 



The inscription at Hdnsi, of which a copy, taken at Lieut. Col. Tod's 

 instance by a learned native, was presented by him, with a translation made 

 through the medium of the same person's interpretation, has, as it appears, 

 been likewise translated by Capt. E. Fell, and is published, with other 

 translations of inscriptions (by the same distinguished Sanscrit scholar), in 

 the fifteenth volume of Asiatic Researches, p. 443. 



Feehng great distrust of the diligence and accuracy of natives in 

 decyphering and interpreting ancient inscriptions, I recommended to Col. 

 Tod to abridge his translation, which rested on a native's interpretation, 

 reducing it, as was accordingly done, to a mere summary. Nevertheless a 

 very material discrepancy appears in the versions: one stating the fort of 

 Asi to have been bestowed on Hammira ; the other affirming it to have 

 been presented by PrnTHivi Raja to Cirana in consequence of his (whether 

 the king or his uncle is not clear) having slain Hammira: the term 

 which Col. Tod's interpreter took to signify " considering," being by 

 Capt. Fell translated " having slain." The difference, if I mistake not, 

 turns on the reading of a single letter : one has read ^x^ matwd, where 

 the other finds '^^ hatwd. As no facsimile has been exhibited, it is not 

 at present practicable to determine which of the two is correct. The pre- 

 sumption is no doubt in favour of the accuracy of Capt. Fell, who was an 



