inscriptions, Sec. 379 



XXI. 



INSCRIPTIONS 



ON THE 



STAFF OF FIRUZ SHAH. 



TRANSLATED FROM THE SANSCRIT. 

 As explained by RADHACANTA SARMAN. 



ON a very lingular monument near Dehli, an out- 

 line of which is here exhibited, and which the 

 natives call the Staff of Firuz Shah, are feveral old In- 

 fcriptions, partly in ancient Nagari letters, and partly 

 in a character yet unknown ; and Lieutenant Colonel 

 Poller, having procured exact, impreflions of them, 

 prefents the Society with an accurate copy of all the In- 

 fcriptions. Five of them are in Sanfcrit, and, for the 

 moft part, intelligible ;*but it will require great attention 

 and leifure to decypher the others. If the language be 

 Sanfcrit, the powers of the unknown letters may, per- 

 haps, hereafter be discovered by the ufual mode of 

 decyphering; and that mode, carefully applied, even 

 at firft, may lead to a difcovery of the language. In 

 the mean time, a literal verfion of the legible Inscrip- 

 tions is laid before you. They are, on the whole, 

 fufficiently clear; but the fenfe of one or two paffage* 

 is at prefent inexplicable. 



I. 



The firft, on the fouthweft fide of the pillar, is per- 

 fectly detached from the reft : it is about Seventeen feet 

 from the bafe, and two feet higher than the other 

 inferiptions, 



D dz O'M- 



