262 Journal of the Asiatic Soctety of Bengal. {[N.S., XVI, 
APPENDIX. 
THE BIKANER prasasti OF RAJA Riya SINGHA 
(Samvat 1650). 
In an appendix to the last Report of the Survey! I had 
incidentally mentioned, as a sign of the interest for historical 
matters which the Rajput Princes were evincing at the time 
of Akbar, the long prasasti-inscription caused toi be engraved 
by Raya Singha, the contemporary Raja of Bikaner, in the 
new fort which he built in his capital. This inscription is still 
in situ on a jamb of the Straja Pola, the oldest and most 
beautiful of the three successive gatés leading into the interior 
of the Bikaner fort, and is an object of admiration to many 
visitors who suddenly catch a climpse of it as they pass 
under the gate. It is, in fact. even externally a noteworthy 
inscription, both for its unusual length and for the neatness 
and beauty of its characters, which are designed calligraphi- 
cally and even to this day stand out very boldly thanks to the 
great depth to which they are incised The inscription num- 
bers 92 lines and covers a space of about 6’ 9” x 2’ 3” 
But it is also something more. It is, if I interpret it correct- 
ly, an attempt to document a claim, an extravagant claim which 
he Rathoras of Rajputana had begun to put forward in that tour 
of time, that they are the offspring of raja Jé Canda of Kanauj 
ane, More remotely, of Rama Candra himself. The reasons 
which led the Rathoras to put forth this claim are easy enough 
to understand, and that they should have put it forward at this 
1 Journ. As. Soc. of Be., vol. xv (N.S.), 1919, p. 31. 
