IGi Tiajeiulralala Mitra — On the Ildtliigumplid Inserijption. [July, 



General Cunningliam, to whom they belonged. They were the most perfect 

 specimens of the kind of work that, under the peculiar circumstances of 

 the case, could be expected. The inscription included seventeen lines of 

 the most ancient Pali character, and, in language, was closely allied to the 

 edicts of Asoka. It was recorded on the living rock above the entrance of 

 a large natural cavern extended by art, and covered an area of over 84 

 square feet ; each letter measuring about two inches in length. The en- 

 trance was from* 5 to 10 feet high, and the monument was recorded on the 

 liighest point. The rock was of soft sandstone, and the surface on which 

 the inscription was engraved had suffered greatly from exposure to the 

 weather for the last two thousand two hundred years. The surface was 

 very rough, and in many places had peeled off, causing serious lacunse in 

 the record. The only access to the record could be had by putting up a 

 scaffolding, and even then the moss on its surface caused serious difficulty 

 in the way of reading it. The surface was so uneven that no estampages 

 could be taken that w^ould be worth the trouble. 



The record was first brought to the notice of antiquarians by Mr. 

 Stirling in his essay on Orissa, published in Volume XV of the Researches, 

 but so little was known of the ancient Pali alphabet at the time, that 

 nothing could be made of it. In 1837, Major, (then Lieutenant,) Kittoe, 

 when travelling in search of coal in Orissa, came to the place, and, after great 

 trouble, secured an eye-copy, and from it Prinsep prepared his reading 

 and translation. Speaking of the eye-copy Mr. Prinsep said, " Nothing 

 short of an impression (and from the nature of the rock, an impression was 

 impossible,) could surpass in fidelity Mr. Kittoe's twice compared fac- 

 simile," and the praise was well deserved. After a careful comparison of his 

 copy with the cast. Dr. Mitra had found very little in it to take exception 

 to, except in places where the faintness of the engraving or the defective 

 form of the letters had left room for alternative readings. The record had, 

 since Lieutenant Kittoe's time, suffered extensive injury, and many letters, 

 at times eight or ten in one place, which, judging from his facsimile, had 

 been then perfectly clear, were no longer legible. 



"When Dr. Mitra was at Uda^^agiri he caused a cast to be taken in 

 plaster of Paris, but by a stupid blunder his assistants forgot to number the 

 different pieces, and so it proved utterly useless. Mr. Locke's cast had 

 been first taken in clay, and from that reversed facsimile casts were made 

 in plaster of Paris. The sections were so taken as to have the last letter 

 of the first section repeated in the one next to it, and the last line of 

 each section was repeated on the section below it, so that even without num- 

 bers the sections could not be misplaced. And altogether the work was so 

 done as to be in every way creditable to Mr. Locke's care, diligence, and tho- 

 rough knowledge of the requirements of the antiquarian. 



