1834.1 with those of Allahabad and Delhi . 487 



order of the figures being now in the engraving 12, 13§, 13, 14|, 14, 

 &c, the order in which the text should be read to make it agree with 

 the Delhi text is, 12, 13, 13$', 14, 14£, and so on in the natural pro- 

 gression of the figures. 



These circumstances prove how very important has been the dis- 

 covery of the identity of the three inscriptions ; for when to the numer- 

 ous errors of copying, is superadded the perplexing transposition in a 

 complicated manner of one half of the inscription now before us, we may 

 readilv imagine the almost insuperable difficulties it would have pre- 

 sented to a translator, even had he a perfect acquaintance with the 

 alphabet and language ! The case is now very much altered, and those 

 who have the desire to signalize their learning and ingenuity by decy- 

 phering the purport of the document, may go to work with perfect con- 

 fidence, that by collation of the three manuscripts, he can provide him- 

 self with a faithful copy of the original type. Whoever also undertakes 

 to make a facsimile of the other inscriptions stated by Mr, Hodgson to 

 exist in Behar and Nepal, should have a copy of the corrected version 

 before him, that he may note the variations as he proceeds. 



Of the origin and nature of these singular columns erected at pla- 

 ces so distant from each other as Delhi, Allahabad, Bettiah and Patna, 

 all bearing precisely the same inscription (as far as the unknown charac- 

 ter is concerned) , I will not venture to offer any speculations. Whether 

 they mark the conquests of some victorious raja ; — whether they are as 

 it were the boundary pillars of his dominions ; — or whether they are of 

 a religious nature, bearing some important text from the sacred vo- 

 lumes of the Bauddhists or Brahmins, can only be satisfactorily solved 

 by the discovery of the language, and consequently the import these 

 curious monuments are intended to convey. The new facts now 

 brought to light, will I hope tend to facilitate this object, especially the 

 discovery of the double letters which, added to the mode of forming the 

 vowels, leaves little doubt that the alphabet is a modification of Deva 

 Nagari, and the language Sanscrit*, as suggested by Mr. Hodgson. 



* After sending the above to the press, I was favored with an interesting communi- 

 cation from the Rev. Mr. Stevenson, a distinguished Orientalist,\vell known as the au- 

 thor of the Maharastra Grammar, on the Ancient Inscriptions in the Caves of Carli, 

 which is inserted as Art. IV. of the present number. Although I am not prepared to 

 confirm in toto the scheme of Mr. Stevenson's alphabet, since when applied to the Al- 

 lahabad inscription, it does not convert the context into intelligible Sanscrit, — it is most 

 satisfactory to find that many of his equivalents for the ancient letters are the same as 

 those to which the discovery of the double letters above described has led myself ; afford- 

 ing thus, a stronger argument in favor of their being correctly interpreted. Of these it 

 is only necessary to mention the sand they, of which we may now be quite certain. One 

 more effort by a competent Pandit, with the aid of Mr. Stevenson's labours, will 



