88 Translation of an Inscription, No. 2, [Feu. 



II. — Translation of an Inscription on a stone in the Asiatic Society's 

 Museum, marked No. 2. By Captain G. T. Marshall, Examiner in 

 the College of Fort William. 



[In pursuance of our intention of making known all the inscriptions and 

 ancient records within our reach, along with facsimiles of the characters in 

 which they are written, we now proceed with our review of the unedited hlocks 

 in the Society's possession. Captain Marshall has kindly undertaken the 

 task of translation in this case, and, as the letters are in perfect preservation 

 and in the well-formed type of the Gaur alphabet, we have thought it unnecessary 

 to insert more than a specimen of the beginning of the inscription, the full size 

 of the original, in Plate VII. The allusion to the Gaur dynasty affords a clue 

 to the date of the document, and on the obscure, half-defaced line at the termi- 

 nation of the 24th line, we think the words ifarT ?^ are clearly visible, re- 

 ferring doubtless to the same Gaurian epoch which has been remarked in so 

 many other similar monuments, and therefore placing the document in the 10th 

 or 11th century. We cannot discover by whom the stone was presented to the 

 Society. On the back of it are half cut Hindu images. — Ed.] 



This inscription is without date ; hut the form of the letters and 

 the names of persons mentioned will probahly render the fixing 1 of its 

 age an easy matter to those conversant with such subjects. It was 

 composed by a pandit named Sri' Va'chaspati, in praise of a 

 brahman of rank and learning, styled Bhatta Sri' Bhava-deva 

 and his family — and it would appear that the slab on which it is 

 engraved, must have been affixed to some temple of which Bhava- 

 deva was the founder. The individuals of this family, whose names 

 are given, are, 1. Savarna Muni, the root of the gotra or line. — 2. 

 Bhava-deva 1st, a descendant of the above, whose elder and younger 

 brothers were Maha-deva and Attahasa. — 3. Rathanga, son of the 

 above, who had seven younger brothers. — 4. Atyanga, son of the 

 above. — 5. Budha, son of the above, surnamed Sphurita.— 6. Adi- 

 deva, son of the above. — 7. Govardhana, son of the above, whose 

 mother's name was Devaki'. — 8. Bhava-deva 2nd, son of the above, 

 surnamed Ba'la-valabhi'-bhujanga, whose mother's name was 

 Sa'ngoka, and who was minister to Raja Harivarmma-deva and his 

 son. The inscription possesses considerable interest in a literary 

 point of view. It is written in verses of various metres, from the 

 Anushtup of eight syllables in each pdda or half line, to the Sragdhard 

 of 21 syllables. The style is ambitious, and abounds in those mytho- 

 logical allusions and double meanings in which the Hindu poets so 

 much delight. The execution proves the author to have been no 

 ordinary composer. 



