1837.] Facsimiles of Ancient Inscriptions. 219 



nation there recognized as " Mahartfja" .... drew Captain Cunning- 

 ham's attention while copying the penultimate line of the present 

 inscription. No doubt the whole of this class of cave and chaitya in- 

 scriptions are intimately connected, and refer to the same age ; and 

 however illegible now, they will ultimately yield to the persevering 

 progress of antiquarian research. 



The second inscription, occupying the two sides of Plate XI. is 

 altogether of a different class, although the book states it to have 

 been procured from the same town, AmardvatL In Wilson's catalogue 

 of the Mackenzie MSS. vol. ii. page xxvii. we find notice of a " report 

 of the progress of Anand Rdo (one of the Colonel's travelling collec- 

 tors) on his journey in the Dharanikota, Amardvati, and Bender dis- 

 tricts in the Telugu country for the year 1817." This would, doubt- 

 less, afford all the requisite information respecting the discovery and 

 position of the fragment, were the report in our possession ; but it 

 seems to have been sent to England with the bulk of the manuscripts, 

 and thence probably it has found its way to Madras. Should this be 

 the case we shall not appeal in vain to the Editor of the Madras 

 Literary Journal to supply us with any extract that may throw light 

 on the subject. 



The stone is noted down as 5 feet long by 17 inches in width. 

 It is in very good preservation, as far as it goes, but the loss of the 

 left half of the summit, and the fracture at the lowermost line, render 

 it doubtful how much of the text may have preceded or followed that 

 which remains. 



The character has much resemblance to that of some of the cave 

 inscriptions at Mahdbalipur and other places to the westward ; the 

 essential portion of each letter also assimilates very closely to the 

 alphabets of the Chattisgarh and Seoni inscriptions, and this has served 

 as the key by which I have effected the transcription of the whole. 



It is worthy of remark, that in' this alphabet, which we may aptly 

 denominate the Andhra character from its locality, may be traced the 

 gradual transition from the more simple Devanagari of Northern India, 

 (No. 2 of Allahabad, Gaya and Guzerat) to the complicated or florid 

 writing of the Southern Peninsula. On comparing it with the Hala 

 Canara, or ancient Carnatic, the letters n, t, y, r, I, kh, tli i dh, bh, which 

 may be regarded in some degree as test letters, because they have un- 

 dergone more variation than others in the modern writing of different 

 provinces, are nearly identical. There is also an incipient loop in the 

 lower line of many of the letters which becomes afterwards more 

 developed in the west and south. The Telinga or Telugu character 



