1837.] from the Buddhist Tope at Sanchi near Bhilsa. 461 



the Buddhist temples of Ava ; where numerous dwajas or flag-staffs, 

 images, and small chaityas are crowded within the enclosure, surround- 

 ing the chief cupola, each bearing the name of the donor. The next 

 point noted was the frequent occurrence of the letter (\j, already set 

 down incontestably as s, before the final word : — now this I had learnt 

 from the Saurashtra coins, deciphered only a day or two before, to be one 

 sign of the genitive case singular, being the ssa of the Pali, or sya of 

 the Sanscrit. " Of so and so the gift," must then be the form of each 

 brief sentence ; and the vowel a and anuswara led to the speedy 

 recognition of the word ddnam, (gift,) teaching me the very two 

 letters, d and n, most different from known forms, and which had foiled 

 me most in my former attempts. Since 1834 also my acquaintance with 

 ancient alphabets had become so familiar that most of the remaining 

 letters in the present examples could be named at once on re-inspection. 

 In the course of a few minutes I thus became possessed of the whole 

 alphabet, which I tested by applying it to the inscription on the Delhi 

 column : but I will postpone my analysis of the alphabet until I have 

 prepared a fount of type for it, when 1 may bring forward my attempted 

 reading of the lit inscriptions ; meanwhile, the following transcript in 

 Roman letters of the Sanchi gifts will shew the data on which I have 

 built my scheme, and will supply examples of most of the letters. 



No. 3, the first in numerical order, is not one of the most legible, 

 the first two letters being indistinct. It seems to run thus : 



Rarasa (or Karasa) ndga piyasa, Achavade Sethisa ddnam ; ' The 

 gift of Achvaua Sethi', the beloved of Karasa naga.' 



No. 4 and No. 1 1 are identical ; — 



Sdmanerasa Abeyakasa Sethinon ddnam ; ' The gift of Sa'mane'ra and 

 Abeyaka Se'th.' 



S&mariera is the title of a subordinate order of the Buddhist priest- 

 hood. Seth is evidently a family name ; and the same is now of common 

 occurrence among the Jains — witness Jagat Se'th, the millionaire of 

 Moorshedabad. 



No. 5. Dhamdgdlikasa mdta ddnam; 'The gift of the mother of 

 (?) Dharmagarika.' 



In No. 6 the first letter is doubtful : — 



Gobavandgahapati nopati dhiyanusaya vesa mandataya ddnam ; ' The 

 gift of the cowherd Agrapati, commonly called Nopati, to the highly 

 ornamented (chaitya ?).' 



No. 7 is also doubtful in the three first letters : — 



Subhageyamsa aginikeya ddnam ; ' The gift of Sobhageya the fireman, 

 (or black-smith.') 

 3 o 



