1837.] to the No. 1 Inscriptions of the Ldts. 473 



ments and rock excavations attributed to the ancient sovereigns of 

 Ceylon abound with inscriptions in a character not essentially differing 

 from these four on the continent of India. We have thus a strong 

 primi facie argument in favor of the hypothesis that Devanam- 

 piyatissa, the royal convert, caused, in his zeal, the dogmas of his 

 newly adopted faith to be promulgated far and wide at his expense. 

 It is true that, according to the Mahdvansi, the Buddhist doctrines 

 were not reduced to writing («. e. in books) in Ceylon until 217 

 years, 10 months and 10 days after its oral promulgation bv Mihinda, 

 A soka"s brother, in the year above fixed,— or " while Valagamabahu, 

 the 21st sovereign of the Vijaya line, was still a disguised fugitive ;" 

 that is, about the year 90 B. C. ; but this fact tells rather in favor 

 of other modes being previously used to make known, and to record 

 irrevocably the new rules of conduct ; and we might easily cite a 

 more ancient and venerable example of thus fixing the law on tablets 

 of stone. But I have not yet shewn that such is the nature of our 

 inscription : — as yet, we are ignorant what happened in the twelfth 

 and the twenty-seventh year of king Devanampjyadisa's receiving 

 the holy unction, abhisheka. To ascertain this, we must continue our 

 analysis one step further. On the south, east, and west sides of the 

 Delhi column, as well as in the body of the text, the text left unfinished 

 above is thus concluded : *• JL * D * 8 "J U "J 1 A *y am dhamma lipi likhd- 

 pita, which may be exactly translated, ' This dharma-lipi, or writing of 

 the law, is caused to be written.' All doubt as to the nature of the 

 document is thus removed, and we have the fullest confirmation of 

 the theory just broached. The variations of the reading are few — 

 HJL' a V arn is rnore correctly put for iyam in the Girnar version 

 (lipi being neuter in Pali, though feminine in Sanskrit) : — and in the 

 following sentence which winds up the Delhi inscription, we have 

 dhammalibi twice used for dhammalipi, exactly the license allowed in 

 Sanskrit, "spiifafa and "KHiifafa being synonimous : these seemingly 

 trivial variations are of great force in establishing the value of the 

 letters interchanged : 



Iya dhammalibi likhahdpitdti eta Devdnampiya dhd : ' Iyam dham- 

 ma libi ata atha silathabhdniva siladhakaniva tata kataviya ena esa chila- 

 thiti siya.' Which seems to imply, though the precise meaning is not 

 yet well made out : " Having caused to be engraven this dharmalibi, 

 Deva'nampita thus declared : ' This dharmalibi, in like manner as it is 

 now fixed upon enduring rock, so may all continue for ever in the 

 performance of it.' " Silasthdpan, if long, would mean the establish- 

 ment of Buddha's doctrines. Chila thiti siya, is evidently the San- 

 skrit chiran sthiti siydt. 



