188 Remarks on the above by "E. C. Bayley, Esq. [No. 2, 



My reading after the three first words differs materially, as will be 

 at once apparent. 



Sirae Bhagava Bodhabo prevvavetiye 



y e 



matuha sisa pituha sase 

 loota sasi atiyo hratehajati 



As to the tentative reading which I am about to offer, it is neces- 

 sary to say, that of four words it is very nearly, if not altogether, 

 conjectural, of these three are the words " sisa," " sase," " sasi." It 

 may perhaps be a bold guess and one which I confess is mainly 

 founded on the context, but it is one which I nevertheless venture 

 to offer, that these words are forms of one and the same word, and 

 I further guess, that they represent the adverb "from," modified in 

 concordance with the number and gender of the word to which they 

 are attached as with us is the case with the modern well known " ka, ki 

 ke,"of theHindustani genitive — originally also probably a similar quasi 

 adverbial post position. If this conjecture be admissible, perhaps the 

 form now found may be the ancient elaborate form of the modern 

 Hindustani " se." I put forward this guess with great diffidence, but 

 it maybe worth at least examination before it is repudiated. 



The fourth word " loora," or better " loota," is one to which I can 

 find no fair analogue. Col. Cunningham indeed informs me that he 

 has met with the word " liiira" in some of the local Hill dialects as 

 the equivalent of " children ;" this expression would accord better 

 with Rajendra Lai's rendering of the vowels than with my own ; 

 but at any rate if my general rendering of the inscription be cor- 

 rect, the word, whatever its exact form, must express some degree of 

 kindred, specific or general. 



My own version, I may state, accords generally with one which Col. 

 Cunningham long since communicated to me, and on that account per- 

 haps I have the rather inclined to put it forward, side by side with 

 that of so distinguished a scholar as Rajendra Lai. 



To begin with, I take the first fourteen letters to form two words 

 only ; the first, as suggested by Babu Rajendra Lai, an inflected form 



