1836.] Facsimiles of Ancient Inscriptions. 659 



tenets enabled him to correct the former in several doubtful read- 

 ings. 



The character may be properly designated as the Gaur alphabet, 

 the parent of the modern Bengali form. The specimen is chronolo- 

 gically valuable to the investigation of the gradual alterations it has 

 undergone, because it contains a date, Samvat 73 or 74, of an era 

 that has been the subject of some misapprehension. Mr. Colebrookb 

 rectified Dr. Wilkins' mistake in supposing this sambat could refer to 

 the era of Vikramaditya, and assumed a position for it 1000 years 

 more modern, in connection with the Gopala or Bhupdla dynasty of 

 Gaur. The document before us corroborates this view ; but by the ex- 

 pression, " after the expiration of the reign of Laxmana Se'na," it 

 would seem that the term samvat applied generally to whatever epoch 

 might be mentioned in the preceding sentence. Laxmana Se'na, the 

 son of Belal Sen, who built the city of Gaur, reigned in A. D. 

 1116 — 1123: so that the date of the inscription on this supposition 

 would be A. D. 1197, only three years prior to the destruction of the 

 monarchy by the Musalmans. The figures, however, are unfortunately 

 doubtful, just where their identification is of the greatest conse- 

 quence : — the first might be read as the Nagari 1, were not the nu- 

 merals of the month so clearly of the Bengali form. If counted from 

 the foundation of Gaur in 1066, the date would fall in 1140. Were 

 there any possibility of assuming a starting point on satisfactory 

 data, the day of the week, Thursday, would afford a sure test of its 

 being correctly fixed, by the calculation of the luni-solar period 

 elapsed : but according to the formula in my calendric tables, neither 

 of the epochs above selected will bring about such a result. 



The following is the transcript of the facsimile in modern Nagari. 

 One letter after Namobuddhdya is illegible, and the next word is con- 

 sequently doubtful : anusvara is substituted for ^. 



4 q 2 



