1836.] Facsimiles of Ancient Inscriptions. 795 



VII. — Facsimiles of Ancient Inscriptions, lithographed. 



(Continued from page 731.) 



Inscription on a Cannon from Goa. 

 At the foot of Plate XLIX. I have inserted the copy of an inscrip- 

 tion which, it seems has long puzzled the savans of Lisbon. Mr. J. 

 Gauuart, chief interpreter and sworn translator to the British Govern- 

 ment at Penang, Singapur, and Malacca, has addressed the Rev. 

 Anselmo Yegros, Vicar General of the Singapur Mission, on the 

 subject, affording, as he conceives, a full explanation of its purport; 

 but either the characters must be exceedingly perverted in the copy, 

 or Mr. Gaudart must have a powerful imagination, to convert, as he 

 does, such hieroglyphics into the following Sanscrit sentence : 



'SH *n^ ^Tra ?:tw ttjt 



which he translates, " (cette) heureux (et) puissant manufacture 

 appartient au bon Roi Ra'm le 12 de Belier 72S." 



The raja here designated as the proprietor of the gun (if the read- 

 ing be conceded) the translator explains to be Rama varma vira Mar- 

 tanda Perumal Tamuri, who reigned at Calicut from the year 7 1 8, 

 (A. D. 1542,) to 736 (A. D. 1561,) of the Parasurama cycle. He 

 was engaged in severe straggles with the Portuguese, and it is 

 probable that the piece of ordnance thus fell into the hands of his 

 enemies. 



Of the letters themselves those only that bear resemblance to old 

 Sanscrit, are the 1st, 3rd, and 4th. The rest appear purely con- 

 jectural. 



Inscription at Randharpur. 



Lieutenant Kittoe, already well known to my readers for his 

 antiquarian and architectural zeal, has, on his recent march with his 

 regiment towards Gumsur, taken every opportunity of examining 

 objects of antiquity in his route. The only inscription he has yet 

 met with is shewn at the foot of PI. XLIX. " It is (he writes from 

 Cuttack) contained in two compartments of a very ancient and unfi- 

 nished temple on a rock in an island near A'tgarh ; at a place called 

 Kandharpur or Kandalpur." The characters are of the old Bengali 

 or Gaur type : and may be thus transcribed in modern Deva Nagari ; 

 ssftfg-f^rg^^". ^faf^si *?^ : " the divine lord of beauteous variety, 

 the variegated ornament" — being the epithet, doubtless, given to the 

 form of Siva, established or intended to be sthupan'd in the temple. 

 5 l 2 



