1865.] Notes on the Eran Inscriptions. 39 



Referring to the passage just extracted, Babu Rajendralal Mitra has 

 asserted, that here " we have the learned gentleman * * * informing 

 his readers, that, when his paper on the Eran inscriptions was written, 

 he had only a facsimile before him, and not the original,"* The Italics 

 are the Babu's. 



It must be evident enough, I should think, that I am misrepre- 

 sented. Four months added to Dec. 31, 1860, bring us to April 30, 

 1861. At the former date I was at Eran ; and it was then that I 

 wrote my paper on the inscriptions there, after minute examination of 

 them, as I stated at length. At the latter date I was at Saugor ; and 

 at that time I had to trust, in drawing up my additional notes, to my 

 facsimiles of the inscriptions. 



Having quoted my words, " Four months after my first visit to 

 Eran, writing under the guidance of my facsimile copy," the Babu 

 inquires : " And not the original ?" Precisely : not the original. The 

 Eran inscriptions are engraved, the one on a monolith some fifty feet 

 high and thirty inches square, and the other on a stone boar about 

 twice as large as a full grown elephant, and hewn out of a rock pro- 

 jecting from the bowels of the earth. The monument and the effigy 

 I was compelled to leave behind me, even as I found them. 



Again, the Babu expresses it as his opinion, that, " when a critic, 

 professedly the most microscopically exact, comes forward with the 



reminding the Babu of my declaration " standing before the originals," &c, 

 I had said that it went, with him, for but little, " as contributing to induce 

 credit in the trustworthiness of my version of the Eran inscriptions." But 

 that is all. As my several statements show, the first time I was at Eran, 

 my attention was not very particularly drawn to what I then read sansura- 

 bhu. I made a short note on it, and so let it pass. Perceiving, subsequently, 

 that my facsimile suggested doubts, I entered into further particulars, based 

 on that facsimile ; and, eventually, on re-inspection of the inscription itself, 

 I found I must abandon my old position. A little way on, in this letter, 

 quoting myself, I speak of having used my best diligence, when first at 

 Eran, in weighing all the cases where I differed from Mr. Prinsep. These 

 cases are very numerous ; and, of course, I gave more heed to those which 

 seemed of moment, than to such as appeared to be of only second-rate im- 

 portance. That, on re-examination of the original words, I found it necessary 

 to amend some of my earlier conclusions, will astonish but few ; and I cheer- 

 fully confront the jeopardy of such damage to my reputation as this 

 confession may entail. Change of opinion is not necessarily retrogression ; 

 and a man's best diligence is likely to be better the second time than it was 

 the first. 



* Journal As. Soc. Bcng., 1862, p. 395. 



