86 Note on the Bactro-Pali Inscription from Taxila. [No. 1 



Eajendra Lai's remarks. The words which, are so confidently stated 

 not to exist in the original will he found at the end of the upper 

 line in the copy of the inscription in Ariana Antiqua. As this record 

 is stated to be inscribed on an earthen jar, I concluded that the writing 

 was continuous round the vessel, and that Masson in making his copy 

 in a straight line, had begun with the two remarkable crosses, simply 

 because he was obliged to begin somewhere ; and, as it is certain that 

 he could not read a word of the inscription, I felt no hesitation in 

 transferring the last twelve letters of his copy of the first line to the 

 beginning of it. 



Eajendra Lai specially objects to my reading of the letter I in the 

 word Apilaesa, as, in his opinion, the word of the original cannot by 

 any possibility have an I in it. In reply to this I need oDly refer the 

 Babu to the very same form of the letter I, as read by himself through 

 out the Wardak inscription. I therefore adhere to my first reading of 

 Apilaesa for the Macedonian month of Apellaios. 



I note that Professor Dowson reads atta for eight, whilst I read 

 atha. The latter form is that which is used in the Indian Pali 

 inscriptions of the western caves, 41 " and it is also the spoken form of 

 the present day. Moreover I look upon the character, which he reads 

 as a double t, to be only a slight modification of the th of the Shah- 

 bazgarhi inscription. For these reasons I adhere to my own reading. 



Eajendra Lai objects to my reading of the word JBanemasa for the 

 Macedonian month of Panemos, for which he proposes to read pancla- 

 masa, or the " fifth" month. But there is a serious objection to this 

 reading in the fact that we have no grounds whatever for assuming 

 that the Hindus ever numbered their months beyond the four months 

 of each of the three seasons into which the early Indian year was divided. 

 There could not therefore be a fifth month. It is true that both 

 Dr. Stevenson and Mr. Thomas Lane managed to squeeze 32 days 

 into a fortnight, but this has only been effected by misreading the 

 final ill-formed letter of the word oatiya as a cypher for 30, thus 

 making " bati 32" instead of " batiya 2."f 



With reference to Eajendra's correction of my translation, t beg 

 again to state that I only put it forth as an " imperfect version of 

 such parts of the inscription as I had been able to make out," (see 



# See Bombay As. Soc. Journal, Yol. V. Junir 24, and Nasik 6. 

 t Bombay Joam. As, Soc. Yol. Y. Karli 18, line 3. 



