1864.] Some Persian Inscriptions found in Srinagar* 



281 



Translation. 

 Every advantage existing before either world 

 Is obtained by the followers of Ha&rat Shah of Hamadan ; 

 Shah (king) of Hamadan, or rather Shahanshah (emperor) of the world* 

 A curse on the eye which looks on with doubt and suspicion ! 

 2. In Arabic characters on a ground of gold, 





JU J^ J.& yX/0\ 





filxj ^iti JU j| 





Jin iJ~ 



Translation. 

 Date of his death. 



In the year 786 from the time of Ahmad, the seal of religion (that 

 is) from the Hijra, there went from the transitory to the eternal 

 world the prince of both worlds, the descendant of Yasin. 



Note. "The descendant of Yasin," **, \± Jj 5 a curious expression 

 to denote the descendants of the prophet. Yd Sin JL*Aj> is the name 

 of the thirty-sixth Sura of the Koran, which is so called from the fact 

 that these two letters mysteriously stand at its head. Their meaning 

 is uncertain. The Sura itself is considered particularly sacred by the 

 Mohamedans, and is read by them over dying persons : they say that 

 Mohamed called it "the heart of the Koran." 



3. Inscription in crimson characters. 



Translation. 

 Oh heart, if thou desirest the benefit of both worlds, 

 Go, it is at the gate of the emperor Shah of Hamadan, 

 At his gate prayer obtains an answer ; 



His gate is the heavenly pavilion ; nay, the pavilion is a type of it. 

 II. The Tomb of ZAmTJiSLmniis. 

 Some little distance from the Shahi Hamadan mosque down the 

 bank of the river there are some remarkable massive remains of the 

 outer wall of a Hindu temple — mentioned by Col. Cunningham in his 

 Essay on the Aryan Style of Architecture— with its trefoil arches and 

 sculptured Hindu divinities. The temple itself disappeared before the 

 fanatical zeal of the early Mohamedan kings, and the inner space was 



2 o 2 



