872 



On tlie Buddhist Remains of Sultdnganj \ 



[No. 4, 



tion afforded the latter a small but constant source of income. # A similar 

 cause in the present day promotes the offering of fictile models of 

 horses to Satyapir and other local saints, and hundreds of them may 

 be seen about every consecrated Banian tree in Bengal. The Buddhist 

 figures were made after various designs and in different ways, but 

 generally they were either cast in moulds or stamped on plastic clay. 

 The basso-relievo tiles appear to be the most common. They contain 

 figures of 1 to 20 or 30 chaityas impressed on them, and sometimes have 

 also a figure of Buddha in the centre. In India they have preserved 

 their independent character as objects of votive offering, but in 

 Burmah they have been largely used in the ornamentation of temples 

 and monasteries. That most if not all of them were, however, at one 

 time votive offerings, is evident from the fact of many of them containing 

 inscriptions recording the name of the donors. On the back of one 

 of Colonel Phayre's tiles (No. 1) which was taken from the "upper 

 layer of the arch of the relic chamber" of a temple at Pugan in 

 Burmah, and which has the figures of 30 Buddhas and two chaityas 

 impressed on it, there is a corrupt Magadhi inscription in rude Burmese 

 characters, which states that the tile was dedicated by one for the good 

 of his parents and of all Buddhas past and to come. The words of the 

 inscription as read by Burmese scholars have already been published, 

 (ante p. 57) but as no attempt has yet been made to translate them and 

 the reading appears to me to be incorrect, I here supply a different ver- 

 sion together with a tentative translation. The reading I propose is :— 



Atawisati me buddha 



Tinsasammekona saha 



Buddha iya tatta iya 



Sabban matu pitu ara 



Chariya putt a ra a cha 



Sabba satta hit a picha 



Buddha hitati nagatetie 

 Translation — To the 28 Buddhas together with the 29th and the 

 30th, for the good here and hereafter of all, of my father and mother, 

 of my tutor and his son, of all living beings, as also for the good of 

 all Buddhas past and to come. 



# Yide Col. Sykes' Note on the Miniature Chaityas, &e. in the Journal EL As. 

 Soc. Vol, XVI. p. 37. 



