Report of tie Arclueological Survey, xxxi 



sentence, in which King Asoka directs the setting up these monoliths 

 in different parts of India as follows : — 



" Let this religious edict be engraved on stone pillars (sila tliamlha) 

 and stone tablets (sila phala7ca) 7 that it may endure for ever." In 

 this amended passage we have a distinct allusion to the rock inscrip- 

 tions, as well as to the pillar inscriptions. As this is the longest and 

 most important of all the pillar inscriptions of Asoka I made a careful 

 impression of the whole, for comparison with James Prinsep's pub- 

 lished text. The record consists of four distinct inscriptions on the 

 four sides of the column facing the cardinal points, and of one long 

 inscription immediately below, which goes completely round the pillar. 

 I may mention that the word Ajakdndni, at the end of the 7th line 

 south face, was not omitted " accidentally," as James Prinsep supposed, 

 by the original engraver, but has been lost by the peeling away of the 

 stone for about 4 inches. The vowel i attached to the final letter is 

 still quite distinct. The penultimate word on the eastern face is not 

 agnim, as doubtfully read by Prinsep, but abligum, and, as he rightly 

 conjectured, it is the same word that begins the 19th line. The last 

 word in the 11th line, which puzzled Prinsep, is not atUcata, but 

 atikantam, the same as occurs near the beginning of the 15th line. 

 The few corrections which I have noticed here show the accuracy of 

 Burnouf s opinion, that a new collation of the pillar inscriptions would 

 be of the greatest value. I am happy to say that I have now made 

 new copies of the inscriptions on the pillars at Delhi, Arardj, and 

 Navandgarh, for collation by competent scholars. 



58. The last 10 lines of the eastern face, as well as the whole of 

 the continuous inscription round the shaft, are peculiar to the Delhi 

 pillar. There is a marked difference also in the appearance of this 

 part of this inscription. The characters are all thinner and less boldly 

 cut ; the vowel marks are generally sloping, instead of being horizontal 

 or perpendicular, and the letters j, t, s, and h are differently formed 

 from those of the preceding part of the inscription. These new forms 

 are exactly the same as those of the rock inscription near Khalsi on 

 the Jumna, which is only a few miles above Paota, the probable site 

 from whence the Pillar was brought by Firuz Shah. 



59. The second inscription is that which records the victories of 

 the Chohan Prince Visala Deva, whose power extended "from Himadri 

 to Vindhya." This record of the fame of the Chohan consists of two 



