104 Note on Kandahar Gems. [No. 98. 



or triangle representing the earth, and the three points, the pinnacle 

 of Meru, forming with the Sun and Moon, a general type of creation. 

 The Jotee however informed me that the whole symbol was typical 

 with his sect only of the mysterious mountain, " Shimmero Purbut," 

 or Meru, the which the Jains say is composed of four forests, the lower 

 Showmunsh banu, "the flowery forest," the three upper ones, Bhoodra shal 

 banu, Pandooko banu, and Nundono banu, " the fair sal forest, the yellow, 

 and the pleasant forests." The Sun and Moon revolve, according to Boodhist 

 faith, about the higher peaks, and are in this type of course appropriately 

 introduced. Such is the explanation, which after infinite trouble, has 

 been put together as a plausible commentary on the possible meaning 

 of the figures on this remarkable gem. The inscription was of course a 

 much more difficult subject of consideration, and under the impression 

 that I had detected the Sassanian Pehlevi in its character, I persevered 

 (with the aid of Mr. Reid) in attempting to read the letters by the 

 alphabet of the language above named. I even conceived that there 

 was so much similarity in the forms of the letters, according to the way 

 in which I read them, as almost to justify my publishing as conjectural the 

 fruits of our endeavours under the above, as it proved, mistaken impression. 

 While dwelling on this idea, I chanced to make a reference as to the 

 Brahminical adoption of the Moodra represented on the gem, and in the 

 course of it, showed the impression to Pandit Kamalakanta Vidyalanka, 

 as well as to other well informed Hindoos ; among them, to my friend Raee 

 Seetanath Bhose Behadoor, who was of great service to me in the subse- 

 quent inquiry. To my surprise, he (reading the character in reverse of the 

 mode which I had attempted in inexperience of the art of decyphering) 

 recognized so much of a decidedly Sanscrit character in the letters as to 

 induce me to make over the impression to him for deliberate study. I had 

 already discovered the exact similarity of the letters in two of the faces, 

 but the result of the Pandit's inquiry proved all three to be the same, and 

 the character (as given in the lithograph, No 1,) to assimilate very closely, 

 if not positively to coincide, with the Sanscrit (Boodhist, 500, B. C.) of the 

 celebrated Baroda inscription. (Vide Asiatic Society's Journal, vol. — p. — ,) 

 I have only assigned letters in the Nagree character to those - of the in- 

 scription, which by actual reference to the lithograph of the Baroda writ- 

 ing, I have seen exist there in exact facsimile. The rest the Pandit ad- 

 mits slight variations in, though very confident of the correctness of his 

 reading on the whole sentence. He makes it SpTsTTWT WTFSfilT ^HWT 

 ^TW£ II (jagadrajo bhagalayo yojana lakshan) which may be literally 

 translated, " The mansion of both the Lords of the World (Sun and Moon) 



