36 



Facsimiles of Ancient Inscriptions, 



[Jan, 



the power or inclination to protect or avenge herself as Mata Konr is 

 said to have done. This image is alone. About half a mile to the west 

 there is another of a different divinity of ruder workmanship and deeply- 

 sunk in the ground. It is here that the group of dancers above men- 

 tioned is met with on a separate slab of very heavy stone. 



All these objects have ceased to attract much respect or even to excite 

 much interest, and seem the remains of a people or of a religion that 

 has passed away. Though taking a somewhat lively interest in remains of 

 this sort, it has been by accident that those of which I have given this 

 notice have come under my observation. I had been encamped at Bhd- 

 galpur several times, and for days together before I heard of the pillar 

 at that village, and, in consequence, of the more entire one at Kuhaon. 

 It is not indeed easily found, being situated in a small mango tope and 

 close by one of the trees. That at Kuhaon stands isolated and is a con- 

 spicuous object to the passing traveller from every side. 



Note on the above inscriptions from Gorakhpur, hy J. P. 



The mutilated fragment of the inscription on the column at Bhdgal- 

 pur, is of a comparatively modern date, being in the Kutila character : 

 the two lines given as a specimen in PI. I. are surmounted by the words 

 TS*\ ^I^t raja jogi> in a still more recent character as suspected 

 by Mr. Liston : and nothing of the five Pandavas or of the expenditure 

 of 1^ lakhs so impudently asserted by the bairdgi is to be found there. 

 Mr. L. has since forwarded us a printed impression of the whole, but it is 

 quite illegible. 



The Kuhaon inscription is however of a much more interesting cha- 

 racter. Perceiving from the copy which accompanied the above note, 

 that it was in the Chandra Gupta (or for shortness sake the Gupta) 

 alphabet, I requested the author to take off an impression from the 

 stone itself, which he has since done with entire success, acknowledg- 

 ing that with all the care he had taken in his former copy there were 

 discrepancies and redundancies which he could have believed impossible. 



The facsimile is introduced on a reduced scale into Plate I. It is 

 in excellent preservation, and the versification, in the Srigdhara mea- 

 sure complete throughout. At the head of the second and third lines 

 only there are a couple of superfluous letters introduced, in the former 

 fij and in the latter ^: which I presume should be read together as 

 fwi siddha y ' accomplished' — or it may be the name of the sculptor. 

 After transcription, my pandit Kamala' ka'nta readily furnished me 

 with the interpretation of this curious monument, which I accordingly 

 annex in modern Devanagari and translation : 



