1838.] in two of the edicts ofJsoka, king of India, 157 



yet stronger degree of general interest in the labours, and of confidence 

 in the deductions, of our antiquarian members than any that has 

 preceded it. I feel it so impossible to keep this highly singular disco- 

 very to myself that I risk the imputation (which has been not unjustly 

 cast upon me in the course of my late undigested disclosures) of bring- 

 ing it forward in a very immature shape, and perhaps of hereafter being 

 obliged to retract a portion of what I advance. Yet neither in this, nor 

 in any former communication to the Society, have I to fear any material 

 alteration in their general bearing, though improvements in reading and 

 translation must of course be expected as I become more familiar with 

 characters and dialects unknown for ages past even to the natives them- 

 selves, and entirely new to my own study. 



A year ago, as the Society will remember, Mr. W. H. Wat hen, 

 of Bombay, kindly sent me a reduced copy of the facsimiles of the in- 

 scriptions on a rock at Girnar ( Girinagara) near Junagarh in Gu- 

 jerat, which had been taken on cloth by the Rev. Dr. Wilson, president 

 of the Bombay Literary Society. He also sent a copy to M. Jacquet 

 of Paris, which I dare say before this has been turned to good account. 

 After completing the reading of the pillar inscriptions, my attention 

 was naturally turned to these in the same character from the west of 

 India, but I soon found that the copy sent was not sufficiently well 

 done to be thoroughly made out ; and I accordingly requested Mr. 

 Wilson to favor me with the facsimile itself, which with the most 

 liberal frankness he immediately sent round under a careful hand by 

 sea. Meanwhile Lieut. Kittoe had, as you are also aware, made the 

 important discovery of a long series of inscriptions in the same charac- 

 ter at a place called Dhauli, in Cuttack. These were in so muti- 

 lated a state that I almost despaired of being able to sift their contents ; 

 and they were put aside, at any rate until the more promising portion of 

 my labour should be accomplished. 



I had just groped my way through the Girnar text, which proved 

 to be, like that of the pillars, a series of edicts promulgated by Asoka, 

 but essentially different both in language and in purport ; when I took 

 up the Cuttack inscriptions of which Lieut. Kittoe had been engaged 

 in making a lithographic copy for my journal. To my surprise and joy 

 I discovered that the greater part of these inscriptions (all indeed save 

 the first and last paragraphs which were enclosed in distinguishing 

 frames), was identical with the inscription at Girnar ! And thus as I 

 had had five copies of the pillar inscription to collate together for a cor- 

 rect text, a most extraordinary chance had now thrown before me two 

 copies of the rock edicts to aid me in a similar task ! There was however 



Y 



