270 Inscription in the old character on the [March, 



their conversion ; it must then be connected with kirti ; the 'pith? of 

 his religious merit or glory, must be a blessing or salvation, and by 

 this periphrasis have I therefore ventured to translate the term, which 

 as the basis of a strong and magnanimous argument is twice repeated 

 in the course of the paragraph. 



[For the Thirteenth tablet see the opening remarks.] 

 Remarks on the Fourteenth and last Tablet. 

 When I first transcribed this tablet to read it over with the pandit, 

 he exclaimed at the word sankhitena, and wondered at the ignorance of 

 the scribe who could have pretended to call such corrupt and illiterate 

 language by the sacred name of Sanskrit. A little inquiry however 

 convinced us that the word sanskritam was always written sank at am 

 in Pali, while the Pali word sankhittam, with double t, regularly repre- 

 sented the Sanskrit ^ff%H ' abridged.' Thus in the second line of the 

 Mahawanso itself we find almost the very expressions in the paragraph 

 before us : 



Poranchi katopeso, atiwitthdrito kwachi, 

 Atlwakwachi sankhitio, aneka punaruttaka. 

 Which the Hon ble Mr. Turnour thus translates : 

 " That which was composed by the ancient (historians) is in some respects 

 too concise, in others too diffuse, abounding also in the defects of tautology." 



The resemblance here to asti sankhitena, and asti vistatena, is 

 remarkable: — and in aneka punaruttako, we perceive an anology to 

 etakam punepunavutam. 



It might be objected that pt is never in the Girnar text contracted 

 to tt, but is written at length, as in chaptdro, dpta ; but here again it 

 may be answered that the p in apta was necessary to distinguish it from 

 atta, the Sanskrit dtma, which in Pali proper is written atana. 



Another example may be quoted from the preface to Mr. Turnour's 

 work, wherein the words occur as in our text, in the third case. 



It is a citation from the commentary on the Ritpa siddhi, speaking of 

 Kachchayano the grammarian, (Katya'yana:) 



*' Tabbansi kocchdyamiti Kacchdyano, kochdyan, 

 Kacchdyano ndma? To etad aggan, Bhikkhawe I 

 Mama sawakanan bhikkitnan saakhittena 

 Bhdsitassa witthdrena atthdn raibbajantdnan 

 Yadidan mahdkachchdyanoti etad agye thapito 

 Bhagawd mdn chatuparisa majjhe nisinno. 

 (Iflam asked) who is thisKACHCHA/vANO? whence his name Kachcha'yako? 

 (I answer) It is he was selected for the important office (of compiling the first 

 Pali grammar): » Bhikkhus, from amongst my sanctified disciples, who are 

 capable of elucidating in detail that which is expressed in the abstract, the most 

 eminent is Maha'kachcha'yano." Thus said Bhagawa' seated in the midst 

 of the four classes of devotees (of which his congregation was composed). 



