1838.} from Gimdr in Gujerdi. . 337 



" The rock containing the inscriptions, it should be observed, is about 

 a mile to the eastward of Jundgad, and about four miles from the base 

 of Gimdr, which is in the same direction. It marks, I should think, 

 the extremity of the Mary add of the sacred mountain. The Jainas, 

 as the successors of the Bauddhas, greatly honor it. They maintain 

 pinjardpurs, or brute hospitals, like the Banyas of Surat, in many of 

 the towns both of the peninsula and province of Gujerdt ; and practise 

 to a great extent the philopsychy of the long forgotten, but now restor- 

 ed, edict of As ok a." 



The rock or large stone above alluded to, appears to contain all three 

 inscriptions. On the eastern side facing the Gimdr hill are the edicts 

 of Asoka in the old character : — on the western side the Sanskrit inscrip- 

 tion which I have selected as my theme for the present occasion; and 

 on the southern side a third inscription longer even than either of the 

 others, but somew r hat more modern, and less distinct. 



The western inscription, then, is near the top of the stone : — it covers 

 a surface of ten feet and a half in breadth, by five feet in height. The 

 stone is a good deal cut or worn away in two places, but it does not 

 seem that any thing has been lost on the outer edges, the irregularities 

 there visible proceeding from the contour of the stone. Capt. Lang's 

 facsimile is lithographed on a very reduced scale in PI. XV. 



The character is only one remove from the Buddhist alphabet of 

 Gimdr. It has the same mode of applying the vowel marks e, a, and 

 o, in particular to those excellent test letters n, n, and m. The vowel i 

 is still formed of the three dots : but I need not more fully dilate upon 

 its peculiarities since I have already inserted the whole alphabet, as No. 3 

 of the comparative table in last month's Journal. A few also of the 

 principal passages I now subjoin on a larger scale in PL XVI. as upon 

 them rests the value with which this inscription will doubtless be regard- 

 ed in Europe as well as in India, on account of the historical information 

 it is calculated to afford. 



Once transcribed into modern Nagari a Sanskrit inscription becomes 

 easily intelligible through the aid of a skilful pandit. In the present 

 instance it has only been necessary to change two or three dubious 

 letters to enable Kamalakanta to explain to me the contents of all 

 the continuous passages which still exist on the stone, and it is fortu- 

 nately not very difficult to imagine from the context what must have 

 occupied most of the spaces now eroded or mutilated. 



I have contented myself with a very small copy of the original text, 

 because hereafter it may have, like the Allahabad inscription, to be 

 done over again I 

 u 2 2 



