1888.] from Girndr in Gujer&h 345 



word at first and noted it in pencil, but gave it up on the pandit's ignorance 

 of such having ever been a title in use. Had I possessed at that time a 

 comparative alphabet to consult, I should immediately have perceived 

 that the right hand twist at the foot of the k (see pi. XIX) did not then 

 denote as it does now the vowel ri, which was formerly turned in the con- 

 trary sense; but that it was the cerebral sh subjoined to the A: (forming 

 Jcsh), exactly as it occurs on the Junagarh* inscription. The p also de- 

 ceived me, being more pointed than the same letter in the word putra / 

 but on examination of the coins in my possession I find it generally round- 

 ed off as U> and never crossed below as the m ("x"). (See the plate.) 



The word "^xf : kshairapas, although wholly unknown as a sove- 

 reign title to modern Hindus, and not to be found in their books* 

 is familiar to the reader of the Grecian history of ancient Persia, 

 with merely a softening of the initial letter, as 2ATPAnH2, Satrapa, 

 the prefect of a province under the Persian system of government. I 

 clo not believe that the etymology of this name has ever been traced. 

 It is called a Persian title, but the Persian dictionaries only contain 

 V^-*-** Satrab, as an obsolete term for the governor of a province, 

 without explanation of its origin. In Sanskrit it signifies the ruler, 

 feeder, or patron of the kshatra or military class ; and now that we 

 know the ancient language of Persia east of the Euphrates to have been 

 a near dialect of the Sanskrit, we may conclude that Satrapa had the 

 same signification in Ariana. It is not for me in this place to specu- 

 late on the purport of the term in the Persian polity, but it is a fact 

 well known that the effeminate Persians at a very early period were in 

 the habit of governing their numerous tributary provinces by mercenary 

 troops. The same system, and the same denomination of Satrap, was 

 adopted and retained by the Macedonian conqueror, both when Greek and 

 native officers were employed : and instances are frequent enough of 

 the Satraps assuming to themselves independence and a regal title. 



The Satrapies of the ancient Persian monarchy are not supposed to 

 have extended across the Indus. If in Alexander's time this limit 

 was first transgressed, it was not long before the Bactrian Greeks or 

 the Parthians made themselves masters of Sindh, Cutch and Guzerat\ , 

 The present inscription may incline the learned to conclude that Su- 

 rashtra was before then one of the Satrapies of the empire, from the 

 name of C hast an, the Satrap, who is stated to have first erected the 

 bridge, and who must have preceded Chandragupta. Rudra, Vis- 



* I have before remarked that this town seems called after the Greek prince, 

 Yavanagada. 

 t See J. A. S. vol. VI. page 385 for Vincent's authority on this subject. 

 2x2 



