JOURNAL 



OF 



THE ASIATIC SOCIETY. 



No. 89.— MAY, 1839. 



Art. I. — Notice of Inscriptions in Behar, communicated by Mr, 

 Ravenshaw. By the Editors. 



We present our readers with a letter from Mr. Ravenshaw, with 

 which we received several copies and facsimiles of Inscriptions obtain- 

 ed by that gentleman during his tour in South Behar. We regret to 

 say, that the most important and interesting of these impressions 

 are so imperfect and confused as to baffle the attempts of the Pandit 

 Kamala Kaunt, who aided Mr. James Pjrinsep in his valuable dis- 

 coveries. We allude particularly to the inscriptions on the inverted 

 column in the fort of Behar. They are in the Sanscrit language, and 

 character. Nos. 1 and 2 are duplicates taken on sized paper. The 

 letters on the one have been inked on the obverse side, and on the 

 other on the reverse. The only word yet deciphered is " Srenayah" 

 " orders," " files." From No. 3 of the same pillar these Sanscrit words 

 have been discovered — " labdhopdya xetropari ku-hiya tyd(jyd) any 

 " evil act against land obtained by any means, should be avoided." 



Nos. 4, 5, 6, and 7, are in the same character and language, taken 

 from the ruins of Baudhist statuary at Barahgaon. They appear to 

 contain Baudhist moral sayings ; example — 



" Ye dharma hetu prabhavah teshdm hetun Tathdgutam avagachchh" 



" Know Budh to be the author of those things which proceed from 

 virtue as a cause." 



We suspect that the image at this place (so described by Mr. 

 Ravenshaw) cannot be Bhairava. The terrific Siva would be cer- 

 tainly misplaced amongst the peace-loving divinities of the Baudhists. 



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