J 843.] Asiatic Society. 1113 



Read the following Letter from E. C. Ravenshaw, Esq. accompanying a sketch of 



the Image to -which it refers: — 



To the Secretary of the Asiatic Society, Calcutta. 



Sir,— I have the pleasure to send a copy of an Inscription on the back of a small 

 brass Image, about six inches high, which was recently found at Bodh Gya, by the 

 Mohunt of the Monastery of the Sunyasis, while making excavations among the ruins 

 of the Old Fort. The writing is illegible by the scholars of these parts, but it is proba- 

 ble that some of the eminent Pundits employed by the Asiatic Society may be able 

 to decypher it. If they should be successful in so doing, I shall feel much obliged by 

 your favoring me with a translation, as it would be very interesting to ascertain the 

 precise date or «ra in which these images of Bodh or Mohamuni were made and 

 worshipped. Your obedient servant, 



Gya, November 19, 1843. E. C. Ravenshaw, 



P. S. — The Tiara on the head of the Image is very peculiar; a Sketch is enclosed. 



The following was the rendering, in Sanscrit characters, of the Inscription by the 

 Society's Sanscrit Librarian : — 



Rasmohun Nayavagish, 



Sanscrit Librarian, Asiatic Society. 

 And the following in English and Sanscrit is given by Baboo Saroda Presad : — 



^W^%3 *rew \ [> ?] «nw h 



Brahma Varoda hetu Samanta Devasyayam. 

 Literal Translation. 

 This (this image) is of Samanta Deva, who yields blessings for Brahma, (for obtain- 

 ing true divine knowledge,) and who is the cause (or source) of Brahma (or extinction 

 in Brahma,) i. e. salvation. 



Note. — Here the word Brahma has two meanings ; viz. True divine knowledge and extinction 

 in Brahma, or the supreme creator, i. e. salvation. 



Besides next the letter J* 1 de, one c^ B-a is indispensably necessary to be inserted, as without it 

 no sense can come out. 

 The character appears to be the character of the 9th Century.— S. P. 



Read a Note from Major Ouseley, Agent to the Governor General, North-West 

 Frontier, forwarding a skin of the black Leopard, which he states, is considered a 

 novelty in that neighbourhood, i. e. Chota Nagpore. 



Read Letter from Captain Russell, Commanding the Honourable Company's 

 Steamer Ganges, reporting his trip to examine the site of the late Volcanic Island in 

 the Cheduba Archipelago. This letter will be found in the Report of the Curator 

 Museum of Economic Geology, as following there, naturally, the letter of instructions 

 given to Capt. Russell on the part of the Society. 



