594 Interpretation of the inscriptions [July, 



On the eighth day of the paksha (or half month) on the fourteenth, 

 on the fifteenth, on (the days when the moon is in the mansions of) 

 tirsha and punarvasuna ; on these several days in the three four- 

 monthly periods, the ox shall not be tended : the goat, the sheep, 

 and the pig, if indeed any be tended (for domestic use), shall not then 



15 nohantaviydni 19. 4 hamipakhdye 20, chdvadasdye", pannadasdye, tisdye 



16 ptmavasune 20 tisuchdtumasi sunsu divasdye gone nonilakhitaviye 21. 



17 Ajike, edake, sukalt, evdpianne nilakhiyati no nilakhitaviyi 22. 



must not be sold. The Buddhist scriptures count among the uposatha divasdni 

 or fast days, the panchami, atthami, chdtuddasi and, pannarasi or full moon of 

 every month. The first of thrse is not alluded to in our text, and the pratipat 

 is perhaps included in the 15th day, which begins with the evening of the full 

 and reaches into the day after. 



19. The interdiction is here extended to snakes and alligators, the most 

 noxious and destructive reptiles : at least ndyavansi, and kevatabhogasi, Sanskrit 

 TTJI#5^?JT: <3{Nrtir inrciT: ' th e generation of nagas, and the feeders on fish,' 

 admit of no better exp^nation. The whole sentence is perfectly Sanskrit, except 

 that the neuter gender is substituted according to the Pali idiom (?) in lieu of the 

 Sanskrit masculine. 



20 - HOB UTi athamipakhdye, Sanskrit ^^Rjf Tp^ifTJ means the 

 eighth day of eaoii paksha or half-month ; but perhaps it alludes particularly 

 to the goshthdshtami of Kartika, when according to the Bhima pardkrama * cows 

 are to be fed, caressed and attended in their pastures ; and the Hindus are to 

 walk round them with ceremony, keeping them always to the right-hand*.' 



21. As punavasune, 3«re«flT, * s one of the nakshatras or lunar asterisms, 

 (the 7th,) the preceding word tisdye must be similarly understood as fffgj the 



asterism Pausha. For the reverence paid to this lunar day see the preliminary 

 remarks. Otherwise it might be rendered f^jg trinsye {tithi) on the 30th 

 or full moon, as parmadasa the 15th is employed for the amdvasi, or new moon ; 

 but against this reading it may be urged that the vowel i should be long 

 (as in the Hindi tisain) : and again the enumeration of the days in the luni-solar 

 calendar is never carried beyond the 15 th ; for as the lunar month contains 

 only 28§ solar days, there would be great trouble in adopting the second period 

 of 15 tit his or lunar days to them continuously without an adjustment on the 

 day of change. 



22. Sans. JIT^T ?JT f£r^f%fT3jT, 'cattle shall not be looked at,' or regarded 

 with a view to employment. Were the word simply no -rakhitaviye it would imply 

 that they were not to be * kept' for labour on such days. See the foregoing 

 note. 



* Sir W. Jones on the Lunar Calendar, As. Res. III. 266. 



