)83?.] on the Columns of Delhi, Allahabad, Betiah, fyd. 5§& 



be tended. On the tirsha and the punarvasuna of every four months, 

 and, of every pahsha or semilunation of the four months, it is forbidden 

 to keep (for labour) either the horse or the ox. 



Furthermore in the twenty- seventh year of my reign, at this present 

 time, twenty-five prisoners are set at liberty. 



18 Tisdye pundvasune ehdtummdsiye chatiimmdsipakhdye, asvasd gonasd 



19 lakhane nokataviyi 23 ; ydva saddavisativasa abhisitename etdyi 



20 antalikaye pannavisati bandhana mokMni katdni 24. 



23. The expression nirakhitatyiye is here applied to the other domestic 

 animals with the remarkable addition ev&pi anne nirakhiyati l if any such is 

 regarded at all for such purpose,' Sans, ^rfrr ^j«5j fif^|t ffi Tt or X^IJ 

 implying that such animals were then bred for food. 



24» ' On the tishya and punartasu days of the nakshatric system' must here be 

 Understood ; as the term ' of every four months, and every four half-months would 

 Otherwise be unintelligible. The division of the Zodiac into 28 asterisms, each 

 representing one day's travel of the moon in her course is the most ancient 

 system known, and peculiar to the Hindus. From the motion of the earth, it 

 will follow that the moon will be in the same stellar mansions on different days 

 of her proper month at different times of the year, hence the impossibility of 

 fixing their date otherwise than is here done. Although the nakshatras days 

 do not seem now to be particularly observed, yet they are constantly alluded to 

 in the narration of the first acts of the priests. — See observations on this head 

 in the preface. 



We find the word rakhane (S. \^J^ «TT 3? fl^f) now introduced, so that it 

 was purposely reserved for application to the beasts of burthen in the climax of 

 the prohibitory law, ' horses and oxen shall not be tied up in the stall on these 

 days !' The termination in e in this and the former instances is curious. It is 

 the 7th case used like the Latin ablative absolute, even with the gerund. 



25. The concluding sentence requires no comment being, except as to 

 genders, identical with the Sanskrit, qr*r<r TOfftcftrff ^$7faSl *TOT SWf 

 *R»tT*nSrf' tp& f^fafrPTSfir $re: W?r:» ' Moreover by me having reigned for 

 twenty- seven years, at this present time, five and twenty liberations from im- 

 prisonment (are) made.' The verb ' are' or ' shall be' being understood. It is 

 perhaps ambiguous whether ' in this interval' applies to the duration of the 27th 

 year, or to the time previously transpired, ydvat signify irig both ' until, up t® ;' 

 and ' as long as, when.' 



