676 Facsimiles of Ancient Inscriptions. [Aug. 



" Lo ! the illustrious Sa 'rdu'la whose fame is of the highest rank, the 

 c rest-ornament of champions ; — the beloved of the fair sex, — resembling 

 the god of love,— once possessed the earth (reigned). 



When this prince Sa'rdu'la casts a fear inspiring scowl on his enemies- 

 then of his angry son Ananta Varma the giver of endless pleasure, whose 

 great tremulous red eye manifestly annihilates the allies of his foes,— 

 shower down upon them a cloud of arrows from this powerful bow of 

 horn drawn up to his ear." 



We now pass to two inscriptions of a totally different kind, litho- 

 graphed carefully as No. 2 and No. 3 of PI. XXXV. 



They are situated, as far as I can make out from the Persian labels, 

 in two different caves. They are rudely cut ; and from the appearance 

 of the ink-impressions which are more blotched, than for distinctness 

 sake I have represented in the lithograph, they must be much more 

 worn with age than any of the other inscriptions, which seem still to 

 retain much of their original sharpness of sculpture. 



It was evident at first sight that these two inscriptions were in the 

 lat character : further examination also taught me that with excep- 

 tion of the initial word, the two were identical letter for letter, though 

 differently arranged in lines ! This was a most fortunate discovery, as 

 the indistinctness of several letters in No. 2, could thus be remedied 

 without hesitation from the text of No. 3. 



Taking it for granted that the language of such an inscription, from 

 its situation in the very heart of Magadha, would prove to be the 

 Mdgadhl, I hastened with eager curiosity to write it out fair and to 

 spell its contents ; which I think will be allowed to be of higher impor- 

 tance than any yet described, and most probably expressive of the 

 first appropriation, if not formation of the Gay a caves. Taking the 

 first of the two as a sample of both, I thus divide the words : — 



4 LLttrT >ib^Qi >A"r bil 

 tfl'A-J'j.* hVhJa! H^i + 'U- 

 ji'li i'rblfO^XJL lrbO 



Vapiyake kubha DasalatMna devdnampiyeni 

 dyamtaliyam dbhisittna ddivi/cenhi 

 bhadantthi v&sanisidiydyt nisiihe 

 dchandama dliyam. 



