1837.] condition of Oujein or XJj jay ani. . 855 



procured a Soleymani with characters so well engraved on it, as to 

 remind him of the writing of Yaqu'b Rekum Khan ; a Delhi worthy, 

 such a master of his pen, that a beggar asking alms of him, he wrote 

 one letter on a slip of paper and threw it to the fortunate fellow, who 

 gained a livelihood by shewing it. The munshi's treasure, which with 

 much pomp and circumstance he unfolded from as many wrappers as 

 bind his Koran, was the enclosed agate. I can make nothing of the 

 character, though it bears some resemblance to the Guzerati Ndgari. 

 When deciphered it will I fear give little or no information as the 

 letters can hardly form more than one word, which will doubtless 

 prove to be of some unknown. 



[This seal was lithographed in Plate XXXVI. see page 680, where it is read 

 as Sri Vati khuddasya. Mr. B. Elliot of Patna, has one similar to it in type 

 but much smaller, which bears the legend Sri Yohachh'ivasya, the seal of Yoka- 

 chhavas, a name equally strange and un-Indian. Some of the insulated names 

 on the Allahabad pillar are in the same style : but this is not the place to treat 

 of them, as it is indispensable to have facsimiles before the eye while describing 

 them. For the same reason we withhold (under permission) the author's notes 

 on the several classes of coins collected by himself at Oujein and in its neigh- 

 bourhood, of which he has most liberally favored us with many very curious and 

 well preserved specimens. We hope soon to be able to engrave this series, which 

 is rich in varieties. The name should embrace those coins having on one side 

 four circles, single or double, connected by a cross, of which examples have 

 already appeared amongst Colonel Stacy's Buddhist specimens. Oujein is also 

 rich in what we have called the Saurashtra series, and still more so as might 

 be expected, in the gadia paisa attributed to Vikrama'ditya. We conclude 

 Lieutenant Conolly's journal with his description of an image visited on his 

 return from Oujein. — Ed.] 



My pandit was so lavish in his praises of an image of Chamunda 

 at Dewass that on my way back to the cantonments I made a detour 

 to visit it. A fatiguing walk up a hill some 400 feet high brought me 

 to the boasted fane. The image a gigantic figure, cut out of the solid 

 rock which slants inwards, forming a natural temple, is perfectly 

 adapted to the native taste, being as fine as colors and tinsel can 

 make it. A large daub of red and yellow paint is intended to repre- 

 sent a red canopy, sprinkled with silver spangles and bordered with 

 gold and silver flowers. The face is red, the paijamas are red with 

 gold spangles. The boddice and the huge earrings mimic gold, and 

 rings of real brass hang from the cheeks and nose, the latter proving 

 the image to be modern*. The upper right hand holds a flaming sword 

 over her head, in the position called "forward." The trisul in her 

 lower right hand is inverted, to strike the wretched daitya from whom 



* According to Erskine, in his paper on Elephanta in the Bombay Transac- 

 tions. 



5 q 2 



