1048 Note on Col. Sy Ices' Inscriptions. [Dec. 



buddhists or the brahmans may claim precedence in the history of 

 Indian civilization and literature ?' We have already expressed an 

 opinion on this discussion, supported by the strong argument that the 

 language of all our lately disclosed documents is a mere scion of the 

 pure Sanskrit stock, not quite so distant from its parent as the Pali, 

 or the Jaina Prakrit, but still widely at variance with the purity and 

 perfection of the sacred language of the Vedas. 



Nevertheless opponents may argue, — where are any Sanskrit sculp- 

 tured documents or inscriptions of equal antiquity ? — Look at the San- 

 skrit inscriptions of the Saiva sculptures at Mahamalaipura so ably 

 deciphered by Mr. Babington* : they are in a character which can be 

 proved to be a regular and even distant descendant of the Idt character. 

 Again they may argue, does not the word Sanskrit imply that the 

 existing language was reformed, dressed and reduced to grammatical 

 restraint, at some period ? — this was attended with the introduction of 

 several new letters which are not to be found in the early primitive 

 alphabet, nor even in the early offsets from it, the square Pali, and 

 the old Tamil :— -whereas we can trace their gradual incorporation 

 in these western link inscriptions, and we find them fully developed 

 in the well preserved copper-plate grants of the third century so 

 happily coming to aid our studies from Gujerdt. " Much may be said 

 on both sides," — but it is most prudent to say nothing at all as yet ; — 

 to imitate the best schools of geology, and collect materials without 

 meddling with theories. 



We have said nothing of the last of Colonel Sykes's inscriptions, — 

 that over a large figure of Buddha in the cave temple of Kdrli, 35 miles 

 W. N. W. of Poona, because it is evidently imperfect and mutilated. 

 It would be easy to pick out detached passages capable of interpreta- 

 tion, as the following towards the end of the first line 



pardgata ime sava thala (sthalla) vasata lokasa vathavaya fvastavdya) : 

 quasi, (for the accommodation of foreign pilgrims from all places.) In 

 the following lines frequently occurs the expression gdmaka rajahe, 

 3?H?3i^3n ' devotees belonging to the town.' The two expressions 

 point to some endowment for these two classes of devotees. Colonel 

 Sykes in a note describes the figure of Buddha to be * seated on 

 a lotus flower, supported on a remarkable emblem, held up by two 

 figures whose heads are shrouded by seven-headed snakes. The 

 supposed curly hair of the figures of Buddha is here evidently a 

 cap or head-dress. Like the generality of the figures of Buddha in 

 the cave temples of Western India, it is associated with lions, ante- 

 * Transactions of the Royal Asiatic Society, vol. II. 



