1837.] Inscriptions on the columns at Delhi, SfC. 1053 



with a trifling variation, read the passage w esd" chakhu mama anusathiyd," 

 hontu being understood, — w may my eyes perpetuate the remembrance of these 

 (dhanmd)." But I confess I prefer the reading of this passage as it appears in 

 the inscription — "Esdchakho mama anusathiyd," — the verb "hessati" being under- 

 stood, — and " esd" agreeing with " Dhanmalipi." " This (inscription on Dhan- 

 mo), moreover, will serve to perpetuate the remembrance of me." This render- 

 ing conveys a nobler sentiment, aspiring to more permanent fame, and is in close 1 " 

 confirmity also with the spirit of the last sentence in the fifth inscription. 



I have still to dispose of the initial words " Hidatapdlite dusan patipddayi." 

 I acknowledge that I was at first entirely baflied by them. When I had com- 

 pleted the translation of all the four inscriptions, save these three words, I found 

 that they were the edicts of an Indian monarch, a zealot in Buddhism ? and 

 from these columns being scattered over widely separated kingdoms of India, it 

 appeared equally certain to me that a Rdjddhirdja of India alone could be the 

 author of them. As far as I was aware, two supreme monarchs alone of India 

 had become converts to Buddhism, since the advent of Sa'kya. Dhanma'so'- 

 ko in the fourth century before Christ ; and Pa'ndu at the end of the third cen- 

 tury of our era. I could hit upon no circumstance connected with the former 

 ruler which availed me in interpreting these words. I then took up the Dhdtd- 

 d&tuwanso, the history of the tooth relic, the only work, I believe, in Ceylon, 

 which treats of Pa'ndu. I there found, not only that his conversion had been 

 brought about in consequence of the transfer of the tooth relic from Dantapura 

 in the Northern Circars, then called Kdlinga, to his capital Pdtilipura the mo. 

 dern Patna ; but also met with several passages expressive of Pa'ndu's senti- 

 ments strictly analagous with those contained in these inscriptions. This disco- 

 very, at the moment, entirely satisfied me, that these three hitherto undecipher- 

 able words should be read hi* Dantapuratu dasanan upddaye : the hi being an 

 expletive of the preceding word, and the other words signifying " from Danta- 

 pura I have obtained the tooth relic." 



Under this impression my former paper on these inscriptions was drawn upv 

 My having subsequently ascertained that Piyadasi is Dhanma'so'ko does not 

 necessarily vitiate this reading ; for the tooth relic was at Dantapura during 

 his reign also ; and there is no reason why Dhanma's6ko" likewise should not 

 have paid it the reverential honor of transferring it to his capital. But since I 

 have read your translation, I have made out another solution of these words 

 furnishing the signification you adopt, without incurring the apparent objections 

 noticed above. The sentence written in extenso, divested of permutation of 

 letters, and samdsa contraction might be read ; fHin atand pdlite diisapatipddaye. 

 w I have renounced the impious courses cherished by myself." " Hin" is derived 

 from the root hd " to renounce," and is the Varassa form of the ajjatani tense. 

 By the 35th rule of Clough's grammar, p. 13, when n precedes a vowel it is fre- 

 quently suppressed, and m or d substituted in its place, as for u divan assa" is 

 written " ewamassa" for " etan aivdcha," " etadawocha." By this rule, therefore, 

 11 Hin atand" would become " Hidatand." Again by the " TapurUo" (Tatpuru- 



* The alterations requisite to admit of that reading are trifling, and chiefly 

 symbolic, in the ancient alphabet. 



t This verb Hin is most frequently found in the participial form " hitwd" 

 6 8 



