1074 Note on Inscriptions from (Dec. 



No. 5, commences and ends with the same words as the first in- 

 scription : 



Chdiakumasa paseta kothdja (ya).\ 



The word paseta may be the Sanskrit prasrita " the humble" sc. — 

 cell of Chulakama. — Chudakarma is the rite of tonsure — from ^3T, 

 a single lock of hair left on the crown of the head when shaved : and 

 some allusion to a similar purpose of this cave seems preserved in its 

 modern name of pdwanagubha, ' the cave of purification.' 



No. 6, is on a cave now called the Mdnikpura or jewel-city cave. 

 It begins and ends very intelligibly, but the central portion is erased : 

 Vemsa mahdrdjasa kalingddhipatano ma kadepa sirino lonam. 



"The excavation of the mighty (or of Vira) sovereign, the lord of Kaling a, 

 &c of Kadepa (?) the worshipper of the sun." 



In Sanskrit,— ^\m ST^RTST^? sfflf^nrnrNffT-.. ♦^ ^frW: ^ 

 Vira may perhaps be the name of the raja of Kaling a who dug this 

 cave : for sirino — see the previous observations. 



No. 7, over a small door in the same cave, seems to have been 

 the work of a more youthful prince. 



Kumaro vattakasa lonam. 



" The excavation of the prince Vattaka." 



Then follows a more lengthy inscription (No. 8) on the Vaikanta 

 gubha in which we also find mention of the Kalinga dynasty. 



Arahanta-pasdddnam kalinga. .ya. . . . ndnam lonakddatam rajinolasa 

 . . hethisahasam panotasaya. . kalinga velasa. . agamahi pitakada. 



" Excavation of the (rajas) of Kalinga, enjoying the favor of the arhantas 

 (Buddhist saints) — (the rest is too much mutilated to be read with any degree of 

 confidence.) 



There is still one more specimen of the old character in a cave at 



Khandgiri not inserted in the plate : it runs OJa y -J "f-rb-j- A 8 rb-J_L* 

 pdda mulikase kutamasa lonam. 



" excavated by Kutama (Gotama ?) the pddamaulika (having the feet (of 

 Buddha) on his head) alias the devout." 



The above inscriptions are all cut deeply into the rock, whereas the 

 modern Sanskrit ones which occupy the remainder of the plate are 

 rudely scratched upon the stone, and are yet more difficult to decipher. 



They are of two distinct ages : — Nos. 2 to 11 from the style of some 

 of the letters belong to the fifth or sixth century, whereas No. 1 in 

 the Kutila character, cannot be dated further back than the tenth cen- 

 tury. 



Being of brahmanical tendency they naturally give a new account of 

 the origin and objects of the caves ; but the indistinctness of the writing 



