1848.] Sanscrit Inscription from Behat. 497 



at Gaya by the Sudra family date in the reigns of Nayapala and 

 Vigrahapala the style of writing in them is far more refined, indeed it 

 is the most elegant of any Indian writing. More than one of Narayana- 

 palas reign are clearly of a later type than the one under review. The 

 fine inscription at Uffsur is an intermediate type again between this 

 and the Gupta of the coins and pillars. I shall be excused for this 

 digression when it is considered how desirable it is to ascertain the date 

 of an inscription bearing so much on several points of historical interest 

 and particularly on the subject of Buddhism. We clearly see that it 

 must have been revived after the persecution of Sankara Acharya and in 

 a degenerate form ; we learn that the author was a twice-born man 

 (f3E*J"C(«T Dwijrajj par excellence a Brahman, though the term is applica- 

 ble to other classes, he was learned in the Vedas and Sastras, showing 

 that both were studied at the time by Buddhists, that the deities of the 

 Hindus were acknowledged, for the last verse invoking the blessing of 

 preservation says " as long as the earth shall remain firm on the back 

 of Kurma the Tortoise," also the passage concerning the temptations of 

 Kama Deva. We find mention made of the famous Vihara founded by 

 Kanishka, who is no doubt the same who as king of Kashmir re-estab- 

 lished Buddhism, it is not clear from the text whether Vira Deva the 

 hero of the inscription studied under Kanishka, or merely at his Vihara; 

 if the former it would show a monstrous anachronism in the Raja Tarin- 

 gini or history of Cashmir, a point by no means to be wondered at. I 

 would invite the particular attention of Sanscrit scholars to the passage 

 in the text for the pundits first read it so. Dr. Ballantyne (Principal of 

 Benares College) has kindly taken much pains to arrive at a correct 

 meaning, for both my own pundit a young man educated in the Benares 

 College, Hunuman Dyal, and Hiranand the talented teacher in the 

 Sanscrit Pathsala, as well as others, have been at a loss on account of 

 terms the meaning which they were unacquainted with. In the sentence 

 ^ifWraWTfaTTT, or rather Sri Madyaso Varmma puram Viharum. ,, 

 The one reads it " Dharma Puram," or " city of righteousness Behar." 

 The other the " town of the great Yasovarma," though the sense scarcely 

 admits of this last reading, yet the letter is clearly ^ and not ^. The term 

 Acharya Varya it is written ^^TC instead of ^fr^THJ -QU. The term imply- 

 ing I believe " religious instructor'' occurs in Fa Hian. The term " Na- 

 landa," ifT^r^T («T^T^t) Hi ran and says is to be found in the Vocabulary 



