1848.] Sanscrit Inscription from Behar, 499 



it is named Na kie> and by the latter Na ho lo ho. These are, as 

 pointed out by Lassen, the Chinese transcripts of the Sanscrit word 

 «T3TT, nagara, a town, which he further identifies with the N 07 apa of 

 Ptolemy.* It is curious, however, that the redundant syllable ho in 

 Hiouan thsang's transcription has escaped the attention of both Lassen 

 and Wilson, and is now explained for the first time by the reading of the 

 name in Capt. Kittoe's inscription, «r3lT^TT, Nagarahdra. What the 

 exact import of the suffix ^TT may be, I have not been able to ascer- 

 tain. In Wilson's Dictionary it is stated to mean taking, conveying ; 

 also a string of pearls. In the latter sense it may possibly imply the 

 * precious or splendid city.' 



At a period subsequent to the visit of these pilgrims, a nasal appears 

 to have been introduced into the first syllable ; for we find Ma-twan-liu, 

 quoting another Chinese traveller, Kwang yuen, who visited India in 

 983, spells the name Nang go lo ho lo ; the most exact transcription 

 (omitting the nasal) which his language could supply of Nagarahara. 

 Since then, the word has further degenerated into Nangrihar, or more 

 corruptly, Nangnihar, which, according to Lieut. McGregor (J. A. S. 

 vol. XI. p. 1 1 6), signifies in the dialect of the country, the Nine Rivers, 

 and is applied to the entire valley of the Cabul river. 



The convent or monastery of Kanishka, is no doubt that erected 

 by him at Peshawur (Purushapura), the capital of Gandhara, and 

 described by Fa hian and Hiouan thsang as the most magnificent in 

 all Jambudwipa. Kanishka was the monarch under whose aus- 

 pices, according to Tibetan authorities, the third revision of the Scrip- 

 lures took place 400 (or, according to Mongolian Chronology, 300) 

 years after the death of Sakya. It is greatly to be regretted that this 

 important inscription is without a date ; for it clearly indicates that at 

 the time of its composition, Buddhism, or at least a Hindu-Buddhic 

 syncretism, flourished and was taught in public institutions in the coun- 

 try immediately west of the Indus. At a much later period Marco 

 Polo speaks of the existence of Buddhist monasteries in Cashmere ; 

 and even so late as the reign of Akbar, Abultazl met with professors 

 of that faith in the same country. 



The hill designated Indrasaila in Capt. Kittoe's inscription, is that 

 contiguous to the village of Giriyek near Behar, in the Chinese transcrip- 

 * Zur Geschichte, &c p. 147. 



3 Y 



