554 Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. [June, 



" Under the administration of Abubekr bin Ahmad, Khalu-1-harovi, 

 in the month of Zilhija, and in the year 666." 



My dear Sir, — I have the pleasure to enclose the fac-simile of an in- 

 scription on the wall of a Jyn temple near Ajmeer. I thought on looking at 

 the writing from below from its position inside the temple itself, that it 

 might throw some light on the early history of the temple, but it appears 

 to be in the Persian language, though no one here understands the character 

 in which it is written, and was probably added by the Mahometans when 

 they converted it into a place of worship for their God. A drawing and descrip- 

 tion of the temple is given in Tod's history of Rajpootana, but the author 

 does not give any account of its origin, and did not apparently observe the 

 inscription. He makes allusion to what he believed to be Sanskrit letters 

 on the arch in front of the temple, but with the aid of a ladder, I made an 

 examination of the suspicious appearances and found them to be merely 

 ornaments in the sculpture. Among the sacred records in the possession of 

 the Sireepooj of the Suranngees, I find it stated that the " prutishta," conse- 

 cration of the temple, took place in S. 717, in the time of the gooroo Padm- 

 chund Chutyara, and that it was built by a Suranngee merchant named 

 Beerundas Kala, who spent seven lacs of rupees in its construction. Ala-u-din 

 converted it into a Mahometan place of worship ; he took out all the larger 

 images and buried them in the ground, he defaced all the smaller ones that 

 were sculptured on the pillars, and finally built seven magnificent arches in 

 front of the temple. Since his time it has been called the " Arhai din ka 

 jhompra," though for what reason more creditable than that it was built in 

 two days and a half, I could never learn. During the last three or four years 

 several of the images buried by Ala-u-din have been dug up. I suppose you 

 will be able to decipher the inscription in Calcutta, and will then learn whe- 

 ther it possesses any interest. 



Your's truly, 



E. S. Brandreth. 



Ajmeer, May 16, 1848. 



From J. Strachey, Esq. forwarding the last sheets of his brother, Lieut, 

 Strachey's, Journal of his travels in Tibet. 



Also a letter from Mr. Batten on the same subject. 



From ("apt. Cunningham, forwarding a continuation of his verifi- 

 cation of the route of the Chinese Pilgrim Hwan Thsang through 

 Afghanistan and India, during the first half of the 7th century. 



Also a memorandum by the same on proposed Archaeological Inves- 



