1847.] Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. 203 



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TRANSLATION. 



The foundation of this building was laid at the close of the reign of the king of 

 heavenly court, Nooruddeen Mohummud Jehangeer Badshah. May sanctity attend 

 his resting place ! and it was completed during the commencement of the reign 

 (may it be perpetual) of the king of the world, father of victory, star of religion, 

 Mohummud, second Lord of felicity, Shah Jehan Badshah Gazi, in the year 1037 

 Hijri, by a servant of the court, Mohummud Baker Khan Nujumussani,* inhabi- 

 tant of the city of Bakerabad, — Architect. 



Read the following extracts from a letter from Capt. Kittoe, to the 

 Senior Secretary. 



" Sherghatti, 29th January, 1847. 



" By this day' 8 dawk I have forwarded a packet of impressions and copies of 

 inscriptions to Mr. Bushby's office, so pray send there for them that they may be in 

 time for this meeting. I have kept back a good many, wishing to prepare them 

 properly. 



" I have I find, four of the most ancient inscriptions, more than had hitherto been 

 noticed, being three from one place and three from another ; the first three only differ 

 in the initial name ; the next are a pair (with the same difference) and the third en- 

 tirely so. They are all unluckily mutilated ; the pair have the same three letters 

 struck out of each, and the quaint sentence ' Bodhist likha' in an ancient San- 

 scrit type. This has been translated by Prinsep as Bodhisool ^fsj^J^f . It is certainly 

 as like the one as the other ; my version is ' Writing of Budhists' — his ' the root of 

 the Bo-tree ;' in another sense the ' root of knowledge,' the letters of the ancient 

 writing have evidently been hammered out purposely. I have satisfactorily made 

 out so much of the sentence, * The beloved raja in the 12th year of his reign 

 caused this cave,' &c. &c, but I am forestalling a long article I propose 

 editing on the caves. Suffice it to say that I am inclined to give far more remote 

 date to these inscriptions than has been hitherto accorded. I believe the 

 ' Dasarath' named to be the identical person of ' Puranic' fame, the father of 

 Ram, and that ' Devanam-piya-dasa raja' is only a title common to the Gupta 

 rajas and those preceding. Oh, that poor James Prinsep were alive to enjoy the 

 discoveries I have made, how we could have helped each other. 



* "A second Luminary." 



2 E 2 



