64 Inscriptions found in Province Wellesley. [July, 



part only of a much larger inscription, for that portion of stone which 

 I have got, appears to have been the upper portion of one of those pil- 

 lars which are set up in the areas of Buddhist temples. I have the 

 pleasure of forwarding a facsimile of this record made with clay, 

 which is perhaps, a novel mode. The clay was fine potter's earth and 

 sand well beaten up along with chopped gunnee bag cloth. The 

 stone was oiled and the clay was pressed on it and afterwards dried in 

 the shade. 



The Copy was made by me in the following manner. Finely pulveriz- 

 ed and dry brick-dust was (as the chalk was in the former instance, the 

 stone being then blackish,) thrown over the face of the stone, and then 

 lightly brushed off with feathers. The letters now appeared sharp and 

 distinct, over these was pasted (with wafers at the edges) a sheet or slips 

 of the " stylographic manifold writer paper" — and the letters were 

 lightly impressed on this paper with a soft pencil, and when the sheet 

 was removed any slight omissions were filled in. 



I have in vain tried to discover the remaining portion of the stone. 



I may observe that a copy of this inscription was, so far back as 1836, 

 forwarded by me to the lamented James Prinsep, who in his reply ob- 

 serves : — " I see it is legible enough. Thus, on the right hand side of 

 the stone following the letters are Ma ha ta vika Buddha na ra kta vri- 

 tti kanaya vrinni. On the left side, sarova smin sarova tha sarova sidvaya 

 cha santa. On the body next to the Kulsa, va na tarchchaya tti karmma 

 janchana kan me karino. If I had the facsimile instead of a copy I 

 would have handed you the meaning at once. It is Sanscrit, not Pali, 

 as we see by the karmma. The style of letter is nearly that of the 

 Allahabad No. 2. Compare with the Hala Canara, published a few 

 months ago." 13th June, 1837. 



As I have not been able to get the numbers of the Journal for the 

 above year, I cannot refer to this Hala Canara record ; I may however 

 observe that although I have satisfied myself that the Sivaic worship 

 prevailed on this coast somewhere about the 13th century, still I have 

 reason to believe that the Buddhist religion was co-existent, or at least 

 contemporaneous with it. Indeed, a mysterious kind of connection 

 seems to have existed betwixt Buddhism and the cult of Siva, which it 

 would be desirable to have traced to its beginning. To me it seems that 

 the period most probably was that when schismatic Buddhists had already 



