88 A. F. R. Hoetrite— Inscribed Seal of Kumdra Gupta II. [No. 2, 



subsequently made, but the inscription was never edited properly until 

 it came into the hands of Mr. Fleet. That scholar has now published 

 (No. 13 in volume III of the Corpus Inscriptionum Indicarum) an accurate 

 facsimile, transliteration, and translation of the document, which I have 

 made use of in writing the above notes. 



" The inscription," observes Mr. Fleet, " is one of the Early Gupta 

 king Skanda Gupta. It is not dated. It belongs to the Vaishnava 

 form of religion ; and the object of it is to record the installation of an 

 imago of the god Vishnu, under the name of Sarrigin or ' the wielder of 

 the bow of horn named S'arnga,' and the allotment, to the idol, of the 

 village, not mentioned by name, in which the column stands."* 



The site is marked by large brick mounds, and numerous bricks 

 inscribed with the name of Sri Kumaragnpta were found in the fields 

 by Sir A. Cunningham, who also describes certain sculptures which 

 seem to belong to the Gnpta period. 



The presence of Indo-Sassanian coins of the 8th or 9th century 

 A. D. is an indication that the site continued to be occupied after the 

 fall of the Gupta dynasty. t 



There can be no doubt that it was a place of importance in the 

 reigns of Kuniaragupta and Skandagupta, circa A. D. 414 — 480. 



Bemarlcs on the above. (With a chronological table). — 

 By Dr. A. F. Rudolf Hoernle. 

 The seal is a far more important one than would appear from Mr. 

 Smith's statement of its contents. The fact is that it is not a seal of 

 Kumara Gupta I., but of a Kumaea Gupta II. ; and that we have in the 

 inscription of the seal, for the first time, a genealogy of the Early Gupta 

 dynasty that enumerates nine generations, instead of only the seven 

 hitherto known. 



The last three lines of the inscription which Mr. Smith failed to 

 read really contain the most important portion of the record, and contain 

 entirely new information. Nor are these lines more doubtful to 

 read than any of the preceding ones ; and most fortunately the names 

 of the kings occurring in them are very fairly distinct. The following is 

 a complete transcript of the record, in Nagari and Roman. In the 

 latter transcript the less legible portions are enclosed in round, and the 

 illegible portions in straight brackets. It should bo remembered, how- 

 ever, that on account of the stereotyped formulas employed in such 

 records, the reading even of these portions is perfectly certain. 



* See Floot, ibid., Vol. III., p. 53. 



f Arclijeol. Survey Rep., Vol. I, pp. 96—103, Pis. XXIX, XXX. 



