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The Inscriptions of Erikaina. 
[No. 1, 
The Inscriptions of Erikaina, note Eran, re-decipherecl and re-trans- 
lated. — By Pitz-Edwaed Hall, Esq. 1). C. L. 
A paper on these interesting relics, including reduced copies of 
Captain Burt’s facsimiles, with the decipherments and translations 
of the late Mr. James Prinsep, has already appeared in the pages of 
this Journal. It will be found in the seventh volume, that for 1838, 
pp. 631-635. 
One of the inscriptions, the older, is engraved, in nine lines, on 
the western face of a large quadrilateral column, still erect and in 
good general preservation. It is twenty-nine inches in width, by a 
height of twenty. The other, which has an aspect eastward, spans 
the throat of a colossal image of a swine ; not unnaturally mistaken, 
by the ignorant, for the similitude of a trunkless elephant. It speaks 
of the temple, of which the idol was aforetime the chief glory, or the 
reproach ; an edifice now lying in littered dilapidation, its ruin being 
ascribed, in the oral traditions of the neighbourhood, to the great 
Muhammadan iconoclast of the twelfth century. This writing 
contains eight lines ; and it measures, in height, about ten inches. 
The first line, considerably outrunning any of the rest, is a little 
within two and a half feet long. Captain Burt, in a volume I re- 
member to have seen some years back, has, I believe, described the 
megalithic erections on which these records are incised. As a faithful 
account of them could hardly be missed of by a person of intelligence, 
and as, once given, it need not be repeated, I shall confine myself 
to the inscriptions. 
Their contents are summarized, by Mr. Prinsep, in these words : 
“ The temple was built by Dhanyavishnu, the confidential minister 
of Baja Matrivishnu, the son of Harivishnu, grandson of Varuna- 
vishnu, and great grandson of Indravishnu ; in the first year of the 
reign of Baja Tarapani of Surashtra (?) : and 
“ The pillar was erected by Vaidalavishnu, the son of Harivishnu, 
also* grandson of Varunavishnu, and at the cost of Dhanyavishnu, 
* This word should be expunged. “ Hastivishnu,” a mere lapso of the pen, 
as is evident to any one who reads two pages on, I have exchanged for ‘ Hari- 
