338 Translation of a Hadrian Inscription. [No. 4, 
of recognised words, the deficiency in the due fashioning of the 
letters of which they should be composed.” “ But as all incertitude 
invites a corresponding degree of license in purely tentative readings, 
I may be permitted to refer to some isolated words that seem inde- 
pendently to convey their own meaning. Such for instance as faxfT! 
for vihara, ‘ a monastery,’ a standard term in Buddhist phrase- 
ology : and one that may be seen to occur in the side-legend on the 
Manikyala stone. The title of WJTsTO Bliagavan may also be doubt- 
fully indicated, as likewise the for 'SjTl'C sarira ‘ relic which 
has also been previously met with. The Maharajarajadhiraja’s name 
I read preferentially as Hoveshshandra, but the final compound is 
altogether an arbitrary assignment, and the rendering of the ve 
is similarly open to correction. However to spare my readers any 
further comment upon such doubtful materials, I may add, that 
though I can offer but little recommendation for my transliteration, 
I may venture to invite the attention of those who would follow up 
the study to the copy of the original inserted in the plate, which I 
have done my utmost to give accuracy to.” # I quote Mr. Thomas’s 
remarks in full to shew the little advance that had been made by him 
in decyphering the monument under notice. His invitation remained 
unattended for three years, when Mr. E. C. Bayley took it up and 
brought his profound knowledge of Indian antiquities to bear upon 
the puzzling record. His perfect familiarity with the numismatic 
palaeography of this country, his conversancy with the peculiarities 
of the Pali and its sister dialects, and his general scholarship, enabled 
him at once to perceive the language and character of the monument, 
and to explain several of its difficult passages. His translation of the 
entire document, however, did not prove satisfactory to him, and it 
was therefore placed at my disposal for farther examination. In 
taking up a task which had thus already passed through the hands of 
two such distinguished antiquarians, I felt extreme diffidence ; and if I 
have too largely taken exceptions to their decypherments in the follow- 
ing remarks, they are due entirely to the advantage I have had of con- 
sulting the results of their researches, and not to any want of apprecia- 
tion of their value, and I take this opportunity thankfully to acknow- 
ledge the great assistance I have derived from their labours in preparing 
the following transcript and translation. In reading the characters, 1 
* Prinsep’s Italian Antiquities, loo. oit. 
