344 
Translation of a Bactrian Inscription. 
[No. 4, 
ellipsis be Pilled up with tlie words “ the fruit that may be produced by 
this &c.” are as the Sanskrit grammarians would have it, anena (imena) 
yatfalamjdtam tat. The next clause Maharaja r&jatiraja Suvishlcasya 
agabhagae bhavatu, is, I think, undoubted ; hut Mr. B. reads Maliardjd- 
tirtija dropping on e raja (evidently a lapsus penrns) and Mr. T. has 
something very different. The meaning of the sentence depends entirely 
upon the word agabhagae. Mr. B. takes it to mean “ an expiation for 
sin,” hut upon what authority I am not aware of. Neither aga nor 
bliaga means “ sin” or “ expiation,” and the Buddhist liturgy does 
not afford us any information regarding an expiatory ceremony of 
the name of Agabhaga. The Sanskrit word aglia means ‘ sin,’ and 
bliaga might he taken for bhanga ‘ to break,’ hut as the Bactrian alpha- 
bet has a character for gh, it would not be reasonable to suppose that 
g would he substituted for it in words that require the former. 
Farther, if the compound word be intended to mean “ an expiation for 
sin,” it would be a question why should the “ expiation” be prayed 
for the king and royal personages only, and parents and relatives 
be left to content themselves with a different blessing, as we see they 
are, in a different part of the document ? The most natural radicals for 
agabhaga , it strikes me, would be agra ‘ first,’ ‘foremost,’ 1 chief,’ ‘prime,’ 
and bliaga for bhdga ‘ a share,’ and the two together mean ‘ the first 
share’ or ‘ royal tithe.’ The last word with the affix dheya means the 
‘ royal revenue.’ If this explanation be correct, the meaning of the 
whole sentence would be : “ May the reward that is produced by this 
repository of innumerable blessings (relic deposit) prove (as it were) 
a royal tithe or a first offering to Huvishka, the great king and king of 
kings.” I think, however that bliaga here stands for bliaga “ fortune,” 
and the sentence is an invocation for the good fortune of the sovereign. 
Mr. B., mistaking the meaning of the verb bhavatu, has translated 
this and the following sentences in the past tense. 
The next sentence runs thus mtitdpitd name pushae bhavatu, the 
only letter doubtful being the t& of pita. Mr. B. explains pusha to 
be “ a religious offering,” but upon no satisfactory authority. I feel, 
therefore, inclined to take the word in its radical sense of ‘ nourishment,’ 
‘ protection’ or ‘ prosperity,’ and translate the whole phrase “ may it 
be to the prosperity of the name of (my) mother and father the 
word name, however, is not in grammatical concord unless name be 
equivalent in Bactrian Pali for the Sanskrita ndmnd. This is followed 
