257 
1871.] Notes on several Arabic and Persian Inscriptions. 
supposed to have a secret and deep meaning. Tlie letters <->, d, j, 
are the first four even numerals of the Shemitic Alphabet, and 
stand for 2, 4, 6, 8. When joined, they give which is now 
looked upon as a mysterious name of God, and is pronounced 
budduh , as if it was an adjective like quddus , subbuh , &c. 
I have never before seen budduh on a Mosque inscription.* 4 
The two Arabic inscriptions on Pl. YII and VIII belong to the 
collection of Mr. A. Broadley, C, S., Bihar. As Mr. Broadley is 
about to publish in this Journal his whole collection, all particulars 
will be found in a future number. The plates are here given to 
enable the reader to compare them with PI. IV and V, as they 
show all the varieties of the Tughra character that occur in Ben¬ 
gal inscriptions, PI. VII being the oldest (A. H. 640), and PI. V 
(A. H. 925) one of the latest. Under the Mughuls, the Tughra 
characters were discontinued, and the beautiful nastaHiq characters 
came in vogue, which the Katibs of the 15th and 16th centuries had 
brought to perfection. Intermediate between Pis. V. and VII are 
the characters of the Sunnargaon inscriptions of Fath Shall in 
possession of General Cunningham, the upward strokes of which 
are unusually long in comparison with the bodies of the letters 
themselves. PI. VII is a beautiful specimen of simple Tughra- 
writing with arabesques, or raihdni Matt, whilst on PI. VIII 
particular attention has been paid to the dawair or curves, there 
being a minimum of straight lines, as in the TauqV character (Ain 
translation, p. 100). PI. VIII (A. H., 719) greatly resembles the 
* Another mysterious word which I may mention here, is-x-uj b yd kabikaj. 
It occurs on the fly-leaves of Indian MSS.; in fact Indian MSS. may often be 
recognized as such when bearing the phrase. I have never seen it on Persian 
MSS! Yd IcoMkaj is generally three times repeated. Several Maulavfs tell me 
that Kabikaj is the name of an angel ((JSj-o muakTcal ) who presides over in¬ 
sects, and that this angel is invoked by copyists to protect the MS. against 
white ants. A little Persian poem is also said to exist commencing with the 
words— . ^ . 
1 ) ^ 
This explanation, whenever it was given, was accompanied by a denunciation 
of the practice as heathenish. It reminds one of the numerous angels of the 
Parsis. But it strikes mo that a better solution of the mysterious word is to 
be found in the numerical value of the letters of yd Icabikaj, which when added 
give 66—the old familiar equivalent for Allah (| -|- -j- <J -J- £ = 66). 
This number occurs very frequently, oven as a heading for letters, applications, 
&c. 
33 
