1892.] 
17 
at Mount Uren in Mungir ( Monghyr ) district , SfO. 
only to be accounted for on the supposition that this was a famous place 
of pilgrimage in olden times. The stone employed is, with few excep¬ 
tions, a fine, almost homogeneous bluish basalt, which is worked into a 
high polish. No such rock exists in the neighbourhood. The curved 
appearance of several of the sculptured slabs shows that they formed 
portions of small stupas, such as those which existed on the hill. 
These blocks were clamped together with iron bolts. 
The Inscriptions. —Nearly every image bears an inscription. This, in 
most instances, is merely the Buddhist creed, commencing with ‘ Oin ye 
dharmma-hetu , &c., J such as is usually engraved on votive images. But 
a few of the longer inscriptions may contain interesting information. 
For one of these see No. 3, Plate 1Y. Four of these inscriptions are 
in the curious cuneiform headed character, found in the upper rock-cut 
inscription, with wedge-like terminations to the up-strokes, suggestive 
of the old Assyrian style of letters. These appendages are also attached 
laterally to certain of the letters. This is possibly the same character 
as that contained in the two specimens, referred to by Mr. Bendall* 
as not having yet been deciphered by archaeologists, but he does not 
appear to have figured them. This form of character, although Sanskritic 
has little in common with the style of the so-called ‘ nail-headed ’ 
characters, even were the apex of the triangle directed downwards in¬ 
stead of up. That their style is distinctly wedge-headed is evident 
from the rock-cut inscription, shown in No. 4, Plate IY ; and it will be 
interesting to find, if they have a north-west origin. Mr. Fleet also 
notesf having lately received from Gaya a specimen of what may 
possibly be this character in an inscription on the bottom plate of a 
brass image of Buddha, which he has not yet made out. The three 
inscriptions, shown in Nos. 1, 2, and 4, of Plate IY, of which the first two 
are entire and seem to contain the Buddhist creed, may afford a key to 
this rare style of character. The style of the characters shows that 
the majority of the inscriptions date from the 8th to the 12th century 
A. D. ; but the letters of the rock cut wedge-lieaded inscription when 
divested of their cuneiform appendages are almost Asoka-like. One of 
the smaller inscriptions kindly translated by Dr. Hoernle runs 4 This 
is the pious gift of STi Udaya.’ 
Old TanJc-names in the vicinity. —It is worth while, here, to give a 
list of the names of the old tanks or ponds ( pukliar ) in the vicinity ; 
especially as the names are evidently ancient, and survivals of names 
which are now meaningless to the villagers. 
* Journey in Nepal, Sfc., p. 51, 1888. 
f Corpus Inscriptionum Indicarum , Yol. Ill, p. 19, Calc., 1889. 
C 
