189 
18G2.] Remarks on the above by E. C. Bayley, Esq. 
of the word “ sri,” the latter a compound word containing as its first 
members the words “ Bhagava Bodha” and inflected in concordance 
with “ sirae.” It is I believe composed of three or more words, the 
latter being the word “ atiya” which I take to the Bactro Pali form 
of the Sanscrit atyaya = Death—) which word as I read it, 
occurs again towards the close of the 2nd line of the inscription. 
The whole I take to be ail invocation to Budha as a protector 
from calamity ; the centre words may perhaps be some derivative of 
u to protect. I cannot, however, pretend to set forth more than the 
general sense as above given, say “ To Bhagava Budha, the protector 
from calamity.” 
The remainder of the inscription then goes on to enumerate, as I 
understand it, the members of the writer’s family as “ matuba sisa 
pituhasase,” “ luota sasi,” “from my mother,” “from my father,” 
“ from my children ?” and to conclude with a prayer, “ atiyo hrateha- 
jati” may calamity “ be conveyed away” or “be averted.” 
The addition of a vowel like “ u” to the words “ pita” and “ mata” 
is I should suppose a dialectic peculiarity. Similar changes occur 
everywhere in local dialects all over India, the syllable “ ha” may pos¬ 
sibly be a mere inflection (Conf. Lassen Prakrit Grammar, p. 399, on 
the Saurasenic dialect). 
Or it is possible that “ matuba,” “ pituha” may be generalizations 
and mean maternal and paternal relatives ; as to “ luota” I have 
already explained that its exact meaning is quite uncertain, and 
“ atiya”* as the supposed equivalent of the Sanscrit “ atyaya.” The 
verb I read as “ hratehajati” and would render as in the imperative or 
optative tenses of the passive voice of the root % “ let it (atyaya) be 
conveyed away,” or, “ may it be conveyed away.” 
That this rendering is in a great measure conjectural, has been 
already said, and it is professedly put forward as such, and to invite 
criticism and correction, I would only add that in its general 
character, that of an invocation for the bestowing of blessings 
on, or the removal of evils from, friends and relatives, it accords 
with what appears to be the undoubted general purport of the 
* It occurs also in that part of the third line of the Wardak inscription 
which Rajendra Lai has left untranslated. 
