hesitated was in filling up the amount of the donation, in the seventh line, which may have been hundreds or thousands or upwards, but could hardly have been units, in a display of regal beneficence. I have endeavoured to make a literal translation:

(TRANSLATION).

'To the all-respected Śramanas, the chief priests of the dvasath ceremonial,1 who by deep meditation have subdued their passions, the champions (sword) of the virtues of their tribe :

The son of Amuka, the destroyer of his father's enemies,2 the punisher of the oppressors of a desolated country, the winner of the glorious flag of victory in many battles, daily by his good counsel gaining the esteem of the worthy persons of the court, and obtaining the gratification of every desire of his life through the favor of the great emperor Chandragupta;-having made salutation to the eternal gods and goddesses, has given a piece of ground purchased at the legal rate; also five temples, and twenty-five (thousand ?) dínárs; 3 (half of which has been spent for the said purchase of the said ground), as an act of grace and benevolence of the great emperor Chandragupta, generally known among his subjects as Deva-rája (or Indra).

As long as the sun and moon (shall endure), so long shall these five ascetics enjoy the jewel-adorned edifice, lighted with many lamps. For endless ages after me and my descendants may the said ascetics enjoy the precious building and the lamps! Whoso shall destroy the structure, his sin shall be as great, yea five times as great, as that of the murderer of a brahman.-In the Samvat (or year of his reign?), (in the month of) Bhadrapada, the tenth (day).'4

1 94Y, ‘a fire-temple, or place where sacrificial fire is preserved' (Wilson's Dictionary); also a particular religious observance.' The latter is preferable, as the fire-worship is unconnected with the Buddhist religion.

This epithet is doubtful: the pandit has supplied a to make it intelligble, शरभङ्गामु (क) रातिः

3 This document, if I have rightly interpreted it, teaches us that the current coin of the period was entitled dinar, which we know to be at the present day the Persian name of a gold coin, although it is evidently derived from the Roman denarius, which was of itself silver; while the Persian dirham (a silver coin) The word dinára represents the drachma, or dram weight, of the Greeks.

is otherwise derived in the Sanskrit dictionaries, and is used in books for ornaments and seals of gold, but the weight allowed it of thirty-two ratis, or sixty-four grains, agrees so closely with the Roman and Greek unit of sixty grains, that its identity cannot be doubted, especially when we have before us the actual gold coins of Chandragupta (didrachmas) weighing from 120 to 130 grains, and indubitably copied from Greek originals in device as well as weight.

[Burnouf, in noticing the occurrence of the same word, adds a note in reference to this passage, which I transcribe :-"Celui qui m'apportera la tête d'un mendiant brahmanique, recevra de moi un Dînâra "."—"Introduction à l'histoire de Buddhisme.' 4 [Major Cunningham, in his work on the Bhilsa Topes, has published a facsimile,

['Din' 'a panper' and 'ri' 'to go'-' what is given to the poor! (Wilson's Dictionary).

b [L'emploi du mot dinara,' dont Prinsep a positivement démontre l'origine occidentale, et l'introduction assez récente dans l'Inde.... Ce mot est très-rarement employé dans les livres Sanserits du Nord, et je ne l'ai jamais rencontré dans ceux des 'Sutras' que je regarde comme anciens, du moins pour le fond. Je n'en puis, jusqu'à présent, citer que deux exemples,.,. (Avad.-çat.' f. 185,) 'lakchanahatani dinaradvayam, ce qui doit signifier "denx Dinaras' marqués de signes." Le second exemple (Divya-avad.' f. 211, b) "cent Dinaras' pour chaque tête de religieux buddhiste." Dans les 'Sutras auciens, le terme qui paraît le plus souvent est Suvarna.'"]

[The two ciphers constituting the date in this inscription are now by common consent admitted to convey the number ninety-three: the epoch to which this record refers is however still an open question, and will be examined more at large in its proper order. Nor, it must be observed, is there anything definitive to shew which of the two Chandra-Guptas -the third or the fifth-on the family list, is alluded to in the text.

The comprehensive inscription on the northern face of the Junagarh Rock, in which mention is made of Skanda Gupta, should have appeared in this place, but I regret to say that up to this time no more satisfactory account of its purport and contents can be given than is to be found in the brief notice published by Prinsep, in April, 1838.2

In 1842, Major Jacob and M. Westergaard copied this inscription anew, and a lithographed facsimile of their transcript was published in the April number of the Journal of the Bombay

as well as a transcript and a translation, of the Udayagiri Inscription, which he attributes to Chandra Gupta, the second of our list. The assignment, at the best, rests upon slender grounds; and, if the present revised translation is to supersede his rendering, it must be deemed altogether fallacious. I annex his transliteration and interpretation: "Siddham samvatsare 82 Sravana-mása suklekadasya.' 'Parama-bhattáraka Mahárájadhi Chandra Gupta pádánadátasya.' 'Mahárája Chagaliga potrasya, Mahárája Vishnu-dása putrasya.' 'Sanakanikasya Mahá (rája Finished in the year 82, on the 11th of the bright half of the month of Srávana; [the cave] of him, bowing to the feet of the paramount, homage-receiving, supreme Maharaja, Chandra Gupta, the grandson of Mahárája Chagaliga, the son of Mahárája Vishnu-dása, Mahárája (name obliterated of Sanakanika.)"" p. 150.

The Sanskrit transcript adopted will be seen to vary but slightly from the version in Roman type inserted above. The translation approved of by Prof. Wilson, however, differs very materially:-at the same time I must freely admit the disadvantages Í have laboured under in having to follow the lithograph of a London artist, while Major Cunningham's transliteration has been made, I presume, from the original itself.

सिद्धम् ॥ संवत्सरे ८२ श्रवण मासे शुक्लकादश्यां परमभट्टारक महाराजधि (राज) श्रीचन्द्र गुप्तपादानुध्यातस्य महाराज छगलिग पौत्रस्य महाराज विष्णुदासपुत्रस्य सनकानीकस्य महाराज

* *

'(May it be) auspicious! On the 11th day of the light fortnight, in the month of Sravana, in the year 82 of (?) the great King of Sanakáníka, son of the great King, Vishnu-dása, (and) grandson of the great King, Chhagaliga, (who, viz. Chhagaliga, was) son of the supreme monarch (and) paramount lord of great kings, the auspicious Chandra Gupta .']

1['Sah Kings of Saurashtra,' Jour. Roy. As. Soc., xii., 5; Bhilsa Topes, p. 152; Lassen, Ind. Alt., ii., 939. (1852).]

2 ['Jour. As. Soc. Beng.', vii., 347].

Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society for that year. The result, as might have been anticipated from Major Postans' previous report on the execution and existing state of this monument,' is eminently disappointing; and, in spite of every effort to produce an intelligible transliteration from the lithograph, I must confess myself fairly baffled in the task.

Prinsep's note is to the following effect:-"I may here so far satisfy curiosity as to state that this third inscription, the longest, and in some respects the best preserved, though from the smallness and rudeness of the letters it is very difficult to decipher, is in a modern character-that allotted to the third century after Christ-or the Gupta alphabet; and that in the opening lines I find an allusion to Skanda Gupta, one of the Gupta family, whose name has also been found upon a new series of the Saurashtra coins; the words are affayu पतिः स्कन्द गुप्तः पृथु श्रीः चतुर

My next excerpt consists of Prinsep's translation of the Eran pillar Inscription:— -]

INSCRIPTION FROM A TEMPLE OF VARAHA, AND A DHWAJASTAMBHA, IN THE VICINITY OF ERAN OR AIRAN IN BHOPAL.

Lieut. Conolly and Capt. Burt started from Mhow, on an exploring journey. They continued in company as far as Sehore, where some copper plates, in Mr. Wilkinson's possession, occupied the attention of the former, while the latter, hearing of a pillar at Airan, hastened off by a dâk to visit it, and was rewarded with the two inscriptions which follow, and a few insolated names in various styles from the Airan pillar and temple. The history of the origin of the monuments as derived from the inscriptions themselves may be succinctly told.

The temple was built by Dhanya Vishnu, the confidential minister of Rája Mátri Vishnu, the son of Hari Vishnu, the grandson of Varuna Vishnu, and great grandson of Indra Vishnu; in the first year of the reign of Rája Tárapáni [Toramána] of Sauráshtra (?): and

The pillar was erected by Vaidala Vishnu, the son of Hasti Vishnu, also grandson of Varuna Vishnu, and at the cost of Dhanya Vishnu, on the 14th of Asarh in the year 165, in the reign of Budha-Gupta in

1['Jour. As. Soc. Beng.', vii., 873]. 2 [Ibid., vii., 634.1

Saurashtra, comprehending the country between a river whose name, though partially erased, may be easily made out as the Kálindí or Jamná and the Narmada, or Nerbudda.

(TRANSLATION).

'He is victorious! (Vishnu) the four-armed, omnipresent, the creator and preserver of the world, whose bed is the immense water of the four oceans and whose rathaketu (chariot-standard') is Garuḍa.

On Thursday, the thirteenth lunar day of the month of Ashadha of the year 165, when the king, Budha Gupta, who was the moon of good administration, and resplendent in fortune and fame, governed the beautiful country situated between the Kálindí (Jamná) and the Narmada, by his good qualities (derived) from the Loka-pálas.1 In the aforesaid year of his dynasty, ['of him,' in orig.] in the very month and day aforesaid: one, named Vaidala Vishnu, who was famous as far as the four oceans, ever respectable; who by public election and through the favor of God, obtained the good fortune of the regency; who was devoted to Bhagavan; the son of the father-resembling Hari Vishnu; grandson of the father's-talent-possessing Varuna Vishnu; the great grandson of Indra Vishnu, of the Maitrayanayakripabha race; a strict observer of his religious duties, regular in sacrifices, reader of the Veda, a very rishi among brahmans. By him (Vaidala Vishnu) this banner-pillar was erected at the expense of Dhanya Vishnu,—for the prosperity of his race, in honor of Janárdana (Vishnu), the distresser of the Punya-janas (Rakshasas).

Glory! to him who is a patriotic (prince) and to whom belong all the people!'

[I further annex the translation of Toramána's inscription from the same site, which is closely connected with the preceding text:-]

(TRANSLATION).

'He is victorious! the boar-shaped god, who, at the time of delivering the earth, whirled round the mountains by the jerk of his tushes; from the increase of whose body have proceeded the three regions.

When the great rája, Toramána, the very famous and beautiful, the king of kings, governed the earth; in the first year of his reign, on the tenth day of Phalguna :before his time, the well-known Dhanya Vishnu, the doer of many virtuous deeds, follower of the injunctions of the Vedas, obedient to his brother, the late great Rájá Mátri Vishnu (since departed to heaven), and favored by himwho obtained the good fortune of regency by public election and through the grace of God:-famous as far as the four oceans, ever respectable, and victorious in many battles with his enemies, the devoted worshipper of Bhagavan,-who was the son of Hari Vishnu, resembling his father, the grandson of Varuna Vishnu, possessor of his father's qualities,-great grandson of Indra Vishnu of the Maitrayanayakripabha race, the illustrious and distinguished, observant of his religious duties and sacrifices with Sukta (a hymn of the Rig-veda)—a regular sacrificer, well read in the Vedas, and a rishi among the brahmans.-By him (Dhanya Vishnu) was caused

1 Upholders of the universe.

? These several epithets are, almost literatim, the same in both inscriptions.

to be erected this new temple of Jagan-Nárayana1 Nárayana, in the form of Varáha (the Boar incarnation) at his own village of Nerikona, in the reign, year, month, and day aforesaid.

Glory to the mistress of Brahmanapura, and the king to whom all the people belong!' (?)

[Next in order comes a posthumous notice of Skanda-Gupta, graven on the Kuhaon pillar,' which I insert to complete the published series:-]

(TRANSLATION).

'In the month of Jyaishtha, in the year one hundred and thirty-three 3 [141] after the decease of Skanda Gupta, the chief of a hundred kings, resembling Indra in his rule, possessed of the chiefest of riches, enjoying far-spread reputation, born of the royal race of the Guptas, whose earthly throne was shaken by the wind of the bowing heads of a hundred kings.

At this celebrated and precious village, sanctified in reverential attachment by the inhabitants of Kakubharati.

The opulent Bhatti Soma was the son of Amila, the receptacle of good qualities. His son was the very famous and talented Rudra Soma, known by another appellation as Vyághra-rati. His own son was Madra, the constant and friendly patron of brahmans, Gurus, and Yatis. He, struck with awe at beholding the universal instability of this world, made (for himself) a road of virtue; having set up (established) along the roadside, five images, made of quarried stone, of Indra, objects of adoration to the religious and devout, for the increase of his own moral merit and the happiness of mankind; (the same) having attached thereto a tank filled with water.

This stone pillar, beautiful and lofty as the craggy pinnacles of the mountains, is the maker of renown: (i. e. records his meritorious act.)'

The circumstance of chief importance in the above monument, is its allusion to 'Skanda Gupta, of the family of the Guptas,' a name so well known to us from the Bhitárí inscription and from our Kanauj coins. That his sway was nearly as potent as the expression 'lord of a hundred kings' would seem to convey, I shall have hereafter occasion to prove by the exhibition of his own name and of that of his prede

1 Or 'Nararayan, who is himself the water of the universe.'

2 ['Jour. As. Soc. Beng.', vii., 37.]

3 Lit. The month Jyaishtha in the year thirty and two and one plus one hundred being arrived.' [The original proves the true date to be the one hundred and fortyfirst year from the repose, etc.]

Shanteh, 'of the repose,' i. e. 'death.'

6 Written Kakubhah-rati ककुभः रतिजनैस (sic): the meaning must be that such was the name of the village; and probably the modern Kuhaon may be a corruption of the ancient appellation Kakubha.

6 Punya-skandham sa chakre; in punning allusion, perhaps, to his adorning the road with these five images.

7 The word seems to be written pachendrám, from the contracted space occupied by the n of. The smal figure below has very much the character of Buddha.