this stone, and for whose exhibition we may conclude the pillar to have been expressly fashioned, consists of a counterpart of the Edicts of Asoka, which appear severally on the Lát at Dihlí, the rocks of Girnár on the western coast, and Dhauli in Cuttack-in addition to the transcript in the Semitic character on the rock at Kapurdigiri.

The capital figured below does not directly belong to this monument, but is taken from the original on the Gandak Lát, of which we have a second similar example. Hence we assume that a figure of a like character once crowned the Allahábád column.]

TRANSLATION OF THE INSCRIPTION ON THE ALLAHÁBÁD LÁT.

(Beginning, at the fifth line, with yasya, which has reference to a preceding eulogistic epithet in the genitive case. This verse is No. 2 in Dr. Mill's translation.)

(2). . . . In the midst of pleasurable things, happy in body and mind; levying his revenue in strict conformity with the Shastras 1. . .

(3). . . . Destroying unhappiness, and putting an end to those who cause it; greedy for eulogistic praise, glory and extended rule:

...

(4). Whose enemies, amazed at his cavalcade and warlike armament, ask, What manner of man is this? Among his elevated counsellors . . .

...

(5) ... Whose eyes filled with the tears of affection, when, in consequence of his written mandate, (? his son or wife had been re-called).

(6). . . . Having seen his former good acts, delightful as nectar, his wife was much pleased.

1 Which enjoin that one-sixth of the produce of the land belongs to the king.

(7). . Inflamed with vigorous wrath against the presumptuous, but when

submissive.

(8). In battles, with his own arm humbling continually those who exalt themselves

(9). Cherishing (his subjects) with an affectionate, sweet, and contented disposition.

...

(10). . . . The force of his arm being gradually strengthened by youthful exercise, by himself were killed.

...

(11). (This verse is too much effaced to be made out.)

(12). Whose fame is spread (over the earth), as it were a cloth, white as the moon-beam.

...

(13). . . . The lustre of his Who is there that is not his?'

skill in well-directed learning causes exclamations, (He is a fortress), and they are, as it were, grass upon his ramparts, and much wealth is locked up within him.

(14). Of him, who is able to engage in a hundred battles, whose own arm's strength is his only ally: he with the mighty chest.

(15). Whose person is become beautiful, from the marks of wounds received, and the scratches caused by his wielding the battle-axe, the arrow, the poniard, the elephant-spike, the cestus, the scymitar, the javelin, the club, the iron dart, the dagger,' and other weapons:

(16). The sovereign of Kausala, the tiger-king of the forests, the manțaraja of Kauráṭṭa, the sovereign of Arggháshṭapura, the lord of Míri and Uddyára, the just prince of Dattairaṇḍa, the níla-rája of Sápávamukta: 2

(17). The king Hastivarma of Vinga, Ugrasena of Pálakka, Kuvera of Devaráshṭa Dhananjaya of Kausthalapura, etc., and all the kings of the southern roads (dakshinápatha)-from his favors to all these (I say) becoming more dignified and prosperous.

(18). Whose power increases by the force or clemency respectively exercised towards Rudradeva, Matila, Nágadatta, Chandravarma, Gaṇapati, Nága, Nágasena, Achyuta, Nandi, Balavarma, and the other rájas of Aryavarta: who has made servingmen of all the Deva-rájas.

(19). The magnitude of whose authority takes pleasure in exacting attendance, obedience, and tribute from the kings of the neighbouring hilly countries of Samata, Taravakra, Kámarúpa, Nepála, Kartripura, and from all the rájas of Málava, Arjunáyana, Yaudheya, Mádraka, Abhíra, Prárjuna, Sanakáníka, (or Sanaka Aníka) and Kakakhara :

(20). Who is famous for his great aid in restoring (to their thrones) the royal progeny of many deposed rájas:

(21). Whose most powerful dominion over the world is manifest in the maidens freely offered as presents, the jewels, the money, the horses, the produce of the soil, the ornaments of the precious metals brought as tribute by the heaven-desceended monarch, the Sháhán-Sháhí (of Persia), the Scythians, the Huns, by him of Sainháṭṭa, and of other places; by the kings of all the isles, etc. :—who, mounted on his war chariot, has no competitor in the world:

1 Parasu, sara, saņku, śrini, prasa, asi, tomara, vatsapála, náracha, vaitasti, etc. I have translated them as described to me rather than on dictionary authority, for in Wilson, Nos. 2, 3, 4, 5, and 9, are all given as varieties of arrows; vatsapála and vaitasti, I do not find, the latter is probably derived from vaitasa, 'a ratan.'

2A country (lately) freed from a curse,'-perhaps some physical calamity.

(22). Whose majesty exults in the princes endowed with hundreds of virtues and good qualities prostrate at his feet: a man inspiring fear as of instant annihilation: altogether incomprehensible; yet tender-minded to those who are submissive and bow before him; and extending mercy to hundreds of thousands whom he has subdued: (23). Who lends a willing ear, and a consoling tongue to the case of the poor and destitute, the orphan, and the sick: is very kind to the brave of his army; is comparable to Dhanada (Kuvera), Varuņa, Indra, and Antaka (Yama1):

(24). Who has won and again restored the riches of many kings conquered by his own right hand: a man who strictly keeps his word, whose accomplishments in fashion, in singing and playing, put to shame the lord of the immortals (Indra) Vrihaspati, Tumburu, Nárada, etc.; who is called 'the king of poets' from his skill in making verses-the livelihood of the learned!-whose excellent conduct proceeds from the observations stored in his retentive memory:

(25). Who regularly performs all the established ordinances :-who is a very god among men -the great-grandson of Mahárája Srí Gupta; the grandson of Maharája Srí Ghatot Kacha; the son of Mahárája Adhirája Srí Chandra Gupta.

(26). Born of Mahádeví Kumára Deví, the daughter of Lichchhavi; Mahárája Adhirája Srí Samudra Gupta: how he filled while alive the earth with the fame of his conquests, and is now departed to enjoy the supreme bliss and emancipation of Indra's heaven, this lofty pillar, which is, as it were, his arm, speaks forth: a standing memorial to spread his fame in many directions:-erected with the materials accumulated through the strength of the arm of his liberality (now in repose), and the sufficiency of the holy texts.

(Verse). The clear water of Ganga that issues from the artificial pool formed by the encircled hair of the lord of men (Siva) purifies the three worlds.

May this poetical composition of the slave of the feet of the great king, whose mind is enlightened by the great favor of admission to the presence, son of the administrator of punishments (magistrate), Dhruva Bhúti,-the skilled in war and peace, the counsellor of the young prince, the great minister Harisena, afford gratification and benefit to all creatures!

Executed by the slave of the feet of the supreme sovereign, the criminal magistrate, Tilabhaṭṭa.

When restored to its natural order we find the epithets applied to the deceased emperor of Hindústán, not only much less hyperbolical, and reposing less upon mythological allusions, but crowding in a short space a most unexpected and curious survey of the political divisions of India at the time, containing even the names and titles of very many of the reigning families, and extending beyond the boundaries of India proper into the regions of the 'great king' of Persia and the hordes of the Huns and Scythians! It may be poverty of imagination in the poet that has wrought us this good; for, once laying hold of an idea, he rings the changes upon it as long as he can find words, and then draws up with an inelegant 'etc.' Thus, in the fourteenth and fifteenth lines he enumerates no less than nine warlike weapons the

1 Gods of the earth, water, air, and fire respectively.

king's brawny arms were scarred in wielding: and thus, when he mentions tributary states he fortunately spares none that Samudra's supremacy could in any degree comprehend! The passage is altogether so curious that I must crave permission to insert a copy of it in the Roman character before I endeavour to trace any of the countries alluded to. The continual recurrence of the adjectival termination ka, (the prototype of the modern genitive postposition) led me to suspect the nature of the sentence.

(16) Kausalaka mahendra, mahákántáraka-vyághra-rája, Kauráṭṭaka manṭarájaarggháshṭapuraka-mahendra, mirika-uddyáraka-swámi, dattairandapallaka-dayana, káncheyaka vishņu, shápávamuktaka (17) nílarája. . . . .

In this sentence we have the regal designations of nine princes; unless (which is probable enough) the terms mahendra, rája, swámí, nila-rája, dáyana, etc. are employed with the same general acceptation of 'prince,' to vary the expression euphoniously.

The kingdom of Kausala (or Kosala) is well known from the Buddhist authors to be modern Oude,' (Ayodhá) or Benáres,-the Kásikosala of Wilford. The Vyághra-mukhas, 'tiger-faced' people, are mentioned in the 'Vará-sanhita,' among the eastern countries; and Kántára, a place south of Allahábád; but the name may apply to any woody tract infested by tigers. The next name, 'Kauráṭṭaka,' is unknown, nor can the title Manta-rája' be well explained. It may be the district of Kuru, near Tahnes war. 'Arggháshtapuraka,' the next name, may be construed as the 'eight cities' where due 'reverence' was paid to bráhmans: 'Mírika' and ‘Uddyáraka' seem derivable from miri 'cream,' and uda'water,'-' maritime countries'; 'Dattairandaka' may be some country famous for producing the 'castor-oil plant'; 'Káncheyaka' may be Kánchipur, the golden city' in the south, mentioned in the 'Bráhmanda-purána'; sápávamuktaka, also, bears an allegorical interpretation-freed from a curse'; as likewise the rája's title, (nila, 'blue')-can the Nílagiri be his locality? it is one of the mountain divisions of Jambudwípa in the 'Bráhmanda-purána': 'like the lapislazuli gem is the Níla mountain.' 2 Thus it may be uncertain whether these are figurative or real names, though it is hardly to be supposed that countries purely imaginary would be introduced as subject to the rule of a man just deceased. The list continues in the same strain:

(17) (Níla-rája), vaingeyaka hastivarma, pálakkaka-ugrasena, devaráshṭraka kubera kausthalapuraka dhananjaya, prabhṛiti sarva-dakshinápatha rája graha-samájánugraha janita pratáponmishra máhábhágyasya.

1 Wilford however makes Kausala the delta or Sundarban tract of Bengal.— As. Res., ix., 260.

2 Asiatic Researches,' vol. viii., 345, (Wilford's Essay on Geography.)

All these names, it says, belong to that division of India entitled 'Dakshinapatha,' the lowermost of the four equilateral triangles into which the Mahábhárata divides ancient India-' the 'Dachinabades' of Arrian. This division, known to the contemporary of Alexander (Euemerus) was still extant in the time of Nonnus. Vaingeyaka is a regular derivation from Vinga; but neither this country nor Pálakka, are to be found in the Pauránic lists of the southern countries, unless the latter be the country of the Pallis.' It must be remarked, that the names of their rulers are circumstantially given-Hastivarma and Ugrasena: and following them, we have Kuvera and Dhananjaya of Devaráshtra and Kausthalapura, places equally uncertain; though the former has some affinity to Devagiri or Deogir; ráshtra implying merely country,' Maháráshtra might also be understood. Kusasthallí is said by Wilford to have been the name of Oujein in the Treta-yuga: Tod names the same place on the Indian ocean,' but the general interpretation is Kanauj, a place out of the limits of the 'Dakshinápatha.'

6

The enumeration continues in the eighteenth line, as follows:Rudradeva, Matila, Nágadatta, Chandravarma, Ganapati, Nága, Nágasena, Achyuta, Nandi, Balavarma, adyaneka-Aryavarta-rája, etc., ending with paricharakikrita sarvadevarájasya.

Here we have the actual names of ten rájas of India Proper or Aryavarta, without their respective countries, as though they were too well known to need insertion. The first, Rudra,' probably belongs to the Sáh dynasty of Sauráshtra, where the name so often occurs: 'Ganapati' is also a family name: but few or none of the others can be identified in the very imperfect lists of this early period.

In the following line we have a catalogue of provinces, whose kings were probably unknown by name to the writer:

(19) Samata, táḍavakra, kámarúpa, nepála, kartripura-adi pratyanta, nripatibhir málavárjunáyana, yaudheya, múdraka, abhíra, prárjuna, sana káníka kákakhara parikádibhis cha; Sarva kara dánájnákarana pranámágamana (20) paritoshita prachanda sásanasya.

The first five are the names of boundary mountain states on the north-east. The first two names cannot be determined, but the text does not permit Dr. Mill's plausible reading Sumata dárachakra, the country friendly to pines.' 'Kámarúpa,' and 'Nepála' are well known: 'Kartripura' may possibly be Tripura or Tipperah. Then follow those more to the north and west, most of which are to be found in the lists of the north-west countries extracted by Wilford from the Puránas, and published in 'As. Res.', viii., 340-343.

Placed by Wilford in Candeish, and otherwise called Abhíras.-'As. Res.', viii., 336.