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Buddha-pálitasa lichhunon dánam.

"The gift of the protected of Buddha, the Lichhunân.* Vijigatasa dánam.

"Eh? will not this do? and the pillar inscription

Devanam piya piyadasi Raja hevam ahð.

"The most particularly-beloved-of-the-gods Raja declareth thus.

"I think with Ratna Påla, whom I shall summon, we shall be able to read the whole of these manifestoes of the right faith-Buddha's bulls. Will send plates after breakfast.

"Yours,

"J. P."

The formal announcement of this discovery was made in the June number of the journal which was published in July, by which Prinsep had recognized the true values of all the letters which he had yet found, and the old alphabet was complete with the exception of the very rare letters gh and jh, and the gutteral, palatal, and cerebral n's.

To Professor Lassen belongs the honor of having been the first to read any of these unknown characters. In the previous year, 1836, he had read the Indian Pâli legend on the square copper coins of Agathokles as Agathukla Raja.+ James Prinsep was puzzled by finding "that nearly the same characters appear on the coins of Pantaleon." He admitted, however, that "it might be possible to assimilate the word to the Greek on the supposition of the first syllable being wanting," thus forming talava. On referring to the coin indicated I find that the first letter is actually wanting, and that he had read the three letters of the name correctly. So near was he to making the discovery at that time that it would probably have been completed at once had there been a perfect coin of Pantaleon to refer to for the first letter of the name.

This word should be Bhichhuno, the mendicant monk, but Prinsep had not then recognised the true form of the bh. He took 7 for bh, and when he came to the true in laja, he read the word as Raja, as in the next instance which he gives from the Delhi Pillar.

In a letter to James Prinsep referred to in the Journal of Bengal Asiatic Society, 1836, p. 723.

As mentioned in his letter to me, Prinsep had at once invited Ratna Pâla, the Pâli scholar, to assist him in reading the inscription, and with his aid he was able to translate at once several important passages, such as, "in the twentyseventh year of my reign." So unremitting was his industry and so rapid his intuitive perception, that he had finished his translation by the end of July, and the complete version appeared in the journal for that month, which was published in the middle of August.

Coins and inscriptions now poured in upon him so fast from all parts of India that much of his valuable time was now occupied in private correspondence, and when I left Calcutta towards the end of October 1837, he was working from twelve to sixteen hours daily. Much of his time was, of course, occupied with his public duties as Assay Master of the Calcutta Mint, as he wrote to me, "my whole day is consumed at the scales. What a waste of precious moments !"

A few days after my departure he received copies of the Udayagiri and Khandagiri inscriptions from Kittoe, and faithful impressions of all the inscriptions on the Allahabad pillar from Colonel Smith. With all his wonted industry and enthusiasm he set to work upon these new records, and was able to give a revised translation of Samudra Gupta's inscription in the November number of his journal, and a long and valuable note on the inscriptions from Udayagiri and Khandagiri in the December number. Yet, in spite of all these labours, so little conscious did he feel of exhaustion that he wrote to me on "December 27th, 7 A. M., to get a new Gupta inscription for the January Number!!

Prinsep now took up the rock-inscriptions of Asoka, and in a postscript to a letter of 12th February 1838, he said to me "dont expect me to write again for a long spell. I must set to work on the Girnâri." But on the 3rd March I heard from him again that he had "made une découverte epouvantable! no less than the treaty (an article at least) between Antiochus and Sophagasenas. Shall I leave you to guess how, where, and when? No, but keep it secret till I announce it at the Society. I have happily discovered that many of the edicts at Gujarât and Cuttack are verbatim the same. Among them is one announcing the establishment

of a medical arrangement for men and animals." This discovery was announced to the Asiatic Society on the 7th March, and published in the February number of the journal.

As Prinsep proceeded with his examination of the rockinscriptions, he discovered the names of Ptolemy, Antigonus, and Magas, in addition to a second mention of Antiochus. He had previously felt the want of a good impression of the Girnâr inscription, but this brilliant discovery made him still more anxious to obtain a complete and correct copy. After thinking over the matter for some time, it seemed that the surest and quickest way was to address the Governor General on the subject, which was accordingly done at once, as explained in the following letter to me:

28th March 1838.-"In the enthusiasm of the moment I took up my pen and addressed the enclosed bold petition to Lord Auckland, which, on sober reflection, I am afraid of sending, lest I should be thought presumptuous in imagining others care as much about old inscriptions as I do! I therefore enclose it to you instead that you may act upon it as you may find a fit occasion. The passage in the 14th edict is much mutilated, and I long for a more correct copy.

It really becomes interesting to find Egypt and Ptolemy known to Asoka! I must give you the real text" (here follows the text in the original Pâli characters, which I give in italic letters with Prinsep's interlinear translation):

Yona raja paran cha tena Chaptáro

Greek King furthermore by whom the Gypta
Rajano Tulamayo cha Antigona cha Maga cha
Rajas, Ptolemy and Antigonus and Magas and
savata Devanampiyasa
everywhere beloved's

Dhammánusasti anubatate yata pajati
Religious precept reaches where goes.

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Some doubt about the Ptáro rájáno, or Chaptâro, which may be read chatwâro rajáno, the four kings;' Ptaro, the Pta or Ptha (worshipping) kings, Guptaro, or Chaptaro, rajano, the Koptic or Aegyptic kings;' but the name of Magas is so distinct that I give up the four kings in favor of Egypt.

"I have no time to expatiate hereupon. I shall publish in the next journal, although probably I shall be forced to alter my Antiochus the Great theory to the contemporary Antiochus of Ptolemy Philadelphus (247 B. C.), in whose time Magas held part of Egypt (Cyrene), and whose period agrees better with Asoka's reign. Hurrah for inscriptions!"

Prinsep's bold appeal to the head of the Government was of course successful, for Lord Auckland was a liberal patron of both literature and science. The Governor of Bombay was accordingly requested to depute a qualified officer for the purpose of taking a fac-simile of the inscriptions.* The new impressions were made with great care, but they did not reach Calcutta until after Prinsep's departure. I was not even aware that they had been sent to Calcutta until last January, when, looking for some of Kittoe's inscriptions, I stumbled on the Girnâr edicts of Asoka.

In the meantime Prinsep continued his labours by publishing a translation of the Junagarh inscription of Rudra Dâma in the April number of the journal; an "examination of the separate edicts at Dhauli in Cuttack" in the May number; translations of some additional short records from the Sânchi Stupa near Bhilsa in the June number; and the discovery of the Bactrian alphabet" in the July number; which was published about the middle of August. These were his last contributions to the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal.†

After his revision of the Bactrian alphabet, he naturally turned to the inscriptions which Ventura and Court had extracted from the stupas at Mânikyâla, and which Masson had obtained from the stupas of the Kabul Valley. His attention was also turned to the reading of the later coins "which mark the decadence of Greek dominion and Greek skill. These are the most precious to the student of Indian history. Through their Native legends we may yet hope to throw light on the obscure age of Vikramâditya and the Scythian successors of the Greeks on the north of India."‡ So important did he consider this class of coins that he

See Bengal Asiatic Society's Journal, 1838, p. 365.

+ These different articles will be found in the Journal of the Bengal Asiatic Society for 1838, pp. 364, 484, 562, & 636.

Bengal Asiatic Society's Journal, 1831, p. 655,

specially invited attention to them, and promised to return to their investigation, his text being "those coins on which the Native and Greek legends differ, or record different names."

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This subject still occupied his attention when he was overtaken by sickness and obliged to proceed to sea for change of air. He was "off Kedgeree" on the 28th September 1838, when he wrote his last letter to me to acknowledge the receipt of the coins which I had selected from Sir Alexander Burnes' new collection for his examination. He was disappointed at not finding any new names, and says "I almost fear the field is exhausted; my only hope is of new Spalahara types among the crowd of frustes' coins." As the coins of Spalahara belong to the class "on which the Native and Greek legends differ, this passage shows that down to the very last his thoughts were engaged on the completion of the Bactrian alphabet, and the translation of the tope inscriptions. I also draw the same conclusion from another paragraph of the same letter where he says, "I told you (did I not?) that Lassen had hit upon the exact key to the Bactrian alphabet I have made use of."

His trip to sea did him no good, as he wrote to me that he "never was so idle, so listless, or so headachey in his life;" and after a long and amusing account of all the surrounding discomforts, he exclaims "Oh! the pleasures of running down to the Sandheads for a week to restore the health!" He longed He longed "to get home to his own desk" in Calcutta, where he hoped to find that Dr. McLeod had arrived safe, that is, with the mass of Burnes' collection of coins.

On his return to Calcutta he gradually became worse and was obliged to leave India in the end of October. He was in a hopeless state when he reached England from softening of the brain, and after lingering for about a year he sank on the 22nd of April 1840, at 40 years of age. Thus died James Prinsep in the very prime of life, and in the very midst of his brilliant discoveries. When we remember that he was only just thirty-nine years old when his career was suddenly arrested by illness, it is impossible to help regretting that he was not spared for a few years longer to complete and perfect what he had already done, and perhaps to add fresh laurels to his fame by further discoveries. But

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