PROCEEDINGS OF THE ASIATIC SOCIETY OF BENGAL, FOR MAY, 1862. The Monthly General Meeting of the Asiatic Society was held on the 7th instant. A. Grote, Esq., President, in the chair. The proceedings of the last meeting were read and confirmed. 1. From Captain F. W. Stubbs, a rare and undescribed coin of a King or Satrap named Sophytes. 2. From Babu Gourdass Bysack, the coin of Altumsh, exhibited at the last meeting. 3. From Babu Brojojibun Bose, an inscribed copper-plate found in his Zemindaree, Lot 55, Sunderbuns. 4. From J. G. Pughe, Esq., Monghyr, a black stone image of Buddha, with an inscription on the back containing the usual Buddhist creed. 5. From Dr. Hayes of Singhbhoom, cranium of a Lurka Cole. 6. From Mr. Cowell, a copy of the eighth Sarga of Kumára Sambhava, edited by Pundit Premchandra Tarkabágis'a, with his commentary. 7. From Dr. Tholozan, Principal Physician to His Majesty the Shah of Persia, through E. B. Eastwick, Esq., Secretary of Legation, Tehran, a copy of Persian translation of a treatise on Auscultation, Percussion and Palpation, published by him. 8. From D. Framjee, Esq., a copy of his work on the origin and authenticity of the Arian family of languages. Mr. E. C. Bayley, read the following, containing a notice of some sculptures and inscriptions from Muttra, which the Lieuten ant-Governor of the N. W. Provinces has placed at the disposal of the Society: At the close of 1860, Mr. Best, the then Collector of Muttra, in levelling a site for the new cutcherry at that station, cleared away a portion of a large earthen mound. It soon appeared that this mound covered the ruins of a large building which had, at a very early period, been levelled, and above which had been built a Musjid of some antiquity which in its turn had been blown up for Military reasons during the mutiny. The mound, which is pretty extensive, is situated at the entrance of the station, from the main road leading from the city of Muttra to Agra. Mr. Best had not the means at his command to complete the investigation of the ruins. Nor has any attempt been made to ascertain the ground plan of the original building, but the mound was trenched throughout, and a number of statues, cornices, bas-relievos and pillars have been discovered. These are all more or less mutilated, and appear to be of varying antiquity. It is probable, therefore, that the building passed through stages of decay, repair and additions before its final destruction. One piece of stone indeed, which originally appears to have formed part of a sculptured drain pipe, has evidently been subsequently made to do duty as part of a stone-ladder, and the ruthless hands which fitted it for the latter purpose, have unfortunately hacked away a great portion of a very interesting inscription which it originally bore. It is indeed on account of the numerous inscriptions which these sculptures bear that they are chiefly valuable. Their execution is not of a very high order, and the coarse material of which they are composed, the common red sand-stone of the neighbouring quarries, is not favourable to any great degree of perfection in plastic art. They are all, however, of a Buddhist character, and the inscriptions add their testimony to this effect. Colonel Cunningham, who visited Muttra shortly after their discovery, in company with the Lieutenant-Governor, immediately recognised the value of the discovery, and at his recommendation measures were taken to preserve what was discovered. He copied the inscriptions, and on a subsequent visit to the place, I also did so somewhat more leisurely. Our copies for the most part agree pretty accurately, but the inscriptions themselves will, I trust, soon be published in our Journal from the originals which the Lieutenant-Governor has kindly placed at the disposal of the Society, and which the East India Railway Company have liberally agreed to convey to Calcutta. I do not therefore propose now to describe them at length, and merely say that an inscription on one of the pillars declares the building to have been a "Vihar of the great king of kings Huvishka," whose name occurs in the well known Bactro-Pali inscription found at "Wardak" in Affghanistan. Colonel Cunningham was the first to point out that there can be little danger in identifying this Huvishka with the Hushka of the Scythian kings mentioned in the Raja Tarangini, in the same manner as the "Kanishka" of the same authority and of the early traditions handed down to us from other sources, has been identified with the Kanishka of at least one Bactro-Pali inscription, that of Manikyala. The two kings are too almost beyond doubt the Kanerki and Ooerki of the Indo-Scythian coins. Several of the Muttra inscriptions, including that which mentions Huvishka, are dated in ciphers, and it is curious that apparently the same class of ciphers is used as in the Bactro-Pali inscriptions which read from right to left; throughout the inscriptions from Muttra are all in the Indo-Pali characters which read from left to right. Unfortunately we are as yet unable either to assign any value to these ciphers, or to be sure of the era to which the dates refer. The present discoveries, however, afford data which it is to be hoped may render the solution of the enigma more easy. Two of the inscriptions record the titles, and one also the date of another king whose name, however, is unfortunately imperfect, and which we can at present only say began with the word "Vasu,” it may have been Vasu Deva, Vasu Mitra, or some other similar compound. Some names of places are also mentioned as Udiyana, possibly the modern Hurriana. These results, however, and I hope others, will be given at length in the Journal on the arrival of the inscriptions themselves, which I trust may be at no distant date. I can only say that I hope some remaining portion of the mound may, at some future date, be completely explored as well as the many similar mounds existing at Muttra, all of which probably cover, and some of which are known to cover, similar remains. From the accounts of Fahian and Houan Tsang who describe twenty monasteries (some as old as Asoka) as standing in their time as well as other buildings, some Buddhist, some Hindu, there can be no doubt of a rich Antiquarian harvest from any properly conducted excavations. The following extract of a letter from Colonel Cunningham to Mr. Bayley was also read: : "I was glad to receive your letter of the 17th with all its information about coins and inscriptions. I duly received Rajendra's translation of the Wardak inscription. I think that he has given the general scope of the inscription, but he has certainly erred in many of the details, as several of his readings are quite inadmissible. What does he mean by saying that I read the figure as 3? I read 33 as 331; and now for the proof that this is the correct reading and that the date is in the Seleucidan era-I read the opening of the Wardak inscription as "San 331 Attamisiyasa divasa vrehi 14”—“In the year 331, on the fourteenth day of the increase of Artemisias." What do you think of that reading? Artemisias was the seventh of the Macedonian months, and if the Seleucidan era was in use, we ought to find the names of the Macedonian months also. Now turn to Ariana Antiqua, to the ink inscription from No. 13 Tope at Hidda, which I read x Mase Apilaësa vrehi dasami. ××ク San In the year ×× on the 10th of the increase of the month Apellous." A careful examination of the original might perhaps show Apileyasa as the true reading. The word s'arira (relic) occurs shortly after the date in this inscription. Inscription No. 3, Plate IX. of Thomas has the same year × ×î but I read the remainder of the date doubtfully as "Mása Attamisiyasa Vrehi 1." I have an impression of this inscription which differs in some letters from Thomas's copy. Another inscription of which I possess a copy, given to me by Captain Robinson of the Engineers, opens with a line which I read without much hesitation as follows. San 5 Mása Tsattikasa divasa Vrehi 3. In the year 5 on the third day of the increase of the month Xanthikos. In all these inscriptions it is observable that the word mása precedes the name of the month, whereas in my two Yusufzai inscriptions, in which the Hindu months are used, the word mása follows the name of the month. This may be a useful hint for the reading of other dates. In Court's Manikyála inscription the name and day of the month are given at the end, I read them as Káttikasa mása divasa 3. "On the 3rd day of the month of Kárttika.” The date of the Manikyála, Hidda, and Thomas No. 3, Plate 9, inscriptions, is the same, namely × × which I incline to read as 144 from right to left, and I would refer the erection of the three topes to the period of Kanishka's conversion to Buddhism, say approximately 25 B. C. Then 25 plus 144 would give 169 B. C. as the ini tial year of the era, which may probably refer to the Scythian occupation of Bactriana and Sogdiana, which we know must have taken place about 170 or 160 B. C. during the time of Eukratides and Heliokles. The coins of the latter prince were copied by the Scythians, as well as those of Euthydemus. Vrehi, I take to be equivalent to Vriddhi" increase." The reading of Vrehi I believe to be quite correct, but we cannot be certain of it until we find an inscription dated during the "decrease" of the month. Quintus Curtius, whose information was derived from the records of Alexander's companions, states that the Indians reckoned time by half-months, according to the increase or decrease of the moon. There is every probability, therefore, that I am right in my reading of the Macedonian months. I have not time to go through the Wardak inscription just now, but I may note that I read the name of the hill mentioned in the first line, as Khásatamri Kotala. And small hills in the Kabul valley are called Kotal as Haft Kotal, the seven hills, and Khása is the name of the Takt-i-Sulimân or Khása-ghar. Regarding my explorations during the past season, I can only give you a rapid account. I visited Gaya, Bodh Gaya, Kurkihar, |