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again oldest in form, done in three strokes. In the Asokan letters once more the Delhi letter is, nearer our present form, all the other and later ones generally tend to be one-stroke characters.

The complete inscription I read :

Sapa1-khate2 Vata3 Namdi

I may here note a view which occurs to me after the above analysis. It is probable, I should say, very probable, that in preMauryan times there had been two collateral branches of writing descended from an earlier common ancestor, one of which became the imperial script under the Mauryas, while the other represented by our present letters in the fifth century B.C. gave rise to the Southern, Mathura, Pabhosa and Hathigumpha variations. The variations in contemporary writings of postMauryan period are really variations in basic principles, and it is difficult to derive them all from a common Brahmi of the third century B.CA

It is certain that the inscriptions are contemporary with the. statues; in fact, the names had been inscribed before the statues were given the finishing touches. Again, the polish shows that the statues cannot be post-Mauryan. The polish never appears on post-Mauryan monuments while it is invariably. found on Mauryan works. Mr. Arun Sen, Lecturer in Hindu Art to the University of Calcutta, to whom I showed the statues without disclosing to him the data of the inscriptions, declared them on art considerations to be pre-Mauryan. The opinion of Mr. Sen, who has received his training at Cambridge and has made a special study of Mauryan art, carries weight. But in any case on the evidence of the

1 Or, Shapa.

2 Or, kh(e?) te, the stroke over kh is not connected and does not seem to be part of the letter.

8 Or, Peta.

• Both in Buddhist and Jaina books we hear of a writing called, Paushkarṇādia side by side with Brahmi. It may be that the two varieties bore the two names.

polish, the statues and the inscriptions cannot be later than the Mauryan times. We know, however, the script of the Mauryan times. And the script on the statues is not that. It is earlier in almost each detail. The statues therefore must be earlier in age than Aśoka's period.:

Now, we shall know their age definitely by establishing the historical identity of the statues and by recalling to our mind the Hindu custom recorded by Bhasa1 of giving statues to departed sovereigns soon after the demise of the last king.

The translation of the inscription on statue A (Bhage ACHO chhoni'dhise) will be "His Gracious Majesty AJA, king [lit. Over-Ruler of the LAND (or, Earth)]." Bhage as an adjective comes only in Vedic literature, meaning "Gracious lord " (noun, “majesty ").

The translation of the second inscription (Sapa-khate Vata Nandi) will be "Of complete empire (dominion), VARTA NANDI." Whether the first letter is dental or cerebral, the meaning would not change. Nor would the Sanskrit restoration "Varta" be altered whether we read the word Veta or Vata. As to khate, if we take the doubtful form khete the meaning would verbally, though not materially, change : Sapa-Khete (Skt. SarvaKshetrah)," of complete region," i. e., "Possessor of the whole region" (cf. Artha-Fastra, page 338, for Kshetra in the sense of empire or region to be governed).

In the Purāņas amongst the Saiśunāka kings of Patna we have Nandi-Vardhana. As I have already pointed out, Vardhana is an imperial title and not part of the name. Nandi (Vardhana) according to the Vayu, Brahmāṇda and Matsya was the son of Udayin (Udayāsva in the Vishņu). The Bhagavata (12. 1. 7) calls Nandi-Vardhana "son of Aja”

Identity of the Statues.

1 See infra.

The Hindus never forgot that Paṭaliputra was identical with Patna. Brahmans of Patna gave this identification to Buchanan in 1812. The Jains have likewise in that century given the name (Padalipura) on their memorial to Sthulabhadra at Gulzarbagh, Patna.

J.B.O.R. S., I, 78.

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Photo-engraved & printed at the Offices of the Survey of India, Calcutta, 1919.

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