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might be able, with the help of his Burmese savans, to throw some light upon the meaning of this curious representation, as well as of others I hope to furnish.

The workmanship of the figure is superior to the ordinary run; its material is black chlorite. The measurement is 15 in. × 9 in. and has been worshipped for years past as Bhyrub by the ignorant people of this town; but this occurs everywhere, as remarked upon by Buchanan. I have given the inscription in a line by itself with the Deva Nágri context immediately above it for comparison;* it is the same, excepting perhaps orthographical errors, as given in page 133, Vol. IV. of the Journal, and occurs on almost every image in this district, and in various types, down to No. 2, of the Allahabad column, called the Gupta by Prinsep.

I hope soon to have it in my power to offer the Society further specimens of fragments of Budhist sculpture met with in such abundance in this district, and should you think them of sufficient interest, I would not object to draw them on transfer paper ready for printing and publishing in the Journal.

I beg to announce to the Society that having lately had a few days' leisure I have visited several of the spots held sacred in the vicinity of Gaya, and have made several curious discoveries which may prove of interest to those who make the former usages and religion of this empire a study.

It would take much more space than I can afford or would attempt to fill, in a letter which is intended as a simple announcement, to describe what I have seen, and explain the conjectures it has led to, so as to be well understood-suffice it to say, I have found what I consider to be remains of the famous Chaitya, or temple raised by Asoka at Budha Gaya; they consist of a number of columns on which are very rude though interesting sculptures in bass relief in medallions. I have sketched all that seem worth recording; the subjects are chiefly the worship of the Bo tree, the lotus, the shrine or Chaitya, a goat, a female figure with the head of an ass, &c. There are also winged lions, oxen and horses, and a centaur. The simple bull is oft repeated, and a cow and calf— but this last appears to be of a later date. It is remarkable that these pillars are of the same stone as that of the Asoka columns of Dehli,

* As there is no room to insert this in the plate we here subjoin the Deva-nágarí transcription.-Eds.

७ ॐ येषम्मी हेतुप्रहवा हेतुं तेषां तथागता ह्य वदन् तेषां च यो निरोध एवं वादी महा श्रमणः ।

Allahabad and others; and here I must not omit to mention that on of these, or rather part of one was many years ago set up in Sahebgun as a landmark by a Mr. Boddam; it was brought from Bukrow's (the site of an ancient city opposite Budha Gaya) where the lower portions still remain, the dimensions of this column must have been the same as of the others abovenamed. There is a sentence on most of the sculpturec pillars ending with "danam," or "the gift of," like those of the Bhilsa Tope in the early character, but the middle letters being much worn I cannot make it out properly; the initial letter is the same in all the á; it seems to be чá, ♫ yá, I, yé, ‡koo ? { •Ñ gi,↓yé, Ƒda, 1°nam, the language seems to be Páli or Prácrit and no sense can be made of it--but it must be the name of a person making a gift-perhaps Géya may be the dative of Gaya, when it would read "the gift to Gaya of"?—but it is unimportant otherwise than the characters fix the date.

~

I have visited a spot called Koorkihar, the site of an ancient city and of a Budha monastery or Vihara, hence the name which has been no doubt corrupted from Koorka Vihara: there are innumerable idols chiefly Budhas, some of great size and very beautifully executed, and well worth removing to the museum and sending home. Amongst other things are a vast number of miniature Chaityas or Budha temples, from 8 inches to several feet; these are noticed by Buchanan when speaking of Gaya; but they are more plentiful here and at Budha Gaya than elsewhere. I have collected some, but none are entire; they will, form subject for special notice hereafter.

There is a large Budha temple at Pornaha in ruins, but sufficiently entire to enable a good plan to be made of it, which I hope to be able to accomplish.

I have discovered a great many inscriptions at Gaya proper, and have taken impressions and copies, but they are not, as far as I can judge, of much interest; however they mention the names of many of the Pál rajas of Bengal and give dates. When I shall have prepared good copies I shall send them for the Society's inspection-and if considered acceptable I shall be happy to present duplicates.

This province offers a wide field for research. I have heard of several places worth visiting, but my time and means are small. There is one place called Pawnpoori which is said in one of the poorans to be the capital of Chundra Gupta; this I shall try and visit.

PROCEEDINGS

OF THE

ASIATIC SOCIETY OF BENGAL,

JANUARY, 1847.

The usual monthly meeting was held on Wednesday evening, the 13th January.

The Hon'ble Sir J. P. Grant, in the chair.

The Proceedings of the previous meeting were read and confirmed.

Dr. Duncan Stewart, Presidency Surgeon, was ballotted for and duly elected a member.

The following gentlemen were proposed for ballot at the February meeting :

Captain Ousely, proposed by Colonel Ousely, seconded by Mr. Piddington.

Captain Munro, Brigade Major, Fort William.

J. Muller, Esq. Mint.

R. Jones, Esq. Professor Hindu College.

W. M. Dirom, Esq. C. S.

Baboo Debendernath Tagore.

Dewan Hurreemohun Sen.

Proposed by Dr. W. B. O'Shaughnessy, seconded by the Hon'ble Sir J. P. Grant.

The Senior Secretary read a Report on the part of the Committee of Papers on the Society's affairs.

Resolved, That the Report be received and printed for circulation among the resident members, prior to the discussion at the February meeting of the propositions it contains.

The following gentlemen were elected members of the Committee of Papers to supply vacancies :-J. W. Colville, Esq. Advocate General,

M

W. Grey, Esq. C. S, Welby Jackson, Esq. C. S., and R. W. G. Fritl Esq.

Read translation of a letter received from Professor Lassen, as fo lows:

To Dr. E. ROER, Co-Secretary, Asiatic Society, Oriental Department.

MY DEAR SIR,-In conveying to the Asiatic Society my grateful acknow ledgments for the valuable present they have favoured me with, and for thei interest in my pursuits, I would request you to offer to the Society my apologies for the delay in my reply, owing to a severe affection of the eyes, from which I have been suffering during this whole summer, and which prevented me from engaging in any literary undertakings.

I was long since aware of the importance, nay of the indispensability of Radhakant's Dictionary for my labours, without, however, seeing a chance of making use of it, and my gratitude to the Asiatic Society, is the more cordial and sincere, since by their favour I have at last obtained access to this mine of Hindu learning.

Being anxious publicly to record my thanks to the Society, I shall consider it a particular favour, if you will ascertain, whether the Society would accept the dedication of my work on Indian antiquities to them. I was by my disease unfortunately compelled to desist during last summer from my labours, but I hope I shall be able to finish the latter half of the first volume in the course of the next spring.

By your translation of the Vedanta Sara, which I already knew from No. 158 of the Journal, you have acquired a lasting merit for the correct interpretation of this work, the meaning of which had been entirely misconstrued by the two former translators. You give, I apprehend, even too much praise to the German, by calling him a good Sanscrit scholar; his grammar and anthology contain many errors. and do not speak well of the critical sagacity of the author; his works are still more perverted by the circumstance, that he mixes up with all his labours Schelling's philosophy which he does not even correctly understand.

I most sincerely thank you for your offer to have, with the consent of the Society, some of the manuscripts of your Library copied for me, and I shall take the liberty to avail myself of it on any occasion I may require it. The works I should wish to have copied before all others, I am afraid, are not in the Library, at least not in the printed catalogue, viz. the Prâtisakhya and the works of Aryabhutta. The latter, I believe, are only procurable in Malabar, since I find only one single notice of one of them in the catalogue of the Mackenzie collection, where mention is made of a manuscript in Grantham writing. The first title includes three works, manuscripts of which are found in London, and in Chambers' collection in Berlin ; they are grammars of the Veda dialect, more ancient than that of Panini, and for this reason of great importance. If you will not consider me rude, I shall be much

obliged to you, if you can procure for me the two last Adhyayas of Bhaskara's Siddhanta Siromani. I have the first two Chapters, but never succeeded in obtaining the two remaining parts.

I am, &c.

C. LASSEN.

Read a letter from Dr. Roer, Co-Secretary in the Oriental Department, proposing the removal of the Pundit on the grounds of incapacity for his duties-referred to the Committee of Papers.

Presented a paper on the Coins of the Independent Mussalman sovereigns of Bengal, by J. W. Laidlay, Esq.

Ditto, on the Ovis ammonoides and a new species of Tibetan antelope, with drawings, by B. H. Hodgson, Esq., Darjeeling. Both these papers appear in the present number; the drawings illustrative of Mr. Hodgson's article are in the artist's hands and will be published with the least avoidable delay.

Read the following letter from the Secretary to Governinent, N. W. Provinces, forwarding drawings of some remarkable cave temples lately discovered in the Mirzapore district.

No. 1182.

From J. THORNTON, Esq. Secretary to Government, N. W. P.

To the Secretary Asiatic Society, Calcutta.

Geal. Dept. Lieut.-Governor's Camp, the 19th December, 1846. SIR,―The Hon'ble the Lieutenant-Governor, having heard of certain cave Temples in the vicinity of the hilly tracts south of Mirzapore, has taken steps to procure drawings of them through the Agency of Captain Stuart, Fort Adjutant of Chunar. His Honor has now desired me to transmit to you a copy of a letter received from that Officer, dated 3d ultimo, together with the original plans and sketches which accompanied it, and to request that you will place them at the disposal of the Asiatic Society for publication in their Journal, or for such other notice

as they may be considered to deserve.

Lieut.-Goor.'s Camp,

the 19th December, 1846.

I have the honor to be, Sir,

Your most obedient servant,

J. THORNTON,

Secretary to Government, N. W. P.

(Copy.)

To J. THORNTON, Esq. Secretary to the Government, N. W. P. Agra. SIR,-With reference to your letter No. 1106, of 26th December, 1845, requesting me to procure all the information I could regarding some Cave Temples lately discovered in the Hilly tracts south of Mirzapore, and sanctioning a certain amount of ontlay, for their preservation, I have the honor to state that I have this day

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