Page:Epigraphia Indica vol 6.djvu/119

 No. 10.] GADAG INSCRIPTION OP VIRA-BALLALA II. 89 (L. 25.) The tenth— 10th— year, the sixth— 6th— fortnight of summer, the fifth— 5th— lunar day. (L. 27.) The executor (djilapti) (was) myself. Accordingly (this) set of plates (pa(tikd) has been given (to the donees). No. 9.— THE»ARMENIAN EPITAPH AT THE LITTLE MOUNT. By Father Vartan Melchisedech, of the Mechitharist Congregation, Vienna. Mr. SewelTs Lists of Antiquities (Vol. I. page 175 f.) contain a short, but excellent descrip- tion of the three sites on the south of the city of Madras which are connected with the legend of St. Thomas. These are — the village of St. Thom6, which claims to possess the apostle's grave ; the Little Mount, where he is said to have suffered martyrdom ; and St. Thomas's Mount, the church on the top of which contains the famous inscribed cross. 1 The church at the Little Mount is reached by a flight of stone steps, and at the foot of these is set up a stone which bears a cross and, below it, the subjoined Armenian epitaph. The stone lately attracted the attention of His Excellency Sir Arthur Havelock, the Governor of Madras, At his instance Dr. Hultzsch sent inked estampages of the inscription to Professor H. Hiibschmann, of Strassburg, who was fc the first to decipher it. It is dated in the year 1112 (of the Armenian patriarch Moses), i.e. A.D. 1663 and is the epitaph of an Armenian merchant, named David, the son of MargarS. TEXT. 8 1 Hais* e tapayn 4 I 3 ordi Khujay Margar- 2 Khujay Davuthi 5 | 4 ayin 8 thvin* r oh zh b. TRANSLATION. This is the grave of Khoja 8 David, the son of Khoja Margaret In the year 1112.

This inscription is on a stone standing up against the back wall of the temple of TrikutS- fivara at Gadag, the chief town of the Gadag taluka in the Dharwar district of the Bombay » 9ee above, VoL IV. p. 174 fl. • As read by Professor Hubsohmann from the inked estampagea. t This is a cockneyism for Old-Armenian ait, ' this/ which has become as in New-Armenian.— H. H. • fn^lo^Arme^lantbis would be DavM, the genitive of Davith. The form Datmth seems to be due to the ■nflnence of Vd'ud, the Arabic form of the name « David/— H. H. • Dr Karat considers Margarayi to be the genitive of Margari; and n is the definite article. Instead of thvin, ' of the year/ we ought to have ithvin, with the locative prefix ». » This is the Persian i^]^L 9 * a lord, master,' a title generally applied to preceptors and merchants. • This name is identical with the Armenian word margarl, «u prophet. Digitized by Google