Page:The Origin of the Bengali Script.djvu/37

Rh 2. Thabho dāna (ṁ). "The pillar-gift of Sonadeva (Svarṇadeva) of........." Inscription No. II which ends with the word "Dānaṁ thabho undoubtedly belongs to the early Maurya period of the 3rd century B. C. (iv) Inscription on a rail stone (? cross bar):— Bhariniye Sahaṁ Yateyikā (ye) —the gift of Yateyikā with Bharini. This inscription also belongs to the 1st century B.C., as indicated by the form of medial i and the shortening of the verticals in ya.

(v) Inscription of the king Aśvaghoṣa, the year 40. incised on the pillar of Aśoka..............." "...............rparigeyhe rājña Aśvaghoshasya chatariśe Savachhare hematapakhe prathame divase dasame." Certain words following the above record, have been read by Dr. Venis as follows: Sutithage 4, 200, 9. Drs. Fleet and Venis hold that this date should be referred to the Mālava-Vikrama era and arrive at 111-151 A.D. as the date of Aśvaghosa. If Drs. Fleet and Venis be correct, then it shall have to be admitted that, Kaṇiṣka, Huviṣka and Vāsudeva reigned in the latter half of the second and third centuries A.D., because in a treatise on Palaeography, it is impossible to admit, that the group of Kuṣāna inscriptions, came before those of Aśvaghoṣa, the Kṣatrapas Nahapāna and Śoḍāsa, and the archaic inscriptions from Mathurā.

(vi) Fragmentary inscriptions of the time of Aśvagho a:—

1. Rājña Aśvaghora (sya).........