very often was favoured with land-grants by them. The second is a new one, and, as far as I know, has not hitherto been found in any other inscription. Probably it was one of the some hundred sanghārāmas, of which Hiuen Tsiang gives us a short account in his Si-yu-ki (translated by Beal, ii. 266), quoting by name only one great saṁghārāma, not far from the city which was built by the Arhat Ācāra ('O-che-lo), identified by Prof. Bühler with the monastery of Atharya, mentioned in a grant of King Dharasena II. (Ind. Ant. vi. 9), and to which certainly also belonged the other monasteries at Valabhi, whose names are found here and there in similar inscriptions.

However, this very fact that King Dhruvasena, himself a worshipper of Śiva and descendant of a Śivaitic family, is again seen in this inscription making a grant to Buddhist monks, is of no small interest, as it confirms one of the few historical accounts concerning these feudatory kings of Valabhī, exhibited to us by their epigraphical documents, viz. the fact that though themselves devoted to Śiva-worship, they were great protectors of the Bauddhas who lived in their country. And it may be said that the inscription forms an important link in the chain of historical records, and that together with kindred facts, viz. that Dudḍā, the sister of several Śivaitic kings or princes, was a follower of the Buddhist faith (paramopāsikā: Ind. Ant. iv. 105 f., plate ii. 1. 5), and a founder of a Buddhist monastery; that, perhaps, Bhaṭārkka, the founder of the dynasty, had already built a similar one (Ind. Ant. vi. 9), and that later on the illustrious King Guhasena, who formerly calls himself devoted to Śiva (paramamāheśvera : Ind. Ant. iv. 174) is suddenly called "the ardent devotee of Buddha" (paramopasaka: Ind. Ant. v. 206), from which it appears that this ruler was actually converted to Buddhism; it confirms in the first place the wide extent of Buddhism in this country during the sixth and seventh centuries A.D., and in the second exhibits an example of religious tolerance among mediæval kings, not unworthy indeed of the two great emperors Aśoka and Akbar.

FIRST PLATE.

(1) Om [*] Svasti [||*] Vijaya-Skandha[vārāt

vāsa-kā]t=Pra[sabha]-pra[na]t[-āmi]tr[āṇām]M[ai]trakānām=atula-bala-sa[m]panna-ma[n]ḍa[l-ā]

(2) bhoga - samsakta - samprahāra - śata-[labdha - pratāpa]ḥ pratāp - opanata-dāna-mān-ārjjav - opārjjit - ānurag anurakta-maulabhṛta

(3) mit[t]ra 1-śreṇī-bal-āvāpta-rajya-śrīḥ parama - māheśvaraś śrī-senāpati-BHATAKKAḤ2 [*] Tasya sutas=

tac-carana-rajo-run-āvanata

(4) [pav]i[tri]-kṛta-śirāś=śiro-vanata - śat[t]ru 3-cūḍāmaṇiprabha - vicchurita - pāda - nakha-pankti-dīdhitiḥ dinānātha-jan-opa

(5) [jivya]māna-vibhavaḥ parama-māheśvaraḥ śrī-senāpatiDHARASENAH [*] Tasy=anujas-tat-pād-ābhipraṇāma-prasasta 1

(6) [vi]mala - mauli - maņir=Mmanv - ādi - praṇīta - vidhi vidhāna-dharmmā Dharmmarāja iva vihita-vinayavyavasthā-paddha

(7) tir-akhila-bhuvana-maṇḍal-abhog-aika-svāminā paramasvāminā svayam-upahita-rājy-ābhiṣeka-mahā

(8) [vi]śrāṇan-āvapūta-rāja 3-śrīḥ parama-maheśvaraś = śrīmahārāja-DRONASIMHAS=simhaiva [*] Tasy =ānujas=

sva-bhu

(9) ja-bala-parākkrameņa para-gaja-ghaṭ-ānīkānām=ekavijayī saran-aiṣiņām saraṇam=avaboddhā

(10) [sastr-a]rttha-tatvānām 6 kalpatarur - iva suhṛt-praṇayinām yatha-bhilaṣita-kāma-phal-opabhoga-daḥ

(11) [parama-bha]ṭṭāraka-pād-ānuddhyāto mabāpratīhāra

māhādaṇḍanāyaka-mahākārttākṛtika-mahāsāmanta

The usual reading is prasastatara; tara is wanting also, Ind. Ant. v. 205,

plate i. 1. 7.

5 Read rajya.

6 Read tattvānāṁ.

(12) [mahārāja] - śrī - DHRUVASENAḤ [kuśal]i sarvvān=eva svān=ayuktaka-viniyuktaka-drāngika-mahattara-caṭa

bha

(13) t-adīn=anyāmś -ca yatha-sam[ba]dhyamānakān samā[jñāpaya]ty=[II] Astu vas samviditam yathā mayā

(14) . man

. man.. sthala '-sannikṛṣṭa-VATAPRAJYAKA 2-grāmaḥ 8- oparikaka (ra)s=sa - [d]i[tya] - dāna - vāta - bh[ūtapratyā]

(15) [ya]ḥ sah-anyaiś=ca kīrttibhā . . i . ribhā. aiḥ 3 bh[u]mic[ch]i[dra-ny]āyena

SECOND PLATE.

(16) [mātā-pi]troḥ [pun]y-apyāyanāy=ātmanaś=c= -[ai]hikāmuṣmika-yathā-bhilaṣita-phal-āvāpti-nim[ittam =ā]

(17) [candr-ār]kk ārņṇava-kṣiti-sarit-parvvata-sama-kālīnaḥ

(18).

Valabhi-tala-sva-bhāgineyī-Duṣṇā-kārita-[vihāra ?]

-[a]caryya - bhadanta - BUDDHADĀSA - kārita vihāra-kutyām pratiṣṭāpita-bhagavatām Ssamya[ksambu]

(19) [ddhānām Buddh]ānām gandha-dhūpa-puṣpa-dīpa-tailopayogi vihārasya ca khaṇḍa-sphuțita-pati[ta](20) [vi]ś[i]rņṇa-pratisamskāraṇ-ārttham catur-ddiś-ābhyāgat-obhaya-vihāra-prativāsi-bhikṣu-sanghasya

(21) [ . pi]ṇḍapāta - śayan-āsana-glāna-pratyaya-bhaiṣajyapariṣkār-opayog-ārttham ca pra

(22) [tip]āditaḥ [*] Yato bhikṣu-sangh 5-ādhikṛtānām bhuōjatām kṛṣatām pradiśatām na kaiś=cit=svalpā = py=a

1 The first letter looks like ra or ka; the third may have been nḍa, but only a small na is visible; the th of stha seems also uncertain.

2 va and jya uncertain.

I am unable to make out the reading of these fragmentary letters. The last ai is uncertain.

4 am and the doubles are rather doubtful, but the reading of the whole passage is obvious from a similar inscription of the same king, Ind. Ant. iv. 104 f., plate ii. 1. 5 ff.: Valabhyam sva-bhāgineyi-param-opāsikā - Duḍdā-kāritavihāra-pratiṣṭhāpitānām bhagavatām Samyak-sambuddhānām Buddhānām, etc. This reading is not quite certain.

J.R.A.S. 1895.

25

(23) [bādhāk]āryy=āsmad-vanśa-jair=āgāmi-nṛpatibhiś=c=

anityany-aiśvaryyaṇy-asthiram mānuṣyam sāmān

yam ca

(24) [bhū]mi-dāna-phalam=avagacchadbhir=ayam =asmaddāyo=numantavyaḥ paripālayitavyaś=ca [||*] Yaś=c=

acchi

(25) [ndyād]=acchidyamānam vā=numodeta sa pamcabbir= mmahā - pātakaiḥ s - opapātakais=samyuktas=syād= [*] I[ty=a*]pi '

(26) [Vyā]sa-gītau ślokau bhavataḥ [*] Sastim varṣa-sahasrāņi svargge modati bhūmi-daḥ [/*] ācchettā (27) [c=ānumantā]ca tāṇy=eva2 narake vaset [||*] Bahubhir= vvasudhā bhuktā rājabhis=Sagar-ādibhiḥ [|*] yasya (28) [yasya yadā bhūmi]ḥ tasya tasya tadā phalam=iti || Sva-hasto mama mahāpratīhāra-mahādaṇḍa

(29) [nayaka-mahākārtt Jākṛtika-mahāsāmanta-mahārāja-śrīDHRUVASENASYA || Dūtako rājasthāniya-BHATTIḤ [||] (30) [Likhitam KIKKAKEN = eti [||] Sam 200-10-7 Asvayuja ba 133 ||

1 Or, perhaps, I[hã =*]pi.

2 Read tany = eva.

3 Though only a small portion of the letters sam and ba is visible, and something is wanting of the numeral signs of 10 and 7, the reading is quite certain.

385

ART. XI.-The History of Kilwa.

Edited from an Arabic MS. by S. ARTHUR STRONG.

And

It would seem at first sight as if the history of a small African island were hardly worth the trouble of editing in its original and not very stylish Arabic dress. But it was a saying of Scaliger's that omnis historia bona, and no people seem to have realized the truth of this more than the Arabs. An event once recorded simply as and because it happened, may by the advance of time be brought into new clearness and significance. Once in possession of the fact we can agree upon the fiction at our leisure. from this point of view we have every reason to be grateful that the influence of Islam tended to narrative rather than criticism, to veracity rather than profundity. In the present instance we have a record, scanty indeed and prosaic, but one to which in the excitement of the scramble for Africa we can hardly be indifferent. It is true that the author, after a fashion not uncommon in the East, conducts us to the crisis and turning-point of his story, and then suddenly relapses into silence, but not before we have seen and recognized "the intruder on his ancient home." The arrival of Vasco da Gama opens a new chapter of history, of which, with its complications and surprises, we have not yet come to the end.

The present edition is based upon a MS. believed to be unique, numbered Or. 2666 in the collection of the British Museum. The MS. was presented to the nation by Sir John Kirk, who himself received it as a gift from Barghash