356 THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY. [Decembek, 1875. and rendered in the photograph, throws a re- markable light on other memorials of the same nature, and also furnishes, if I mistake not, a contribution of some importance to the history of writing in J a v a . When but recently, in the introduction to the Kauri Oorhotulen, biz. vi., I mentioned, with some reserve, the close relation between the forms of writing in these records and that of some of the oldest known inscriptions of ancient India, I had particularly in view certain copper-plates, published in the Journal of the Royal A Sodeiy (X. S. vol. I. pp. 247 ff.) by Prof. Dow- son, belonging to the C haluky a dynasty of Kaira and dated in the year. S. 594 (a.d. 472- 473). The striking and, in many respects, even perfect resemblance between the charac- ters of that inscription and our Kawi — a re- semblance first pointed out by our Sinologue Dr. G. Schlcgcl — induced me at the time to make a note of the alphabet. Though no other Indian form ot" writing really appeared on the whole so nearly related to the K a w i, yet I did not venture to attach much weight to it. inasmuch as some characters differed decide-illy, and moreover I was a stranger to a number of Indian forms of writing, among which per- haps the nearest approach to the Kawi might occur. So far as the Peninsula is concerned, my doubts are to a certain extent met By Dr. A. 0. Burnett's recently published Elements of E the Seven- teenth Cent a nj a.i>„, containing a series of al- phabets nml sjicr: linens of writing arranged ac- cording to chronological order from the oldest* in iliv fourth century a.d. — the Vengi in scrip* tion, from the north-east of the peninsula, from a Chora inscription of A. u. 40iJ,t from the south-past; West Ohalnkya, a.d. 008-9, from the north-west comer; and East Cha- lukya, a.d % 6S0, from the north-east,— quite or nearly corresponding to the first-mentioned Ch;"ilukY:i inscription, ami the later ones deviate from it farther and further, as well as from the Kawi writing. This last .circumstance was to be expected, since we know that the character of our Kawi records ascends at least to the middle of the eighth century, and thus can scarcely show • Not therefore, fcowernr, the mo«t nnHmt Imo mains of Indian writing, whiuh in tho inscriptions of As okn deviations whjch in the original country first began to appear at a later date. Granting, however, that the character brought over from India doubtless also in Java and else- where in the Archipelago developed in number- less secondary branches independent of the pa- rent stem, we have no certainty that these branches all sprang from one original form of that stock ; and we must at least allow it as probable that daring some ages of the more active intercourse with India, writing in Java continued to share in the influences of time and locality and other circumstances that influenced it in India. Consequently we find here and there in Java forms of writing more closely allied to one 1 1 urn another of the Indian alpha- bets ; yet it does not by any means follow from this that in the one form of writing we have the true key to the origin of the other. Still I think I may call it a notable discovery that, on inscribed stones in West Java— other- wise less rich in memorials of Hindu civiliza- an other parts of the island — the Vengi or Cher a character, even in the peculiarities that most markedly distinguish it from the Kawi, is so clearly rendered as in the case of the Charoenten stone. By a comparison of that inscription with Burnett's first plate and the alphabet from the Journal of tin: Bayal Asiatic
- 7, I succeeded without difficulty in read-
ing the greater part of it, though it contained characters that conld not easily be explained by the Kawi. Inasmuch, however, as it appeared to be Sanskrit, of which my knowledge is limited, I applied to Prof. Kern, and with his aid was enabled to obtain a fnll explanation of the inscription with tho exception of a couple of letters. It consists of four lines forming together a pure Sanskrit iloka : — 1. Vikrantasyavanipatch. 2. srimatab. purrmvarmmanah. 3. ....ma-nagarendrasya. 4. Vishnor-iva pada-dvayam. The subject of the sentence is pada-dvayam, i.e. ' pair of feet' or * two footsteps' : all the if the -words with the exception of tho ad' verb iva t ' like,' immediately preceding it, are genitives of tho nouns « ' striding/ 'stepping,' also 'mighty' (here perhaps to be aacprd tn tiWmt n r. 250. t See the ilerkam whiles, Ind. Ani, toI. I. p- 863— E&-
