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322 THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY. [November, 1873. certainly have been one of the easiest ways of getting from the coast to Bijapur, and though perhaps not quite so short as that by Satavali, yet it was probably much more easily guarded, and safer for unprotected tra¬ vellers. I can give no particulars of any old route to the south of this. Goa was always a much- coveted port, but I have only seen the Fonda Ghat mentioned in connection with it, which is a long way north. 1 have no doubt, how¬ ever, that any one having a better acquaint¬ ance than I possess with the district lying between Goa and the Ghats would be able to find traces of the Musalmans along some more direct route. I must end this by acknowledging that there are many points of interest regarding even the places I have written about which require fur¬ ther elucidation, as I have now only been able to put into shape some rough notes made at different times. And I must particularly men¬ tion that the villages on the B a n k o t creek, about which I have said nothing, contain a larger and more prosperous Musalman popu¬ lation than any of the places I have mentioned. But I have never found any reference to any of these towns or villages in history previous to the time of the Marathas; and I am inclined to think that the Musalmans of this part (known in Bombay by the too general name of Kon- kani Musalmans), who differ so strongly from others of their religion in physical appearance, in dress, and in some of their customs, must be descended from seafaring Arabs who settled on this coast, and not from the Musalman conquerors of India. I know no evidence, however, in favour of this theory, and must leave it as a mere hint to any one who may be able to investigate the subject properly. JAIN INSCRIPTIONS AT SRAVANA BELGOLA. BY LEWIS RICE, BANGALORE. (Continued from p. 266.) n. A long series of the rock inscriptions at Sra- vana Belgola, in the same old characters, con¬ sist of what may be termed epitaphs to Jain saints and ascetics, both male and female, or memorials of their emancipation from the body. Specimens are given below, with literal render¬ ings and translations. It is painful to imagine the pangs of slow starvation by which these pitiable beings gave themselves up to death and put an end to their own existence, that by virtue of such extreme penance they might acquire merit for the life to come. The bitterest satir¬ ist of human delusions could hardly depict a scene of sterner irony than the naked summit of this bare rock dotted with emaciated devotees, both men and women, in silent torture awaiting the hour of self-imposed death, in haste to be quit of the human form, which yet from the opposite hill the gigantic granite image dis¬ played in colossal proportions as that of the deity for whom they made such a sacrifice look¬ ing forth unmoved upon them with its impassive features. The irony is complete when we re¬ member that avoidance of the destruction of life in whatever form is a fundamental doctrine of the sect. All the more striking must the picture have been from the absence of the sur¬ rounding buildings, which were most probably not erected at the time to which the inscriptions refer. The vow which these unhappy ascetics under¬ went appears to be known by the singular name of sallekhana. Regarding this penance a work X called the Retina Karandaka gives the following directions:— Upasarge durbhikshe jarasi rujayam cha nish- pratikare Dharmaya tanuvimochanam ahuh sallekhanany aryah. || Antahkriyadhikaranam tapahphalam sakala- darsinastu gate, Tasmad yavadvibhavam samadhimarane pra- yatitavyam. || Sneham vairam sangam parigraham chapahaya suddhamanah, Svajanam parijanam apicha kshantva kshama- yet priyair vachanaih. || Alochya sarvam inah kri taka ritam anumatam cha nirvyajam, Aropayen mahavratam amaranasthayinihse- sham. || Which may be freely translated as follows:— When overtaken by portentous calamity, by