The Antiquities of Orissa v2.c16.98

v2.c16.98

The most important word in this, and indeed in most of the Udayagiri records, is *lonam*. Adverting to it, James Prinsep says : "In my search for some of the catch-words which have proved of such avail in explaining the purport of the inscriptions of Bhilsā and Sainhādri, I could neither meet with the *dānam* of the former, nor the *deya dhamma* of the latter,—but in their stead I remarked a very common, if not constant, termination in a word of two syllables 𑀮𑁂𑀡 *lonam*, or 𑀮𑀽𑀡 *lunam* preceded in most instances by the genitival affix 𑀲 *sa*; and in the only case as of exception, by an equally regular genitive 𑀲𑀺𑀭𑀺𑀦𑁄 *sirino* from the noun *siri*, (Sanskrit root *sira* gen. *Sirinaḥ*), a worshipper of the sun. It was not until after many futile attempts with the paṇḍit to find a better, that we were led to the supposition that the word *lonam* or *lunam*, must be the Pāli equivalent for the Sanskrit participial noun *lūnam*, ‘cut’ or ‘excavated’; in this the vowel is changed from *u* to *o*, and the *n* from the dental to the Prākṛt cerebral:—but in sound, it must be confessed that there is little difference; [16] while in sense, the term satisfies precisely the circumstances of the Udayagiri caves, which are generally small holes cut with the chisel from the solid rock,—a stone of loose consistency easily worked with the rudest tools”.¹⁶ The only meaning attached to *lonam* in Childer’s *Pāli Dictionary* is salt, a corruption of the Sanskrit *lavana*, the *v* of Pāli and Prākṛt changing along with its preceding and following short vowels into *o*. That meaning cannot, however, be accepted here, and Prinsep is perfectly right, therefore, to look to the Sanskrit *lūna*, a cut, derived from the root *lū*, to cut, as the original of the *lonam*. In Sanskrit, we have *lūna* and *lavana* for a wound, or that which is cut off or broken, and *lūna* for cutting, and the change of *ū* into *o* in Pāli is quite common, e, g., *sokara* for *sūkara*, a hog. The root *lū*, to cut or reap, is in use in modern Pāli. And the name of one of the Ellora, caves, *Dumār Leina* ‘the cave,’ = *Leina* or *lona*, ‘of virtue’, = *Duma*, *Dharma*, affords an instance of the use of the term to indicate a cave. I am not satisfied, however, with the derivation assigned to the word *sirino*. Doubtless, the root of *sira*, also written *sira* with the cerebral sibilant, is *sar*; but the epithet would be by no means becoming a Buddhist monk, such as the party indicated in the inscription unquestionably was; I am disposed, therefore, to take it as a derivative of *śrī*, ‘to honor’ or ‘to be honored,’ whence the Sanskrit *śiras* which in Pāli would be *sira*, and applying after it the affix in the word would mean ‘the venerable’, which would be a very appropriate title for a holy man, Buddhist or otherwise.