The Antiquities of Orissa v2.c16.s2.76

v2.c16.s2.76

On the back wall of the verandah there are two inscriptions, one in the Lāṭ character, and above it the other in Kuṭila form of the Sanskrit. Both of the them were so broken and filled up with dirt and moss, that I could not take legible facsimiles of them; only a few letters in the middle of the Lāṭ character inscription could be made out. According to my note-book, the Sanskrit one comprises four lines of ten letters each. The Kuṭila inscription published by Prinshep as form the "Elephant or Gaṇeśa Cave," which I have not been able to trace, is in five lines of thirteen letters each, and I cannot therefore identify it with this record. It is, however, not of much importance, as the Lāṭ inscription leaves no room to doubt that the cave was cut many centuries before the Kuṭila letters came into currency in India, and that the Kuṭila record is a fictitious one got up to explain away what the writer knew nothing about.