Ajanta: The Colour and Monochrome Reproductions of the Ajanta Frescoes Based on Photography v4.c17.98

v4.c17.98

The task of deciphering the inscription is beset with various difficulties. First of all its damaged condition is a great handicap. The natural fissures of the rock have here and there got mixed up with the strokes and dots of the engraved letters, which, in their turn, have mostly suffered from exposure to the ravages of the weather. Then there is the peculiarity of the script. Several signs have similar forms, making it difficult to distinguish one from the other. To crown all, there is the language-difficulty. Were it pure Sanskrit, the extant part of the inscription could have been correctly deciphered in spite of the other handicaps. The language of the inscription happens to be a queer mixture of Sanskrit and Prākṛit. There are instances where one compound word is half Sanskrit and half Prākṛit. In line 5, for example, we have *rājādhi-arayara*, for Sanskrit *rājādhirāja*. The complete expression may have been *mahārājādhirāja*. Even where the writer has used pure Sanskrit words he has still been strongly under the influence of Prākṛit, especially in the matter of orthography. We have thus such strange forms as *patthe* for *pathe*, *bhrāttā* for *bhrātā* in line 2, *Vajraṭṭa* for *Vajraṭa* in line 3, The worst difficulty is when an initial consonant is duplicated, as in *Llalitāvaloka*, in lines 3-4. The word beginning thus with a double *l* in line 12 has not been completely deciphered. Short and long vowels are also used promiscuously, as illustrated by *Kapaṭṭatuṅgena* in line 14, where *ṭ* is again unnecessarily duplicated, the correct form being *Kapaṭatuṅgena*.