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Translation of one of the Inscriptions on the Pillar At Dehlee, called the Lat of Feeroz Shah, Excerpt from Asiatic Researches, Volume 7
by Henry Colebrooke, Esq.
With Introductory Remarks by Mr. Harington.
P. 175-182
1803
Plate IV: Picturesque Elevation of the Shikar-Gah, & the Celebrated Pillar at Dehli in June, 1797
Plate IV: Geometrical Elevation
Plate V: A, B, C, D.
I have the pleasure of presenting to the Society a Book of Drawings and Inscriptions prepared under the inspection of their late member, Captain James Hoare, and intended by him (I have reason to believe) for the life of the Society.
Two of the drawings represent elevations, taken on the spot, of the stone building near Dehlee, called the Shikargah, or hunting place, of Feeroz Shah; with the pillar in the center, and above the summit of it, commonly known by the designation of Feeroz Shah’s Lat; and described, with an outline of the building and pillar, in the 21st paper of the 1st Vol. of the Society’s Transactions. The copy of the inscriptions on this pillar, which was received by our revered President and Founder from Colonel Polier, enabled him to exhibit a translation of one of them, as accurate as the imperfect state of the transcript would admit; but on comparing it with a more perfect copy made by Captain Hoare, it was found in several parts defective and inaccurate; and the date, instead of being 123 of the era of Vicramaditya, or A.D. 67, as appeared from the former copy, was clearly ascertained, from the present, to be 1220 of the above era, or A.D. 1164. An accurate translation of this inscription has therefore been furnished by Mr. Henry Colebrooke, (who has distinguished himself as a Sanscrit scholar by his version of the Hindoo Law Digest, compiled under the superintendence of Sir William Jones,) and is now submitted to the Society, with the original Sanscrit in Roman letters.
Of the five other inscriptions contained in the accompanying book, and taken from the same pillar, but in a different character, no translation has been yet procurable. The deposit of them among the Society’s papers, and, if they think proper, the publication of an engraving of them in their Transactions, may lead to a future explication of them; which must be also facilitated by Captain Hoare’s collection of the characters.
The same characters appear in the inscription on the pillar at Allahabad, a specimen of which, with a modern Arabick and Persian inscription in the reign of Jehangeer, and a drawing of the pillar, are also contained in the accompanying Book. I have not been able to procure any information respecting this pillar, and understand from Moonshee Mohummud Morad, who accompanied Captain Hoare, that his inquiries at Allahabad were equally unsuccessful.
The Feeroz Shah, whose name is now attached to the Dehlee pillar, (though it must have been erected as some Hindoo monument at a much earlier period,) appears, from Ferishtuh’s History, to have reigned at Dehlee between the years 1351 and 1388; in the last of which he died at the age of ninety; and Ferishtuh, in the words of his translator, Lieutenant Colonel Dow, gives him the following character:
The author of the Huft Akleem, Mohummud Ameem Razee, who wrote his history of the world (or, as the title of his book imports, of the Seven Climes, into which the Mahommedans divide the universe) in the reign of Akbur, corroborates the above character of Feeroz Shah, and adds the following passage, translated verbatim from his history.
The exact length of the Zirra, referred to in the above description, is uncertain. But there can be no doubt that the height of the pillar, now visible above the building, is thirty-seven feet; and that its circumference, where it joins the terrace, is ten feet four inches [124 inches]. These dimensions I have from Moonshee Mohummud Morad, who himself measured the pillar for Captain Hoare in July, 1797; and who adds, that, as far as it could be seen, (which, from the ruinous state of the building, it cannot be, at present, below the upper terrace,) it is certainly, as described in the Huft Akleem, a single stone, of reddish colour, as represented in the drawing.
One of Captain Hoare’s drawings further represents the plans of the three stories of the Shikar-gah; and his Moonshee informs me, the current opinion is, that they were used partly for a menagery, and partly for an aviary, which the plans appear to confirm.
Perhaps the same misguided religious zeal which prompted his severity towards the inhabitants of Cumaoon, may have impelled him to erect a mansion for birds and beasts, round a venerable relict of Hindoo antiquity; the age of which cannot, I conceive, be determined by the date of the inscription now communicated to the Society, as the character of it is modern, and altogether different from the older inscriptions not yet explained.
J. H. HARINGTON. [John Herbert Harington, Asiatic Society Secretary, 1784-1792]
SANSCRIT INSCRIPTION, IN ROMAN CHARACTERS.
VERBAL TRANSLATION
There are on the same page, some short inscriptions, which I cannot decypher. One of them, however, is partly legible, and appears to be in the Hindustani language. It contains the name of Sultan Ibrahim, and wishes him a long life.
Plate VI: Column of Inscription fronting North.
Plate VI: Column of Inscription fronting North.
Plate VII: Fronting East.
Plate VII: Fronting East.
Plate VIII: Fronting South.
Plate VIII: Fronting South.
Plate IX: Fronting West.
Plate IX: Fronting West.
Plate X: Pillar under the foregoing commencing from the East.
Fact similie
Plate X: Inscription running round the Pillar under the foregoing, commencing from the East.
Fact similie specimen of the foregoing Inscription.
Plate XI:
Plate XI:
Plate XII: [illegible] is below the [illegible] encircles the Pillar.
Plate XII: This Inscription is a continuation of the former & joins it at the * it is below the others & in a different Character. It commences on the South side & encircles the Pillar about seven feet from the Terrace of the Building.
Plate XIII: Pillar of Alahabad.
Plate XIV:
Plate XIV: Specimen of the Inscription on the Pillar at Allahabad.
The same Inscription -- in a more modern Character.
by Henry Colebrooke, Esq.
With Introductory Remarks by Mr. Harington.
P. 175-182
1803
-- An Altar of Alexander Now Standing at Delhi [REDUCED VERSION], by Ranajit Pal
-- An Altar of Alexander Now Standing at Delhi [EXPANDED VERSION], by Ranajit Pal
-- The Asoka Pillars: A Challenging Interpretation, by India International Centre
-- The True Chronology of Aśokan Pillars, by John Irwin
VI.—Interpretation of the most ancient of the inscriptions on the pillar called the lat of Feroz Shah, near Delhi, and of the Allahabad, Radhia [Lauriya-Araraj (Radiah)] and Mattiah [Lauriya-Nandangarh (Mathia)] pillar, or lat, inscriptions which agree therewith, by James Prinsep, Sec. As. Soc. &c., 1837
Plate IV: Picturesque Elevation of the Shikar-Gah, & the Celebrated Pillar at Dehli in June, 1797
Plate IV: Geometrical Elevation
Plate V: A, B, C, D.
I have the pleasure of presenting to the Society a Book of Drawings and Inscriptions prepared under the inspection of their late member, Captain James Hoare, and intended by him (I have reason to believe) for the life of the Society.
The Staff of Firuz Shah
[10'4" circumference at base / 37' tall / red]
-- XXI. Inscriptions on the Staff of Firuz Shah, translated from the Sanscrit, as explained by Radha Canta Sarman. Excerpt from Asiatic Researches, Volume 1, P. 315-317, 1788
Sikargah or Kushak Mahal, 14th-century hunting lodge built by Firoz Shah Tughlaq.
-- Teen Murti Bhavan, by Wikipedia
Two of the drawings represent elevations, taken on the spot, of the stone building near Dehlee, called the Shikargah, or hunting place, of Feeroz Shah; with the pillar in the center, and above the summit of it, commonly known by the designation of Feeroz Shah’s Lat; and described, with an outline of the building and pillar, in the 21st paper of the 1st Vol. of the Society’s Transactions. The copy of the inscriptions on this pillar, which was received by our revered President and Founder from Colonel Polier, enabled him to exhibit a translation of one of them, as accurate as the imperfect state of the transcript would admit; but on comparing it with a more perfect copy made by Captain Hoare, it was found in several parts defective and inaccurate; and the date, instead of being 123 of the era of Vicramaditya, or A.D. 67, as appeared from the former copy, was clearly ascertained, from the present, to be 1220 of the above era, or A.D. 1164. An accurate translation of this inscription has therefore been furnished by Mr. Henry Colebrooke, (who has distinguished himself as a Sanscrit scholar by his version of the Hindoo Law Digest, compiled under the superintendence of Sir William Jones,) and is now submitted to the Society, with the original Sanscrit in Roman letters.
17. Painting of a Firman of the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb: India, late 18th century, 15.5 cm x 32 cm
Oliver Hoare's Cabinet of Curiosities, An Exhibition at Ciancimino, 85 Pimlico Road, London SW1 W8PH
6th June-6th July 2012
This curiosity belonged to Captain James Hoare who served in India in the second half of the 18th century. It shows a firman, an official document issued by the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb (1658–1707, the sixth Mughal emperor), still folded and sealed with stamped wax, and inscribed in black ink: ‘The firman of the one of exalted rank, in the name of Sepahdar Khan about Muhammad Asim, the judge of Jajmu imploring assistance’.
On the reverse a now faint and partly undecipherable inscription in pencil recounts its story. The emperor issued the firman to confirm a cadi (judge) in his functions, which were to be transferred to his descendants. By the end of the century the family was ‘in a state of beggary from large possessions’, and for some reason a member of the family gave this painting to James Hoare in 1792. It is like a surrealist conundrum. The firman is shown unopened. Why was a picture of it given and not the original, and why should this be so interesting? Was it in exchange for some favour granted? Was James Hoare sufficiently tickled by this last vestige of the family’s prestige to have its portrait painted? Not knowing the answers is part of its charm.
James Hoare was an early member of the Asiatic Society established in Bengal by Sir William Jones, to which he contributed a book of drawings of Firoz Shah’s Lat in Delhi and the Lat in Allahabad. They were a major contribution to deciphering Ashoka’s inscriptions, and arriving at an understanding of the Buddhist past of India. He died of a fever while still in India.
Of the five other inscriptions contained in the accompanying book, and taken from the same pillar, but in a different character, no translation has been yet procurable. The deposit of them among the Society’s papers, and, if they think proper, the publication of an engraving of them in their Transactions, may lead to a future explication of them; which must be also facilitated by Captain Hoare’s collection of the characters.
The same characters appear in the inscription on the pillar at Allahabad, a specimen of which, with a modern Arabick and Persian inscription in the reign of Jehangeer, and a drawing of the pillar, are also contained in the accompanying Book. I have not been able to procure any information respecting this pillar, and understand from Moonshee Mohummud Morad, who accompanied Captain Hoare, that his inquiries at Allahabad were equally unsuccessful.
The Feeroz Shah, whose name is now attached to the Dehlee pillar, (though it must have been erected as some Hindoo monument at a much earlier period,) appears, from Ferishtuh’s History, to have reigned at Dehlee between the years 1351 and 1388; in the last of which he died at the age of ninety; and Ferishtuh, in the words of his translator, Lieutenant Colonel Dow, gives him the following character:
“Though no great warrior in the field, he was, by his excellent qualities, well calculated for a reign of peace. His severity to the inhabitants of Cumaoon, for the assassination of the Governor of Samana, is a great blot in his reputation. But to this he, perhaps, was prompted by a religious zeal and euthusiasm; for the persons murdered, were Seids, or descendants of the prophet. He reigned thirty-eight years and nine months, and left many memorials of his magnificence in the land. He built fifty great sluices, forty mosques, thirty schools, twenty caravansaries, an hundred palaces, five hospitals, an hundred tombs, ten baths, ten spires, one hundred and fifty wells, one hundred bridges; and the pleasure gardens he made were without number.”* [Dow’s History of Hindustan, Vol. I. page 336.]
The author of the Huft Akleem, Mohummud Ameem Razee, who wrote his history of the world (or, as the title of his book imports, of the Seven Climes, into which the Mahommedans divide the universe) in the reign of Akbur, corroborates the above character of Feeroz Shah, and adds the following passage, translated verbatim from his history.
“Among the places built by this King (Feeroz Shah) is a hunting place, which the populace call the Lat of Feeroz Shah. It is a house of three stories, in the centre of which has been erected a pillar of red stone, of one piece, and tapering upwards. The visible part of the shaft is, by measurement, twenty-seven Zirras; and it is said, that one-third only is visible; the remaining two-thirds being buried in the earth. In this case, the total length must be eighty-one Zirras; and it is five Zirras in circumference. Round it have been engraved literal characters, which the most intelligent of all religions have been unable to explain. Report says, this pillar is a monument of renown to the Rajuhs, (or Hindoo Princes,) and that Feeroz Shah set it up within his hunting place. But on this head there are various traditions, which it would be tedious to relate.”
Who Erected Pillars In India before Asoka?
The find-spots of relics are of great importance in the reconstruction of history; but one of the recurrent problems in Indian history is that pillars were often rewritten and re-erected at different locations. Unfortunately this has been totally ignored by gullible historians like H. C. Raychaudhuri and R. Thapar. Even though the weight of some of these pillars is about thirty tons, it is not safe to assume that they were erected in their present locations. Keay writes:
The question of how these pillars had originally been moved round India, and whether they were still in their ordained positions, was an intriguing subject by itself. It was now apparent that they were all of the same stone, all polished by the same unexplained process, and therefore all from the same quarry. 3 [J. Keay, India Discovered: The Achievement of the British Raj (London 1988) 55.]
Significantly, although most writers placed this quarry at Chunar near Benares, Prinsep located it somewhere in the outer Himalayas.
-- An Altar of Alexander Now Standing at Delhi [EXPANDED VERSION], by Ranajit Pal, Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, Pune, India, January, 2006
The traditional idea that all were originally quarried at Chunar, just south of Varanasi and taken to their sites, before or after carving, "can no longer be confidently asserted",15 [Harle, J.C., The Art and Architecture of the Indian Subcontinent, 2nd edn. 1994, Yale University Press Pelican History of Art, p. 22] and instead it seems that the columns were carved in two types of stone. Some were of the spotted red and white sandstone from the region of Mathura, the others of buff-colored fine grained hard sandstone usually with small black spots quarried in the Chunar near Varanasi. The uniformity of style in the pillar capitals suggests that they were all sculpted by craftsmen from the same region. It would therefore seem that stone was transported from Mathura and Chunar to the various sites where the pillars have been found, and there was cut and carved by craftsmen.[16] [Thapar, Romila (2001). Aśoka and the Decline of the Mauryan, New Delhi: Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-564445-X, pp. 267-70]
-- Pillars of Ashoka, by Wikipedia
Ashoka Pillar at Feroze Shah Kotla, Delh
A pristine polished sandstone Topra Ashokan pillar from the 3rd century BC rises from the palace's crumbling remains, one of many pillars of Ashoka left by the Mauryan emperor.
-- Feroz Shah Kotla, by Wikipedia
The exact length of the Zirra, referred to in the above description, is uncertain. But there can be no doubt that the height of the pillar, now visible above the building, is thirty-seven feet; and that its circumference, where it joins the terrace, is ten feet four inches [124 inches]. These dimensions I have from Moonshee Mohummud Morad, who himself measured the pillar for Captain Hoare in July, 1797; and who adds, that, as far as it could be seen, (which, from the ruinous state of the building, it cannot be, at present, below the upper terrace,) it is certainly, as described in the Huft Akleem, a single stone, of reddish colour, as represented in the drawing.
If the circumference of this pillar is 10'4", or 4.06' diameter where it joins the terrace, then this pillar is 50' tall, rather than 37' tall. Neither is this pillar "red." Neither is it located at the Shikargah hunting lodge.
One of Captain Hoare’s drawings further represents the plans of the three stories of the Shikar-gah; and his Moonshee informs me, the current opinion is, that they were used partly for a menagery, and partly for an aviary, which the plans appear to confirm.
Perhaps the same misguided religious zeal which prompted his severity towards the inhabitants of Cumaoon, may have impelled him to erect a mansion for birds and beasts, round a venerable relict of Hindoo antiquity; the age of which cannot, I conceive, be determined by the date of the inscription now communicated to the Society, as the character of it is modern, and altogether different from the older inscriptions not yet explained.
J. H. HARINGTON. [John Herbert Harington, Asiatic Society Secretary, 1784-1792]
SANSCRIT INSCRIPTION, IN ROMAN CHARACTERS.
samvat 1220 vaisacha sudi 15 sacambhari bhupati srimad vella devatmaja srimad visala devasya.
avindhyad ahimadrer virachita vijayas thirtha yatra prasangad udgriveshu prahart nripatishu vinamat candhareshu prasannah
aryavertam yathartham punar api critavan mlechchha vichchhedanabhir devah sacambharindro jagati vijayate visalah cshonipala.
brute samprati bahujata tilacah sacambhari bhupatih srimad vigraha raja esha vijayi santanajan atmanah.
asmabhih caradam vyadhayi himavad vindhyantaralam bhuvah sesha swicaranaya mastu bhavatam udyoga sunyam manah.
ambho nama ripu priya nayanayoh pratyarthi dantantare pratyacshani trinani vaibhava milat cashtam yasas tavacam
margo loca viruddha eva vijanah sunyam mano vidwisham srimad vigraha rajadeva bhavatah prapte prayanotsave
lila mandira sodareshu swanteshu vamabhruvam satrunan nanu vigraha cshitipate nyayyas cha vasas tava sanca va purushottamasya bhavato nasty eva varan nidher nirmathyapahrita sriyah cimu bhavan crode na nidrayitah.
samvat sri vicramaditya 1220 vaisacha sudi 15 gurau lichitam idam ....
pratyacsham guadanwaya cayastha mahava putra sripatina atra samaye maha -- mantri rajaputra srimal lacshana palah.
VERBAL TRANSLATION
In the year 1220, on the 15th day of the bright half of the month Vaisach, [this monument] of the fortunate Visala Deva, son of the fortunate Vella Deva, (1) [Colonel Polier's transcript exhibited Amilla; the present copy may be read either Avella, or Vella.] King of Sacambhari,
As far as Vindhya, (2) [The Vindhya hills form the range which passes through the provinces of Bahar, Benares, &c. Hemadri, the Mountains of Snow, (called Himavat in the next verse,) is the Imaus and Emodus of ancient geographers. Aryaverta signifies the Land of Virtue; or "inhabited by respectable Men." See Menu, Ch. 2, v. 22.] as far as Himadri, (2) having achieved conquest in the course of travelling to holy places; resentful to haughty Kings, and indulgent to those whose necks are humbled; making Aryaverta (2) once more what its name signifies, by causing the barbarians to be exterminated; Visala Deva, supreme ruler of Sacambhari, (3,) [I have not been able to ascertain the situation of Sacambhari.] and sovereign of the earth, is victorious in the world.
This conqueror, the fortunate Vigraha Raja, (4,) [Whether Vigraha Raja, and Visala Deva, be names of the same person, or of different princes, it is impossible to determine from the tenor of the inscription, without other information.] King of Sacambhari, most eminent of the tribe which sprang from the arms (5) [The transcript of the inscription exhibits Vala,ama Tilacah, as it was also read in the former facsimile. Servone Trivedi advises me to read it Bahujata Tilacha, and I accde to his emendation.] [of Brahma,] now addresses his own descendants:"By us the region of the earth between Himavat (2) and Vindhya (2) has been made tributary; let not your minds be void of exertion to subdue the remainder."
Tears are evident in the eyes of thy enemy's consort; blades of grass are perceived between thy adversary's teeth; (6) [This alludes to the Indian custom of biting a blade of grass as a token of submission, and of asking quarter.] thy fame is predominant throughout space; the minds of thy foes are void [of hope;] their route is the desert where men are hindered from passing, O Vigraha Raja Deva, in the jubilee occasioned by thy march.
May thy abode, O Vigraha, sovereign of the earth, be fixed, as in reason it ought, in the bosoms (akin to the mansion of dalliance) of the women with beautiful eye-brows, who were married to thy enemies. There is no doubt of thy being the highest of embodied souls. (7) [Servone explains this very obscure passage otherwise: "There is (i.e. there should be) no doubt, or hesitation, in the mind of thee, who art the highest of embodied souls." (Purushottama.)] Didst thou not sleep in the lap of Sri, whom thou didst seize from the ocean, having churned it? (8) [Puroshottaama is a title of Vishnu. With reference to this term, the author of the inscription asks, "Art thou not Vishnu himself? Art thou not he who slept in the arms of Lacshm?" The legend of the churching of the ocean is well known.]
In the year from the fortunate Vicramaditya 1220, (9,) [In the present copy the date is very distinct; and proves to be 1220; not 123, as was suspected by Sir William Jones.] on Thursday, the 15th day of the bright half of the month Vaisach, this was written in the presence of (10) [This part of the inscription is not legible.] .... by Sripati, the son of Mahava, a Cayastha of a family in Gauda: at this time the fortunate Lacshana Pala, a Rajaputra, is prime minister.
Siva the terrible, [x] and the universal monarch.
There are on the same page, some short inscriptions, which I cannot decypher. One of them, however, is partly legible, and appears to be in the Hindustani language. It contains the name of Sultan Ibrahim, and wishes him a long life.
Plate VI: Column of Inscription fronting North.
Plate VI: Column of Inscription fronting North.
Plate VII: Fronting East.
Plate VII: Fronting East.
Plate VIII: Fronting South.
Plate VIII: Fronting South.
Plate IX: Fronting West.
Plate IX: Fronting West.
Plate X: Pillar under the foregoing commencing from the East.
Fact similie
Plate X: Inscription running round the Pillar under the foregoing, commencing from the East.
Fact similie specimen of the foregoing Inscription.
Plate XI:
Plate XI:
Plate XII: [illegible] is below the [illegible] encircles the Pillar.
Plate XII: This Inscription is a continuation of the former & joins it at the * it is below the others & in a different Character. It commences on the South side & encircles the Pillar about seven feet from the Terrace of the Building.
Plate XIII: Pillar of Alahabad.
Plate XIV:
Plate XIV: Specimen of the Inscription on the Pillar at Allahabad.
The same Inscription -- in a more modern Character.