Page:The Ancient Geography of India.djvu/584

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530 THE ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY OF INDIA.


the old Nâgari alphabet introduced from Northern India was still in use, and that the peculiar twisted forms of the Telugu characters, which are found in inscriptions of the tenth century, had not yet been adopted in the south.

4. DONAKAKOTTA.

On leaving Andhra, Hwen Thsang proceeded to the south through forests and over desert plains for 1000 li, or 167 miles, to To.na.kie.tse.kia, which M. Julien renders by Dhanakacheka. But I have already pointed out in my account of Tse-kia, or Taki, in the Panjab, that the Chinese syllable tse is used to represent the Indian cerebral f, which would make the name Dhana- kataka. I have also referred to the inscriptions in the caves of Kanhari and Kârle with the name of Dhana- kakaṭa, which I have suggested as the true reading of the Chinese word, by the transposition of the last two syllables.* The name of Dhanakakata is found in no less than four of the cave inscriptions, in all of which it has been read by Dr. Stevenson as the name of a man, whom he calls Xenokrates, a Greek. But accord- ing to my reading of these inscriptions, the name is undoubtedly that of the city or country to which the recorders of the inscriptions belonged. As these inscrip- tions are short, I will, in justice to Dr. Stevenson, here quote them.

The inscription on which Dr. Stevenson founds his

  • See Maps Nos. I. and XIII. My correction was printed in my

Archæological Report to the Government of India in 1864, but it was made several years previously. Dr. Bhau Dâji has also identified the Chinese name with the Dhanakakata of the inscriptions, but he has not noticed the true reading of the Chinese syllable tse. (Bombay Jonrn., vol. vii. p. 68.)

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