No. 2. Brahmi inscription from Щаlihuндam.
A. S. Gadre - EI, XXXI No. 14
Щаlihuндam is a famous Buddhist site in the Srikakulam District of the Andhra State,
about 12 miles by road from Srikakulam, the District headquarters. It is on the banks of
the Vaмщadharа which joins the Bay of Bengal some five miles further down. The hills of
this place have yielded many Buddhist structures and antiquites which have been briefly
described in this journal.[Above, Vol. XXVIII, pp. 133 ff. ] Earlier excavations at the
place have been fully described in the ARASI for the year 1919-20.[Op. cit., pp. 34-38.]
When I visited the place in October 1953, I came across an inscribed casing slab of stone.
The slab bearing the inscription formed part of the top frieze of stones on the exterior
surface of the Mahаchaitya. That it IS a fragmentary record can be recognized from the
fact that traces of letters preceding and following this inscription can be seen on the
inscribed stone itself. [The record does not appear to be fragmentary. On the stone slab
on which the space occupied by the writing is 22" by 2 " (an akshara being 1
1/2" in height), there is no space for letters before the record in ten aksharas
while there is what looks like a damaged punctuation mark after it (cf. the symbol at the
end of the Musanagar brick inscription, above, vol. XXX, p. 120, n. 5). -Ed.]
The inscription reads:-
Dhaмma(mа) Raгo Asokasirino