Translation Help - Sanskrit? Devanagari?

Edrof · 14 Mar 2016 at 12:41

I have an old musket from around 1853 - I think it's British-made but it ended it's service life in the Nepalese Royal Armoury (probably via the East India Company). Anyway, it's covered in lots of script and I'd like to know what they say as it might be traceable to a certain regiment. I'm not entirely sure which language it is in so I'm asking you clever chaps! Any help is much appreciated.

(I think the above is 1,2,3,4 - representing hundreds of yards?)

Slamhamster · 14 Mar 2016 at 13:36

The numerals are Hindi (devanagari) but I only know that as I do regional packaging artworks. Probably Nepali given the history of the gun.

Edrof · 14 Mar 2016 at 19:25

That's a good start, thanks.

Anyone else?

Edrof · 18 Mar 2016 at 12:34

No more takers?

Avenged7Fold · 18 Mar 2016 at 12:39

Sweet

I forgot where i wrote down my debit card pin and didn't want to guess in case my card gets eaten.

I cant help translate but can i request a picture of the whole thing?

gandhi · 18 Mar 2016 at 14:11

Have a look at this

You might be able to work it out from that. I'm at work so time limited....

nine_tails · 18 Mar 2016 at 14:32

Sorry cant decode it all as some of it is not adding up.

1st Pic : Sa(feels incomplete) Dal(Dal means a group in hindi) 6
2nd Pic : It appears to be J 32 Year 8------
3rd Pic : Correct 1,2,3,4.
4th Pic : 1,6 5 (may be 9?)
5th Pic : 3,1,3
6th Pic : 3 ? 6 +

Source: Learnt Hindi in skool. Sorry OP most appear to be numerals.

Edrof · 20 Mar 2016 at 13:56

Thank you all.

Nine Tails: I strongly suspect the text in the 1st picture is the unit the musket was issued to so what you've written makes sense - I just need to complete it. I'll work through the rest later.

Edrof · 20 Mar 2016 at 13:57

Avenged7Fold said:
I cant help translate but can i request a picture of the whole thing?

There ya go:

Sudden · 20 Mar 2016 at 14:28

nine_tails said:
Sorry cant decode it all as some of it is not adding up.

1st Pic : Sa(feels incomplete) Dal(Dal means a group in hindi) 6
2nd Pic : It appears to be J 32 Year 8------
3rd Pic : Correct 1,2,3,4.
4th Pic : 1,6 5 (may be 9?)
5th Pic : 3,1,3
6th Pic : 3 ? 6 +

Source: Learnt Hindi in skool. Sorry OP most appear to be numerals.

This broadly seems right to me...just a couple of observations

1 - S seems right. Not sure about the 'a' in 'sa'. Probably 'l' at the end. 6 is there.
2 - I wonder if instead of J it is 'jn' (with a very soft n) thanks to the dot at the top. Though not that this means much to me either...can confirm teh rest of what ninetails said. If however instead of 'sal' (year)' it is 'mal' - this could just mean 'consignment' (loose translation though). Difficult to say though...sal is more likely.

3, 4, 5 and 6 - as nine tails said. Pic 4 - not sure of the last number, but not a 9.

Edrof · 25 Mar 2016 at 11:25

Thanks Sudden. I'm still struggling though - can anyone match photograph 1 to any of these: