In 1854, he handed over a copy of James Prinsep's paper containing the Pali Brahmi alphabet to Manishankar Jatashankar, a local scholar.

He finally succeeded in making a completely new transcript of the Rudradaman inscription, which greatly impressed Colonel Lang.

Forbes, who succeeded Lang as the Political Agent, introduced Bhagwan Lal to Bhau Daji, a renowned Bombay-based scholar of India antiquities.

He found Horace Hayman Wilson's translation of the inscription to be inadequate, and requested Bahgwan Lal to make a new transcript.

On 24 April 1862, Bhagwan Lal moved to Bombay, where he initially lived in a tent in the compound of Daji's house.

In Bombay, he spent time making transcripts of the inscriptions recovered from the caves at Nashik, Karli, Bhaja, Bhayandar, Junnar, Pitalkhora and Nanaghat.

[1] At Nanaghat, Bhagwan Lal discovered earliest reliefs of the early Satavahana rulers Satakarni, Queen Nayanika, Vedisiri and other princes.

On 22 December 1863, Bhagwan Lal set out on a tour of British India; his companions included Ardeshir Framji Moos and Cursetji Nusserwanji Cama among others.

[1] In 1864, Bhau Daji sent Bhagwan Lal and Pandurang Gopal Padhye to Jaisalmer, to examine the ancient Jain manuscripts.

The two men spent three months there, preparing copies of the literature preserved in the Jain manuscripts at a bhandar (store house).

[2] In 1868, Bhagwan Lal set out again on a year-long expedition to visit the ancient Hindu shrines, in order to examine the old inscriptions.

[1] He also discovered several other sculptures that including the famous Vishnu statue, which is now at National Museum (New Delhi) and a linga image (now lost).

At the instance of Bhau Daji, Charles James Lyall, Under-Secretary to the Government of India, provided him a letter.

The letter directed the Magistrates of Mathura, Agra, Benares, Farrukhabad, Gorakhpur, Ghazipur and Allahabd to help Bhagwan Lal in his pursuits.

Accompanied by his wife Gangaben, Bhagwan Lal visited (in that order) Khandwa, Omkareshwar, Indore, Ujjain, Bhojpur, Dhar, Mandu, Bhilsa (Besnagar), Sanchi, Eran, Udayagiri, Benares, Sarnath, Allahabad, Bhitari, Delhi, Kalsi, Mathura, Agra and Gwalior.

He gifted all his notes, inscriptions, coins, manuscripts and other research material to the Royal Asiatic Society, the British Museum and the Bombay Native General Library.