गुप्त अभिलेख संग्रह (जे. एफ. फ्लीट - गुप्त सम्राटों एवं परवर्ती नरेशों के ऐतिहासिक पाषाण व ताम्रलेख)

186 CORPUS INSCRIPTIONUM INDICARUM, VOL. III.
Jayadêva I. (l. 8), who was treated by Dr. Bhagwanlal Indraji as the first really historical
member of the family, and the founder of the Nêpâl branch of it,¹ and on the Vikrama-
Saṁvat theory, was placed about A.D. 1. After this “victorious” Jayadêva I., and again
“omitting in the interim (to mention the names of) eleven ...... kings,” the inscription
gives the first unbroken succession of names that it contains; viz.—Vṛishadêva (l. 9);—
his son, Śaṁkaradêva;—his son, Dharmadêva;—his son, Mânadêva (l. 10);—his
son, Mahîdêva;—and his son, Vasantadêva. The first four of these names have
already been made known by inscription K. above; and the sixth, in the form of Vasanta-
sêna, by inscription P. And these six kings plainly belong to the family, the genealogy
of which forms the subject of all the preceding part of the inscription; viz. the
Lichchhavikula.
Then follows, in lines 10 and 11, the eleventh verse, which was entirely misunder-
stood by Dr. Bhagwanlal Indraji, and which, through that misunderstanding, led to the
erroneous reference of the larger dates of his inscriptions to the Vikrama era. He read this
verse—asy=ântarê=py=Udayadêva iti kshitîśâj=jâtâs=trayôdaśa [tata]ś=cha Narêndradêvaḥ
mân-ônnatô nata-samasta-narêndra-mauli-mâlâ-rajô-nikara-pâṁśula-pâdapîṭhaḥ; and tran-
slated — “afterwards came thirteen (rulers), sprung from king Udayadêva (l. 10),² and
then Narêndradêva (l. 11), who was proud, and whose footstool was covered with the dust
from the row of diadems worn by numerous prostrated kings.” With the exception that
the original has pâṁsula, not pâṁśula, the reading and translation of the second half of the
verse represent the original correctly. It is the first half that has not been properly treat-
ed. In the first place, asy=ântarê does not mean ‘afterwards,’ or ‘after him.’ The literal
meaning of antara is ‘an interval;’ and in anantaram it helps to make up the equivalent
of ‘afterwards,’ only from its meaning in the first place ‘no interval after.’ But, standing
without the negative particle, antara can have only the meaning of ‘interval;’ and it is
used twice before by the composer of this inscription, in lines 8 and 9, distinctly in that
sense. Asy=ântarê can only mean “in an interval of this;” and, supplying vaṁśasya, from
the vaṁśaḥ of line 7, in apposition with asya, we have “in an interval, i.e. at an intervening
point, of this (lineage that has just been detailed).” The expression plainly introduces
some names, in respect of which it is intended to be conveyed that they are of another
family or branch; and that the last of them comes contemporaneously with or immediate-
ly after the name of Vasantadêva, the last mentioned of the immediately preceding suc-
cession, and the first comes at some unspecified point intervening between Vṛishadêva and
Vasantadêva. In the second place, Dr. Bhagwanlal Indraji’s reading of kshitîśâj-jâtâs
cannot be maintained. In the two syllables jjâtâ, the rubbing shews distinctly the double
jj, of which, in the lithograph, the lower one is only sketched in faintly, as if it were doubt-

¹ Ind. Ant. Vol. XIII. p. 424.
² Or, again, — “after him (Vasantadêva), followed thirteen, sprung from the lord of the earth
called Udayadêva;” Ind. Ant. Vol. XIII. p. 425, note.