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

THE GUPTA INSCRIPTIONS.
TEXTS AND TRANSLATIONS.
No. 1; PLATE I.
ALLAHABAD POSTHUMOUS STONE PILLAR INSCRIPTION
OF SAMUDRAGUPTA.
THIS inscription appears to have been first brought to the notice of the public in 1834,
when, in the Journal of the Bengal Asiatic Society, Vol. III. p. 118 ff., Captain
A. Troyer published his reading of the text and a translation of it, accompanied by a lithograph
(id. Plate vi.), which was reduced by Mr. James Prinsep from a copy commenced by a
brother of Lieutenant T. S. Burt, of the Engineers, finished by a Munshî, and revised
by Lieutenant Burt himself.—In the same volume, p. 257 ff., the Revd. Dr. W. H. Mill,
working from the same lithograph, published a revised version of the text and transla-
tion; followed, at p. 339 ff., by a supplementary paper containing the first genealogical tree
of the dynasty. His version, however, though it was an improvement on that of Captain
Troyer, still fell very far short of exhibiting the original completely or accurately;
especially in his failing, like Captain Troyer, to recognise that the inscription is a posthu-
mous one; in his misreading lines 11 and 21, in such a way as to introduce into the trans-
lation and genealogical tree, without any foundation whatever in the original, the indepen-
dent princess Saṁhârikâ, with a daughter, name unknown, who was the wife of Samudra-
gupta, other mothers-in-law of the same king, and a royal issue expected at the date
of the inscription; and in his treatment of line 30, where, instead of âchakshâṇa iva bhuvo
bâhur=ayam=uchchhritaḥ stambhaḥ, "this lofty column (is) as it were an arm of the earth,
proclaiming (the fame of Samudragupta)," he read rôma-charmaṇaḥ ravi-bhuvô bâhur=
ayam=uchchhritaḥ stambhaḥ, and translated "of this child of the Sun, though clothed
in hairy flesh, this lofty pillar is the arm," which led him to refer Samudragupta and his
dynasty to the Solar Race, a mistake that sometimes seems to have been not even yet
completely eradicated.—In 1837, in the same Journal, Vol. VI. p. 969 ff., Mr. James Prinsep
gave a fresh and much improved lithograph of the inscription and its alphabet (id. Plate lv.),
reduced from impressions on cloth and paper made by Captain Edward Smith, of the
Engineers; and, with it, his own version of the text and translation.¹ His rendering of
the inscription still failed to represent the original with any real approach to accuracy and
completeness. But it was a very great improvement on the two versions that had pre-
ceded it; especially in avoiding the leading mistakes of Dr. Mill, pointed out above.
And it has remained the standard version up to the present time; except that in 1872
¹ The translation is reprinted in Mr. Thomas' edition of Prinsep's Essays on Indian Antiquities,
Vol. I. p. 233 ff.
B₁