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

18 CORPUS INSCRIPTIONUM INDICARUM, VOL. III
No. 2; PLATE IIA.
ERAN STONE INSCRIPTION OF SAMUDRAGUPTA.
THIS inscription, which has not been previously edited, was discovered in 1874-75 or
1876-77 by General Alexander Cunningham, R.E., C.S.I., C.I.E., then Director-General of
the Archæological Survey of India, and was first brought to notice by him in 1880, in the
Reports of the Archæological Survey of India, Vol. X. p. 89.
Êraṇ,¹ the ancient Airikiṇa,² is a village on the left bank of the Bînâ, eleven miles
to the west by north from Khurâî,³ the chief town of the Khurâî Tahsîl or Sub-Division of
the Sâgar⁴ District in the Central Provinces. The inscription is on a red-sandstone squared
block, that was found a short distance to the west of the well-known ruined temple of the
Boar,⁵ at which there is the inscription of Tôramâṇa, No. 36 below. The original stone is
now in the Imperial Museum at Calcutta.
The writing, which covers the entire front of the stone, about 9½″ broad by 3′ 1″
high, is in a state of fairly good preservation ; but it does not give a very clear lithograph,
in consequence of the whole surface of the stone being full of holes more or less large.
It is only a fragment ; six entire lines, as shewn by the numbering of the verses, have
been broken away and lost at the top of the stone, and an indefinite number at the bottom;
and also an entire pâda of each successive verse, has been broken away and lost
at the commencement of lines 25 ff. In addition to this, from one to three letters have
been destroyed at the commencement of each extant line, as far as line 24, by whetting
tools on the edge of the stone. As far as line 24, each line contains one pâda of a verse;
but the following lines contained originally two pâdas each ; this shews that the inscrip-
tion was of an irregular shape, with probably some sculptures on the proper right side of
the stone above the first halves of lines 24 ff.—The average size of the letters is about ½″.
As is indicated especially by the form of m, the characters belong to the southern class of
alphabets ; and I should be inclined to name them a variety, with southern characteristics,
of the Central India alphabet of the period. The particular type used in this inscription
is further represented in the present volume by the Udayagiri cave inscription of Chandra-
gupta II. of the year 82, No. 3 below, Plate iiB.; the Âraṅg plates of Mahâ-Jayarâja, No.
¹ The 'Airan, Ehrin, Eran, and Erun,' of maps, &c. Indian Atlas, Sheet No. 52. Lat. 24° 5′ N.;
Long. 78° 15′ E.—The name is now written and pronounced both Eraṇ and Êraṇ ; but, as is shewn
by the ancient name, Airikiṇa, the first form, with the lingual ṇ, is the correct one.—The name is not
unique; for the maps shew another 'Eran' seven miles almost due west of Bhêlsâ, and another
thirteen miles to the north-east of Bhêlsâ.
² So far as the passage in line 25 of the present inscription goes, we might take this name as
either Airikiṇa or Êrikiṇa, in consequence of the euphonic absorption of the final a of vishaya. But
the real form of the name is shewn by line 7 of the Boar inscription of Tôramâṇa, No. 36 below,
Plate xxiiiA., where we have vishayê=sminn=Airikiṇê, without any saṁdhi or joining of vowels.—
The autonomous copper coins of the Aśôka period, found at Êraṇ, give us an earlier Pâli or
Prâkṛit form of the name, which is either Erakaña or Erakaṇa ; but the last syllable is not very dis-
tinct in the specimens available for examination (Archæol. Surv. Ind. Vol. XIV. p. 149, and Plate
xxxi. Nos. 17 and 18.)
³ The 'Khorye, Khurai, Korai, Kurai, and Kurâi,' of maps, &c.
⁴ The 'Ságar and Saugor' of maps, &c.
⁵ Archæol. Surv. Ind. Vol. X. Plates xxvA. and xxviA.