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

THE GUPTA INSCRIPTIONS; No. 4, PLATE III A. 25
TEXT.¹
1 Siddham || Saṁvatsarê 80 2 Âshâḍha-mâsa-śukl-ê(ai)kâdaśyâm |
paramabhaṭṭâraka-mahârâjâdhi²-śrî-Chandra[g]upta-pâd-ânuddhyâtasya |³
2 mahârâja-Chhagalaga-pautrasya mahârâja-Vishṇudâsa-putrasya Sanakâ-
nikasya mahâr[âja]- . . ḍha(?)lasy=âyaṁ dêya-dharmmaḥ ||
TRANSLATION.
Perfection has been attained !⁴ In the year 80 (and) 2, on the eleventh lunar day of
the bright fortnight of the month Âshâḍha,—this (is) the appropriate religious gift⁵
of the Sanakânika,⁶ the Mahârâja . . ḍhala (?),—the son's son of the Mahârâja
Chhagalaga; (and) the son of the Mahârâja Vishṇudâsa,—who meditates on the feet
of the Paramabhaṭṭâraka and Mahârâjâdhirâja, the glorious Chandragupta (II.)
No. 4; PLATE III A.
MATHURA STONE INSCRIPTION OF CHANDRAGUPTA II.
THIS inscription, which has not been previously edited in full, was discovered in 1853
by General Cunningham, and was first brought to notice by him in his first Archæo-
¹ From the original stone.
² Read mahârâjâdhirâja.—With the reading of this inscription, which may perhaps be, not an
omission by the engraver, but a conventional abbreviation of the full title, we may compare maraja-
Sha, i. e. mahârâjâdhi, for mahârâjâdhirâja, on one of the silver coins of Skandagupta (Ind. Ant.
Vol. XIV. p. 66 f.)
³ This mark of punctuation is unnecessary.
⁴ siddham.—On the analogy of an inscription (Archæol. Surv. Ind. Vol. V. Plate xliH.), which
commences Siddhiḥ Śrîḥ Saṁvat, &c.,—to which we may add another inscription (Jour. Beng.
As. Soc. Vol. XXIX. p. 18, and Vol. XXX. p. 13) commencing Siddhiḥ Saṁvat, &c.—Dr. Bühler
(Ind. Ant. Vol. X. p. 273) takes siddham, at the commencement of inscriptions, as a nominative case
standing by itself, and translates it by ‘success.’ But it seems to me to be clearly the remnant of some
such phrase as siddhaṁ bhagavatâ, “perfection or success has been attained by the Divine One,”
analogous to the jitaṁ bhagavatâ, “victory has been achieved by the Divine One,” of, for instance,
the Gaḍhwâ inscription of Kumâragupta, No. 8 below, Plate ivC., and the grant of the Pallava Yuva-
mahârâja Vishṇugôpavarman (Ind. Ant. Vol. V. p. 51). We may also compare jitaṁ . . . . .
Vishṇunâ in the Tuśâm inscription, No. 67 below, Plate xlA. And we have the remnant of another
analogous expression, in dṛishṭam, “sight (i.e. clearness of perception in religious matters) has been
attained (by the Divine One),” at the commencement of, for instance, the Chammak and Siwanî plates
of the Mahârâja Pravarasêna II., Nos. 55 and 56 below, Plates xxxiv. and xxxv.—In his remarks referred
to above, Dr. Bühler tells us that, in the Mahâbhâshya (Kielhorn’s edition, pp. 5, 6) siddham is
quoted as a maṅgala or ‘auspicious invocation;’ and refers us to some remarks, supporting this, by
Dr. R. G. Bhandarkar in Ind. Ant. Vol. V. p. 346.—As helping to illustrate the meaning, ‘perfection,’
by which I render siddham, I would refer to the use of siddha by the Jains to denote their saints who
have attained siddhi or ‘perfection or final beatitude,’ and who are invoked, under this epithet, in, for
instance, the Udayagiri inscription of the year 106, No. 61 below, Plate xxxviiiA. line 1.
⁵ dêya-dharma; lit. ‘(a gift of) religion, which is proper to be given.’—Monier Williams, in
his Saṁskṛit Dictionary, renders it by ‘the duty of giving, charity, beneficence;’ Dowson, by ‘votive
offering’ (e.g. Jour. R. As. Soc. N. S. Vol. V. p. 184); and Bühler and Bhagwanlal Indraji, by
‘meritorious gift, or benefaction’ (e. g. Archæol. Surv. West. Ind. Vol. IV. p. 83).
⁶ See page 8 above, note 1.
E₂