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

THE GUPTA INSCRIPTIONS; No. 5, PLATE III, B. 31
September). It is a Buddhist inscription; and the object of it is to record the grant, by
Amrakârdava or Âmrakârdava, the son of Undâna, and apparently an officer of
Chandragupta II., of a village, or an allotment of land, called Îśvaravâsaka, and a sum
of money, to the Ârya-Saṁgha, or community of the faithful, at the great vihâra or
Buddhist convent of Kâkanâdabôṭa, for the purpose of feeding mendicants and main-
taining lamps.
The Kâkanâdabôṭa convent is, of course, the Great Stûpa itself. The name is
partially destroyed in the present inscription; but it is legible in full in line 2 of the other
Sâñchi inscription of the year 131, No. 62 below, Plate xxxviii B. It is not quite certain
what meaning is to be allotted to bôṭa in this name; but it is probably another form of pôṭa,
'the foundation of a house.'¹ The rest of the name, Kâkanâda, lit. 'the noise of the
crow,' is the ancient name of Sâñchi itself. This is shewn by its occurring in at least two
of the inscriptions of the Aśôka period in the neighbourhood, to which my attention was
directed by Dr. Bhagwanlal Indraji; thus, (1) an inscription on the outside of the east gate
of the great Stûpa at Sâñchi (Bhilsa Topes, p. 241, and Plate xvi. No. 39) should evidently
be read Kâkaṇâyê bhagavatô pamâna-laṭhi, "the measuring-staff (?) of (Buddha), the
Divine One, at Kâkanâda;" and (2) the inscription on the top of the lid of the steatite
casket found in Stûpa No. 2 at 'Andher' (id. p. 347, and Plate xxix. No. 7) should plainly
be read Sapurisasa Gôtiputasa Kâkanâda-Pabhâsanasa Kôḍiña-gôtasa, "(the relics) of
the virtuous Prabhâsana of Kâkanâda, the Gôtiputra, of the Kauṇḍinya gôtra."
TEXT.³
1 Siddham² [॥*] Kâ[kanâ⁴]dabôṭa-srî-mahâ-vihârê śîla-samâdhi-prajñâ-guṇa-
bhâvit-êndriyâya parama-puṇya-
2 kri . . . . tâya chatur-ddig-abhyâgatâya śramaṇa-puṅgav-âvasathây=âryya-
saṅghâya mahârâjâdhi-
3 râ[ja-ś]r[î]-Chandragupta-pâda-prasâd-âpyâyita-jîvita=sâdhanaḥ anujîvi-satpurusha-
sadbhâva-
4 vri[ttim(?)] jagati prakhyâpayan anêka-samar-âvâpta-vijaya-yaśas-patâkaḥ
Sukuli-dêśa-Na-
5 shṭî . . . . . vâstavya Undâna-putr-Amrakârddavô Maja-Śarabhaṅg-
Âmrarâta-râjakula-mûlya-krî-
6 tam(?) . . . . ya . . Îśvaravâsakaṁ pañcha-maṇḍalyâ[ṁ*] praṇipatya
dadâti pañcha-viṁśatiś(ñ)-cha dînâ-
saṁyutê &c. (Ind. Ant. Vol. IX. p. 191); and (2) in an unpublished Chambâ inscription which con-
tains several dates in the Vikrama-Saṁvat ad Lôkakâla, commencing with Vikrama-Saṁvat 1915
(A.D. 1858-59); in line 11 f. we have Saṁvatî 34 Śrâvaṇa-pra° 17 lat saṁvatî 36 dâ Śrâvaṇa-śuddha
..... &c.
¹ In the present series of inscriptions, bôṭa or vôṭa occurs again (1) as part of a proper name
in Raṅkabôṭa, in line 8 of No. 27, Plate xvii. below; and (2) as a territorial name, in the Vôṭa santika
in line 6 f. of No. 29, Plate xixA. below.—Monier Williams, in his Sanskrit Dictionary, gives pôṭâ, bôṭâ,
and vôṭâ, in the sense of 'a woman with a beard; a hermaphrodite; a female servant or slave.'—
And we have Bôṭaka, as a proper name, in line 25 of No. 38 below, Plate xxiv.
² From the original stone.
³ In the original, this word, which is very much damaged and hardly recognisable, stands above
the first two aksharas of line 1.
⁴ These two aksharas are supplied from line 2 of the Sâñchi inscription of the year 131, No. 62
below, Plate xxxviiiB., in which they are quite distinct.
29. A