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

THE GUPTA INSCRIPTIONS; No. 8, PLATE IV C. 39
(L. 12.)— ...... Pāṭaliputra . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . the wife
of the householder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [for the purpose] of adding to (her) own
religious merit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . the Brâhmaṇs of the community of a perpetual
almshouse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ten dînâras, (or in figures) 10.
(L. 16.)—[And whosoever] shall interfere with [this] branch of religion,—[he shall
become invested with (the guilt of) the five great sins]!
No. 8; PLATE IV C.
GADHWA STONE INSCRIPTION OF KUMARAGUPTA.
THIS is another of the inscriptions on the stone discovered by Râjâ Siva Prasad, in
1871-72, at Gaḍhwâ,¹ in the Allahâbâd District in the North-West Provinces. It was
first brought to notice, in 1873, by General Cunningham, who published his reading of the
text in the Archæol. Surv. Ind. Vol. III. p. 55, accompanied by a lithograph (id. Plate xx.
No. 1).
This inscription is on the lower part of the proper left side of the stone, immediately
below the preceding inscription of Chandragupta II., No. 7 above, from which it is separated
only by a line across the stone.
The last half of each line has been entirely broken away and lost. The remnant of
the writing, however, covering a space of about 4" broad by 10" high, is fairly well pre-
served and easy to read.—The average size of the letters is about ¼". The characters
belong to the northern class of alphabets, and are of precisely the same type as those of
the preceding inscription, No. 8, being probably engraved by the same hand. They in-
clude, in lines 3 and 6, forms of the numerical symbol for 10.—The language is
Sanskrit; and the inscription is in prose throughout.—The orthography presents nothing
calling for remark.
The inscription refers itself to the reign of the Early Gupta king Kumâragupta.
The date, however, except in respect of the day, is broken away and lost. So little re-
mains of the inscription that the form of religion to which it belongs cannot be determined;
nor can the object of it; except that it seems to record two gifts,—one of ten dînâras, and

sion was a very common one in early times; and is due, of course, to the fact that the early years of
most eras were regnal years, and that, after the death of the founder of each era, the expression was
continued mechanically in the case of his successors.—As similar instances, we have in the present
series of inscriptions, (1) line 6 of the Bilsaḍ pillar inscription of Kumâragupta, No. 10 below, Plate
v., " in the year ninety-six of the augmenting victorious reign of Kumâragupta;" (2) line 3 of the
Indôr grant of Skandagupta, No. 16 below, Plate ixB., " while the year one hundred, increased by
forty-six, of the augmenting victorious reign of Skandagupta, is current;" and (3) line 1 of the
Gaḍhwâ inscription of the year 148, No. 66 below, Plate xxxixD., "in the year one hundred, in-
creased by forty-eight, of the augmenting victorious reign of ........;" and in other series,
(4) line 2 f. of the Guṇḍa inscription of Rudrasiṁha (Ind. Ant. Vol. X. p. 157), " in the year
one hundred, increased by two, or in figures 100 and 2, of the Mahâkshatrapa, the Svâmin Rudrasîha ;"
and (5) line 1 of a Mathurâ inscription of Vâsudêva (Archæol. Surv. Ind. Vol. III. p. 35, and Pl. xv.
No. 20), "in the year 90 and 8 of king Vâsudêva."—In every passage like those of this series, a
suitable expression and translation are at once arrived at by the very simple emendation of reading
rājyê saṁvatsarê instead of rājya-saṁvatsarê.
¹ See page 36 above, and note 1.