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

46 CORPUS INSCRIPTIONUM INDICARUM, VOL. III.
long lappets on each side; and naked to the waist, and clad below in a waist-cloth,
reaching to the ankles. The first line of the inscription is at the top of the pedestal, im-
mediately below the image. Then comes a compartment of sculptures, containing in the
centre, a Buddhist wheel; on each side of the wheel, a man seated in meditation, and
facing full-front; and, at each corner, a lion. Then follows the second line of the inscrip-
tion, at the bottom of the pedestal.
The writing, each line of which covers a space of about 1' 7" broad, by ¾" high in
the first line, and 1" in the second, is in a state of excellent preservation.—The size of
the letters varies from ¼" to 7/16". The characters belong to the northern class of alphabets,
and approximate very closely to those of the Allahâbâd posthumous pillar inscription of
Samudragupta, No. 1, p. 1 ff. above, Plate I They include, in line 2, forms of the
numerical symbols for 8, 9, 10, 20, and 100.—The language is Saṁskṛit; and the
inscription is in prose.—The orthography presents nothing calling for remark.
The inscription refers itself to the reign of the Early Gupta king Kumâragupta.
For some reason or other, it gives him the subordinate feudatory title of Mahârâja,
instead of the paramount title of Mahârâjâdhirâja. But we know of no feudatory
chieftain of the name of Kumâragupta; and the date fits exactly into the period of
Kumâragupta, of the Early Gupta dynasty; and there can be no doubt that he is
the person referred to. The use of the subordinate title may perhaps be due to
carelessness or ignorance on the part of the drafter of the inscription. Or possibly it may
indicate an actual historical fact, the reduction of Kumâragupta, towards the end of his
life, to feudal rank by the Pushyamitras and the Hûṇas, whose attacks on the Gupta
power are so pointedly alluded to in the Bhitarî inscription of Skandagupta, No. 13
below.¹ The date of the inscription, in numerical symbols, is the year one hundred and
twenty-nine (A.D. 448-49), and the eighteenth day, without any specification of the
fortnight, of the month Jyêshṭha (May-June). It is a Buddhist inscription; and the
object of it is to record the installation of the image on the pedestal of which it is engraved.
TEXT.²
1 Ôm³ Namô Budhâna⁴ [|*] Bhagavatô⁵ samyak-sambuddhasya sva-mat-
âviruddhasya iyaṁ pratimâ pratishṭhâpitâ bhikshu-Buddhamitrêṇa
¹ We may compare the rather doubtful legend on one of Skandagupta's coins,—Mahârâja-
Kumâraputra-paramamâhâditya-mahârâja-Skanda; see Ind. Ant. Vol. XIV. p. 67.
² From the ink-impression.
³ As was usual throughout the whole of the period covered by this volume, this word is
represented by a symbol, not by actual letters.—Ôm is not of very frequent occurrence at the
commencement of Buddhist inscriptions. But another instance is afforded by line 1 of the
Shêrgaḍh (Kôtâ) inscription of the Sâmanta Dêvadatta (Ind. Ant. Vol. XIV. p. 45.)
⁴ Read buddhânâṁ; unless budhâna, as also the following bhagavatô, is to be regarded as a
Prâkṛit form used through carelessness.—This use of the genitive after namaḥ is not usual.
But we have other instances; e.g. in the Khandagiri rock inscription, which commences Namô
arahantânaṁ namô sava-sidhânaṁ (Corp. Inscr. Ind. Vol. I. p. 98, and Pl. xvii.);—in the two
early inscriptions quoted by Bühler in Ind. Ant. Vol. X. p. 273, the first of which, from Amarâvatî
(Fergusson's Tree and Serpent Worship, Pl. xciv. No. 3), commences Sidhaṁ Namô bhagavatô;
and the second, from Mathurâ (Archæol. Surv. Ind. Vol. III. p. 35, and Pl. xv. No. 20) Siddham
Namô arahatô Mahâvîrasya;—and in the Amarâvatî Stûpa inscription, which commences Sidhaṁ
Namô bhagavatô savasatutamasa Budhasa (Archæol. Surv. South. Ind. Vol. 3, p. 12, No. 12B., and
Plate iii.; see also other instances on pp. 8, 18, 45, 47, 52, 53, 54, of the same volume).
⁵ Read bhagavataḥ.