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

THE GUPTA INSCRIPTIONS; No. 12, PLATE VI B. 47
2 Samvat¹ 100 20 9 mahârâja-śrî-Kumâraguptasya râjyê Jyêshṭha-mâsa
di 10 8 sarvva-duḥkkha²-prahân(n)-ârttham [||*]
TRANSLATION.
Ôm !³ Reverence to the Buddhas !⁴ This image of the Divine One, who thoroughly
attained perfect knowledge, (and) who was never refuted in respect of his tenets, has been
installed by the Bhikshu Buddhamitra,—(in) the year 100 (and) 20 (and) 9; in the reign
of the Mahârâja,⁵ the glorious Kumâragupta; (in) the month Jyêshṭha; (on) the d ay 10
(and) 8,—with the object of averting all unhappiness.
No. 12; PLATE VI B.
BIHAR STONE PILLAR INSCRIPTION OF SKANDAGUPTA.
THIS inscription appears to have been discovered by Mr. Ravenshaw, and to have been
first brought to notice by him in 1839, in the Jour. Beng. As. Soc. Vol. VIII. p. 347 ff. ;
from his remarks it appears that the column was originally found in front of the
northern gate of the old fort of Bihâr, but had been subsequently removed and set up " in
a reversed position, with its base in the air, and its summit in the ground," a little to the
west of the same gate, where it was afterwards found, fallen, by General Cunningham.—In
1866, in the Jour. Beng. As. Soc. Vol. XXXV. pp. 269 ff. and 277 f., Dr. Rajendralala
Mitra published his reading of the text, with a lithograph, from a baked clay impression
made by Major C. Hollings, and sent to the Society in 1861.—And in 1871, in the Archæol.
Surv. Ind. Vol. I. p. 37 f. and Plate xvii., General Cunningham published his own litho-
graph of the inscription.
Bihâr⁶ is the chief town of the Bihâr Sub-Division of the Paṭna District in the
Bengal Presidency. The broken red-sandstone column on which the inscription is, was
eventually removed by Mr. A. M. Broadley, Magistrate of Bihâr, and was set up on a brick
pedestal opposite the Bihâr Court-House,⁷ where it still stands. Mr. Broadley perpetuated
¹ See page 30 above, note 3. ² Read duḥkha.
³ Ôm is an auspicious exclamation, used at the beginning of books, &c. It is made up of the
three letters a, u, and m; and in later times it was looked upon as a mystic name for the Hindu
triad, and as representing the union of the three gods, Vishṇu (a), Śiva (u), and Brahman (m).—
The efficacy of the exclamation is detailed in the Mânavadharmaśastra, ii. 74-85 (Burnell's Transla-
tion, p. 25 ff.)
⁴ With this plural, compare the mention of four Buddhas in the Sâñchi inscription of the year
131, No. 62 below, Plate xxxviiiB.; and also Bhagavatâm samyaksambuddhânâm Buddhânâm,
"of the divine Buddhas, who thoroughly attained perfect knowledge," in line 22 of the Walâ grant
of Dhruvasêna I. (Ind. Ant. Vol. IV. p. 105).
⁵ See page 46 above, para. 4.
⁶ The 'Behar and Bihar' of maps, &c. Indian Atlas, Sheet No. 103. Lat. 25° 11' N.; Long
85° 33' E.—The proper form of the name, which is by no means an uncommon one for villages i
Northern and Central India, is of course Bihâr, with the vowel i in the first syllable, from the San-
skrit vihâra, 'a Buddhist (and Jain) temple or convent;' and this is the form that is used by the
people of the Paṭna District.—The Sanskrit name, Vihâra, occurs in line 9-10 of the 'Pesserawa'
inscription, now stored in the collection at Bihâr, where the place is called "Vihâra, the city of the
glorious Yaśôvarman" (Jour. Beng. As. Soc. Vol. XVII. p. 492 ff.)
⁷ Archæol. Surv. Ind. Vol. XI. p. 192 f.