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

52 CORPUS INSCRIPTIONUM INDICARUM, VOL. III.
(L. 24.)—[I], the most devout worshipper of the Divine One, [the Mahârâjâdhirâja,
the glorious Skandagupta, issue a command] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . of the town
of Ajapura in the . . . . . vishaya . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . a perpetual endowment
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . a village-field . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . the Uparika,¹ the
Kumârâmâtya . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . acquired by the merchant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
in the seat (of office) (?) of the Âgrahârika,² the Śaulkika,³ and the Gaulmika⁴ . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . and others who subsist on Our favour :—
(L. 31.)—" I have been requested by . . . . . varman,—‘ By my father’s father,
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . by the Bhaṭṭa Guhilasvâmin, . . . . . . . . . . . . . belonging to
Bhadrâryâ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .”

No. 13; PLATE VII.

BHITARI STONE PILLAR INSCRIPTION OF SKANDAGUPTA.

THE column containing this inscription appears to have been discovered in 1834 by
Mr. Tregear; but the inscription itself was not observed till a short time afterwards, when
General Cunningham found it, on clearing away the earth from the lower part of the shaft.
The discovery was announced in 1836, by Mr. James Prinsep, in the Jour. Beng. As. Soc.
Vol. V. p. 661. And the inscription was first brought to notice in 1837, in the same Jour-
nal, Vol. VI. p. 1 ff., where the Rev. W. H. Mill published his reading of the text, and a
translation of it, accompanied by a lithograph (marked id. Vol. V. Plate xxxii.), reduced
by Mr. Prinsep from a copy made by General Cunningham.⁵—In 1871, in the Archæol.
Surv. Ind. Vol. I. p. 98 and Plate xxx., General Cunningham published another lithograph of
the inscription.—In 1875, in the Jour. Bo. Br. R. As. Soc. Vol. X. p. 59 ff., Dr. Bhau Daji
published a revised reading of the text, and a translation of it, accompanied by a lithograph,
from a hand-copy made by Dr. Bhagwanlal Indraji.⁶—And finally, in 1885, in the Jour. Bo.
Br. R. As. Soc. Vol. XVI. p. 349 ff., Dr. Bhagwanlal Indraji has given his own reading of
the text, and a translation of it, with another lithograph reduced from his hand-copy.
Bhitari⁷ is a village about five miles to the north-east of Sayyidpur,⁸ the chief
town of the Sayyidpur Tahsil or Sub-Division of the Ghâzîpur⁹ District in the North-West
Provinces. The red-sandstone column on which the inscription is, stands just outside the
¹ Uparika is a technical official title, the exact purport of which is not known, and a suitable
rendering of which cannot be offered at present.
² Âgrahârika is a technical official title, denoting probably ‘an officer in special charge of
an agrahâra.’
³ Śaulkika is a technical official title, which might be rendered by some such term as ‘superintend-
ent of tolls or customs (śulka).’
⁴ Gaulmika is a technical official title, which might be rendered by ‘superintendent of woods
and forests (gulma).’
⁵ The translation is reprinted in Thomas’ edition of Prinsep’s Essays, Vol. I. p. 242 f.
⁶ This paper was not published till 1875; but it was read before the Society four years earlier,
on the 13th April 1871.
⁷ The ‘Bhitari, Bhitree, Bhitrî, and Bihtarî,’ of maps, &c. Indian Atlas, Sheet No. 103. Lat.
25° 35' N.; Long. 83° 17' E.
⁸ The ‘Saidpur and Sydpoor’ of maps, &c.
⁹ The ‘Ghazeepoor’ of maps.