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

THE GUPTA INSCRIPTIONS; No. 16, PLATE IX B. 69
a good deal corroded by rust ; the inscription, however, with care, is legible with certainty
throughout. The plate is fairly thick ; but the letters, being rather deeply engraved,
shew through distinctly on a great part of the back of it. The engraving is clean and
well executed ; the majority of the letters, however, shew, as usual, marks of the working
of the engraver's tool.—There is no hole in the plate for a ring with a seal on it ; nor
are there any indications of a seal having been soldered on to it, as,—from the instance
of the spurious Gayâ grant of Samudragupta, No. 60 below, Plate xxxvii. ; illustrated
also, in the present series by the Asîrgaḍh seal of Śarvavarman, No. 47 below, Plate xxxA.,
and the Sônpat seal of Harshavardhana, No. 52 below, Plate xxxiiB. ; and, elsewhere,
by the Dighwâ-Dubaulî grant of the Mahârâja Mahêndrapâla¹ and the Bengal Asiatic
Society's grant of the Mahârâja Vinâyakapâla,²—seems to have been the early custom
in the north of India.—The weight of the plate is 1 lb. 2 oz.—The average size
of the letters is between ⅛" and ⅜". The characters belong to the northern class of
alphabets, and in essential details are of the same type with those of the Mathurâ inscrip-
tion of Chandragupta II., No. 4, p. 25 ff. above, Plate iiiA. The initial i has an entirely
different form from that of the other northern type ; contrast it in indrapura and itô,
line 8, with iva in Plate i. page 9 above, line 30, and iti in Plate ixA. page 67 , line 7. In
line 10, we have a form of the numerical symbol for 2.—The language is Sanskrit ;
and all the formal part of the inscription, from paramabhaṭṭâraka, line 3, to samakâlîyaṁ,
line 10, is in prose. From a linguistic point of view, we have to notice the affix ka, in
chandrâpuraka, line 5, indrâpuraka,³ line 6, and especially pratishṭhâpitaka, line 7. It
is a weaker form, without vṛiddhi of the vowel in the first syllable, of the ka with which
the adjectives of locality, used in lines 19 and 20 of the Allahâbâd posthumous pillar
inscription of Samudragupta, No. 1, page 7 above, are formed ; and it is the origin of
the modern Hindî genitive terminations kâ, kê, and kî, and of similar declensional forms.
Other instances of it are given by No. 25 below, Plate xvB. line 13, kâritaka ; No. 26.
Plate xvi. line 10, utpadyamânaka ; No. 27, Plate xvii. line 9, pratishṭhâpitaka, and line
12, utpadyamânaka ; No. 28, Plate xviii. line 13, anumôditaka, line 14, uparilikhitaka and
pratishṭhâpitaka, and line 18, utpadyamânaka ; No. 29, Plate xixA. line 10, uparilikhitaka
and line 15, utpadyamânaka ; No. 31, Plate xx. line 9, utpannaka, lines 9 and 16
utpadyamânaka, and line 11, kâritaka ; No. 41, Plate xxvii. line 11, atisṛishṭaka ; and
No. 62, Plate xxxviiiB. line 4, pravishṭaka.—In respect of orthography, we have to
notice (1) the use of the guttural nasal, instead of the anusvâra, before ś and h, in
chatvâriṅśad, line 3 f., and siṅha, line 6; (2) the doubling of k, and usually of t, in
conjunction with a following r, e.g. in apakkramaṇa, line 8 f., and pauttraḥ, line 5, (but not
in putrô in the same line); and (3) the doubling of v after the anusvâra, in saṁvvatsara,
line 3.
The inscription refers itself to the reign of the Early Gupta king Skandagupta,
whose feudatory, the Vishayapati⁴ Śarvanâga, was governing Antarvêdi⁵ or the country
¹ Ind. Ant. Vol. XV. p. 105 ff. ² id. p. 138 ff.
³ As regards these two words, Monier Williams, in his Sanskrit Dictionary, gives puraka as
another form of pura, 'a city;' but refers only to 'Arghâshṭapuraka' as an authority for the word.
This city, however, only owes its existence to one of the early misreadings of Mantarâja-
Paishṭapuraka in line 19 of the Allahâbâd inscription, No. 1, page 7 above.
⁴ Vishayapati is a technical official title, meaning 'the lord, or governor, of a vishaya.'—
See p. 32 above, note 7.
⁵ Antarvêdî may perhaps also denote any Doab or region between two rivers of repute and
sanctity.—It also means, as an adjective, 'belonging to the inside of the sacrificial ground.'—It occurs,