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

THE GUPTA INSCRIPTIONS; No. 17, PLATE X. 73
line 11, and subhujaḥ=khadga, line 26; (2) the use of the guttural nasal, instead of the
anusvâra, before ś, in vaṅśa, line 29, and aṅśumân, line 35; but not in vaṁsa in line 2;
(3) the frequent doubling of k, g, t, and p, in conjunction with a following r, e.g. in
vikkramêṇa, line 8; samaggraṁ, line 4; vittrasta, line 13; and appratimêna, line 4; and
of bh, in vyabbhra, line 9; and (4) the same in respect of kh, t, bh, and s, in conjunc-
tion with a following y, e.g. in prakkshyâta, line 2, and vikkhyâpayan, line 26; bhrittya,
line 4, and prattyasta, line 14; abbhyudyata, line 15; and yassya, lines 11, 12, 14, 16,
and 31.
The inscription is of the time of a prince named Viśvavarman. It is dated, in
words, when four hundred and eighty years had expired, i.e. in the four hundred and
eighty-first year, on the thirteenth day of the bright fortnight of the month Kârttika
(October-November).$^1$ The era is not specified in this record; but of course the date
$^1$ The passage containing the date, line 19 f., is not an easy one to deal with. — The date of
four hundred and ninety-three, given in the next inscription, for Visvavarman's son Bandhuvarman,
shews that the number of the centuries in the present passage must be four. And the reading that
I give is exactly in accordance with the appearance of the original. But there are the objections,
(1) that it is a violation of the metre, since it gives us, in chaturshu, an amphibrach where a
dactyl is required; and (2) that it leaves kritêshu, 'made, done, performed,' as a superfluous and
rather unmeaning word, unless we somewhat strain its meaning by giving it the sense of 'fully
completed (years).'—In the sense of '(years) accomplished, i. e. expired,' kritêshu occurs in line 1
of the Byânâ inscription of Vishṇuvardhana, of the year 428, No. 59 below, Plate xxxviC. But,
though this use of it is unusual, it is justifiable there, as it is not accompanied by yâtêshu,
'having gone by,' or any similar word.—My first inclination about the present passage was,
that kritêshu was used in the sense of 'made, effected, established by;' and that the three aksharas
preceding it contained the name of the founder of the era. But Dr. R. G. Bhandarkar, with whom I
discussed the passage, was of opinion that krita could not be used in such a sense; and I am not
able to quote anything opposed to his opinion. Moreover, that interpretation would have left us
without any word to specify the centuries of the date.—My next inclination was to read cha tsapu-
kritêshu, which would satisfy the metrical requirements, and may be justified by the appearance of
the original; and to look upon tsapu as intended for a vocalisation of the numerical symbol for four
hundred; "made by (the utterance of) tsapu." The very peculiar expression, sôttarapadêshu,
which follows, seemed to point to something of this kind being intended. And Dr. Bühler has given
an instance of a pronunciative value being certainly allotted to the symbol for four (Ind. Ant. Vol.
VI. p. 47 f.) But to this interpretation there are the objections, (1) that the word cha would be rather
superfluous and unmeaning; and (2) that the symbol for four hundred does not resemble the syllables
tsapu. — Dr. Bhandarkar also suggested that the word 'four' is expressed by kṛita (in kritêshu).
But this would leave the preceding two or three aksharas altogether unexplained. And, though Kṛita,
as the name of the first of the four ages, is capable, on the numerical-word system, of being used to
represent the number four, this system was not in use in inscriptions in India at this early time. The
period of the invention of the system in question still remains to be determined. That the use of it
was known to Varâhamihira (died A.D. 587; Jour. R. As. Soc. N. S. Vol. I. p. 407), is shewn by
his employing, in the Brihat-Saṁhitâ, viii. 20, 21, the words Rudra for 'eleven,' Râma for 'three,'
aga (mountain) for 'seven,' and śara (arrow) and vishaya (object of sense) for 'five.' And it has been
supposed that it was used by Âryabhaṭa (born A.D. 476; id. p. 405); but Dr. Bhau Daji (id. p. 404) has
pointed out, from his own MS., that the half-verse in question, the only apparent instance, giving the
number of the revolutions of the planet Jupiter in numerical words, is not really Âryabhaṭa's (a point
that is supported also by the metre; for the two lines together make up a verse in the Upagîti metre;
whereas Âryabhaṭa used the Âryâ metre, and the first line is the second half of a verse in that metre),
but is an addition, in all probability by Utpala or Bhaṭṭôtpala (about A.D. 966; id. p. 410). The
earliest epigraphical instances, at present available, are, in Cambodia, the Bayang inscription, dated
Śaka-Saṁvat 526 (A.D. 604-5) and 546 (Barth's Inscriptions Sanscrites du Cambodge, p. 36, line 11),
where the dates are expressed by the (five) arrows (of Kâmadêva), Dasra (one of the two Aśvinau),
and the (six) flavours, and by the (five) senses, the (four) oceans, and the (six) seasons; and, in India
L