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

110 CORPUS INSCRIPTIONUM INDICARUM, VOL. III.

No. 24; PLATE XV A.

BHUMARA STONE PILLAR INSCRIPTION OF THE MAHARAJAS HASTIN AND SARVANATHA.

THIS inscription appears to have been discovered by General Cunningham; and was
first brought to notice by him, in 1879, in the Archæol. Surv. Ind. Vol. IX. pp. 8 f. and
16, No. 9, where he published his translation of it, accompanied by a lithograph (id. Plate
iv. No. 9.)
Bhumarâ¹ is a village about nine miles to the north-west of Uchaharâ, in the Nâgaudh
State in the Baghêlkhaṇḍ division of Central India. From line 3 of the inscription, the
ancient name of the place seems to have been Âmblôda. The inscription is on one of
the faces of the bottom and rectangular part of a small red-sandstone pillar, popularly
called thâḍî-patthar or "the standing stone," in the lands of this village.
The writing, which covers a space of about 10½" broad by 1' 6¾" high, is in a state
of very fair preservation throughout.—The size of the letters varies from ⅜" to ⅞". The
characters belong to the northern class of alphabets. They include, in line 9, forms of
the numerical symbols² for 9 and 10.—The language is Sanskrit; and the entire in-
scription is in prose.—In respect of orthography, we have to notice (1) the doubling of
t, in conjunction with a following r, in puttra, line 5; (2) the doubling of dh, in conjunction
with a following y, in anuddhyâta, line 2; and (3) the use of b for v, in sambatsarê,
line 8.
The inscription is one of the two Mahârâjas Hastin, of the Parivrâjaka family,
and Śarvanâtha,³ of Uchchakalpa. It is dated, in numerical symbols, on the nine-
teenth day,⁴ without any specification of the fortnight, of the month Kârttika (October-
¹ The ‘Bhomara and Bumra’ of maps. Indian Atlas, Sheet No. 70. Lat. 24° 25' N.; Long
80° 41' E.—Gen. Cunningham wrote the name ‘Bhubhara.’ And, at Satnâ, it was given to me as
‘Bhurbhurâ.’ But my office-people brought back the name as either Bumarâ or Bhumarâ, and said that
the villagers do not know of any other form of the name. Of these two forms, Bhumarâ agrees most
closely with the names in the maps, and seems to be the correct one.
² I am a little doubtful about the second symbol, which occurs again in line 24 of No. 25 below,
Plate xvB., and line 14 of No. 71, Plate xliA. But it resembles most a rather straight and upright
form of the symbol for 9. The only other possibilities are 7 or 8.
³ For this Mahârâja, see Nos. 28, 29, 30, and 31 below.
⁴ Other instances will be met with, in the present series, of the number of a day exceeding sixteen,
which is the extreme number in a lunar fortnight, bright or dark. And such instances are still more
common in other inscriptions.—In such cases, whether there is any mention of a lunar fortnight or
not, and also in cases in which the number of the day does not exceed sixteen, and the lunar fortnight
is not mentioned, it is sometimes thought that the reference is to the solar, not the luni-solar, months
and year. But I do not consider that this necessarily follows. At Hulgûr, in the Baṅkâpur Tâlukâ
or Sub-Division of the Dhârwâḍ District, there is an inscription of the Yâdava king Mahâdêva of
Dêvagiri, in which the date (line 15 ff.) is Saka-varshada 1189neya Prabhava-saṁvatsarada Jyêshṭha
ba 30 Budhavâra sûryagrahaṇad-andu, "(the month) Jyêshṭha of the Prabhava saṁvatsara, which is
the 1189th Saka year (A.D. 1267-68); the dark fortnight; (the solar day or lunar tithi) 30 (of the
month); Wednesday; at the time of an eclipse of the sun." And we also have the Kôṭâ inscription
of the Sâmanta Dêvadatta, in which the date (Ind. Ant. Vol. XIV. p. 351 f.) runs Saṁvat 800 70 9
Mâgha śu di 20, "the year 800 (and) 70 (and) 9 (A.D. 822-23); (the month) Mâgha; the bright fort-
night; the day 20 (of the month)." Of these, the first is a southern date, according to the arrange-