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

THE GUPTA INSCRIPTIONS; No. 32, PLATE XXI A. 141
which hardly answers to the description of its being on a giri or ‘hill.’ And this, coupled
with the tradition that the column was erected, in the early part of the eighth century A.D.,
by Anaṅgapâla, the founder of the Tômara dynasty,¹ lays it quite open to argument
whether this is the real original position of the column, or whether, like the Asôka columns
at Dehli, and possibly the Asôka (and Gupta) column at Allahâbâd, it was brought to where
it now stands from some other place. But the fact that the underground supports of the
column include several small pieces of metal “like bits of bar-iron,”² is in favour of its
being now in its original position; as they would probably have been overlooked, and left
behind. in the process of a transfer.
TEXT.³
1 Yasy⁴=ôdvarttayataḥ pratîpam=urasâ śattrûn=samêty=âgatân=Vaṅgêshv=âhava-
varttinô=bhilikhitâ khaḍgêna kîrttir=bhujê
2 tîrtvâ sapta mukhâni yêna samarê Sindhôr=jjitâ Vâhlikâ⁵ yasy=
âdyâpy=adhivâsyatê jalanidhir=vvîryy-ânilair=ddakshiṇaḥ [||]
3 Khinnasy=êva visṛijya gâṁ narapatêr=ggâm=âśritasy=êtarâṁ mûrt[t]yâ
karmma-jit-âvaniṁ gatavataḥ kîrt[t*]yâ sthitasya kshitau
4 śântasy=êva mahâ-vanê hutabhujô yasya pratâpô mahân=n=âdyâpy=
utsṛijati praṇâśita-ripôr=yyatnasya śêshaḥ kshitim [||]
5 Prâptêna sva-bhuj-ârjjitañ=cha suchirañ=ch=aikâdhirâjyaṁ kshitau Chandr-
âhvêna samagra-chandra-sadṛiśîṁ vaktra-śriyaṁ bibhratâ
6 tên=âyaṁ praṇidhâya bhûmipatinâ dhâvêna⁶ Vishṇô(shṇau) matiṁ prâṁśur=
Vvishṇupadê girau bhagavatô Vishṇôr=dhvajaḥ sthâpitaḥ [||]
TRANSLATION.
He, on whose arm fame was inscribed by the sword, when, in battle in the Vaṅga
countries, he kneaded (and turned) back with (his) breast the enemies who, uniting to-
gether, came against (him);—he, by whom, having crossed in warfare the seven mouths
of the (river) Sindhu, the Vâhlikas⁷ were conquered;—he, by the breezes of whose prow-
ess the southern ocean is even still perfumed;—
(Line 3.)—He, the remnant of the great zeal of whose energy, which utterly destroyed
(his) enemies, like (the remnant of the great glowing heat) of a burned-out fire in a great
forest, even now leaves not the earth; though he, the king, as if wearied, has quitted this
earth, and has gone to the other world, moving in (bodily) form to the land (of paradise)
won by (the merit of his) actions, (but) remaining on (this) earth by (the memory of his)
fame;—
¹ Archæol. Surv. Ind. Vol. I. p. 171. ² id. Vol. IV. p. 28, and Plate v.
³ From the original pillar. ⁴ Metre, Śârdûlavikrîḍita, throughout.
⁵ Prinsep also read vâhlikâ; but Bhau Daji, varying in also the first syllable, read bâlhikâ.—
In the first akshara, the v is imperfect on the right side, through the closing up of the metal. In the
second akshara, the h is turned in the opposite direction to that in which it is turned in âhava, line 1
and mahâvanê and mahân, line 4. But, that the akshara is hli, not lhi, is certain; because l can
only be formed to the left; whereas, at this period, h was formed sometimes to the left and
sometimes to the right; and, in the present inscription, it is turned to the right, as here, again in
hutabhujô, line 4, and dhâvêna, line 5.
⁶ See page 142 below, note 2.
⁷ See note 5 above.