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

THE GUPTA INSCRIPTIONS; No. 34, PLATE XXIC. 149

No. 34; PLATE XXIC.

MANDASOR DUPLICATE STONE PILLAR INSCRIPTION OF YASODHARMAN.

THIS inscription, which I published, for the first time, in 1886, in the Ind. Ant. Vol.
XV. p. 257 f., is the remnant, mentioned above, of the original duplicate copy of the
inscription of Yaśôdharman on the second inscribed column, described at page 144 above,
at **Mandasôr,**¹ or more properly Dasôr, the chief town of the Mandasôr District of
Scindia’s Dominions, in the Western Mâlwâ division of Central India. It was discovered
by Mr. Arthur Sulivan, who forwarded his hand-copy of it to General Cunningham in 1879.
And it was this that led to the search which was made under my direction in 1884, and
which resulted in the discovery of the entire copy of this inscription No. 33 above, page
142, and Plate xxiB., and of the inscription of Kumâragupta and Bandhuvarman of the
Mâlava years 493 and 529, No. 18 above, page 79, and Plate xi.
The writing, which covers a space of about 1′ 1″ broad by 1′ 2″ high, is in some
respects in a state of rather better preservation than the entire copy; but nearly three-
quarters of the full inscription is lost here, through the column having cracked vertically
and part of it being now not forthcoming.—The size of the letters varies from ¼″ to ⅜″.
The characters belong, as before, to the northern class of alphabets, and were engrav-
ed by the same person, Gôvinda, who engraved the entire copy, No. 33 above; and this
record appears to have been in all essential details an exact reproduction of the copy that
has been preserved entire. We have the lingual ḍh in upagûḍha, line 4. And the two
methods of forming r in combination with a following consonant, are very well illustrated
by vîrya, line 4, and ôpakhârair=mmihirakula, line 6.—In respect of orthography, we
have to notice (1), as before, the use of the guttural nasal, instead of the anusvâra, before ś,
in anśu, line 5; and before s, in têjâṅsi, line 1; and (2) the doubling of t, in conjunction
with a following r, in yattra; line 3, and nâyitô=ttra, line 7; and also in śattru, line 1,
where it is not doubled in the entire copy.
This fragmentary inscription preserves the names of Yaśôdharman and
Mihirakula. But the passage mentioning the Guptas and the Hûṇas has been lost:
and also that which gives the boundaries of Yaśôdharman’s dominions.

TEXT.³

1 ...... [da]tta²-pañch-âṅgul-âṅkaṁ drâghishṭhaḥ Śûlapâṇêḥ kshapayatu
bhavatâṁ śattru-têjâṅsi kêtuḥ ||
2 ...... jy[â]-kiṇ-âṅka-prakôshṭhaṁ bâhuṁ lôk-ôpakâra-vrata-saphala-
parispanda-dhîraṁ prapannâ ||
3 ...... [Â]larkka-Mândhâtṛi-kalpê kalyâṇê hêmni bhâsvân=maṇir-iva
sutarâṁ bhrâjatê yattra śabdaḥ ||
4 ...... [vî]ra-bâh-ûpagûḍhân=vîry-âvaskanna-râjñaḥ sva-gṛiha-parisar-âvajñayâ
yô bhuṅakti ||

¹ See page 79 above, and note 1.
³ From the ink-impression.
² Metre, Sragdharâ; and in the next seven