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

THE GUPTA INSCRIPTIONS; No. 37, PLATE XXIII B. 161
(L. 6.)—(By this Dhanyavishṇu), accomplishing, in unison with (the previously
expressed wishes of) him,¹ a joint deed of religious merit, for the sake of increasing the reli-
gious merit of (his) parents, this stone temple of the divine (god) Nârâyaṇa, who has
the form of a Boar (and) who is entirely devoted to (the welfare of) the universe, has
been caused to be made in this his own vishaya of Airikiṇa.
(L. 8.)—Let prosperity attend all the subjects, headed by the cows and the
Brâhmans!
No. 37; PLATE XXIII B.
GWALIOR STONE INSCRIPTION OF MIHIRAKULA.
THIS inscription appears to have been discovered by General Cunningham, and was first
brought to notice in 1861, in the Jour. Beng. As. Soc. Vol. XXX. p. 267 ff., where Dr.
Rajendralala Mitra published his reading of the text, and a translation of it, from an
ink-impression taken by General Cunningham, of which, in the following year,—as an ac-
companiment to Dr. Rajendralala Mitra's paper on "Vestiges of the kings of Gwâlior," in
the Jour. Beng. As. Soc. Vol. XXXI. p. 391 ff.,—a reduced lithograph was published (id.
Plate i. No. 1).
The inscription is on a broken red-sandstone slab, now measuring about 2' 8¼" broad
by 5⅝" high, that was found built into the wall in the porch of a temple of the sun in the
fortress at Gwâlior² (properly Gwâlhêr), the capital of the dominions of Scindia in
Central India; it is now in the Imperial Museum at Calcutta. When the stone was
first found, two or three letters had already been broken away and lost at the beginning of
each line; and, since then, it has suffered a still more serious injury, in part of line 7, and
the whole of lines 8 and 9, being cut away and destroyed in trimming the stone and fixing
it, I suppose, in some other building, after the time when it was first found and before its
rescue and transfer to the Museum.
The writing, which covers the entire face of the stone, except for a margin of
about an inch at the top and on the right side, is in a state of excellent preservation al-
most throughout.—The average size of the letters is about ⅜". The characters belong
to the northern class of alphabets; and, though differing a little in actual execution, are
of the same type with those of the preceding inscription of Tôramâṇa. The two methods
of forming r, in combination with a following consonant, are illustrated, on the one hand,
by śauryâd, line 3, and, on the other, by chakrô=rtti-harttâ, line 2, and abhivarddha-
mâna, line 4.—The language is Saṁskṛit; and the inscription is in verse through-
out.—In respect of orthography, all that calls for special notice is the use of the
upadhmânîya once, in aṁśubhiḥ=paṁkajânâm, line 2.
The inscription refers itself to the reign of Mihirakula. It is dated, in words, in
the fifteenth year of his reign, without any reference to an era; and in the bright fortnight
of the month Kârttika (October-November), but without any specification of the day of
the fortnight or month. It is an inscription of solar worship. And the object of it is to
¹ i.e. the deceased Mâtṛivishṇu.
² The 'Gwalior' of maps, &c. Indian Atlas, Sheet No. 51. Lat. 26° 13' N.; Long. 78° 12' E.—
For the ancient names of the place, see the next note.
A₂