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

THE GUPTA INSCRIPTIONS; No. 41, PLATE XXVII. 197
We have the very rare initial au, in aupamanyava, line 10. And forms of the numerical
symbols¹ for 9 and 10 occur in line 27.—The language is Sanskrit. The legend on
the seal is in verse; but the inscription itself, except for the benedictive and imprecatory
verses in lines 15 to 24, is in prose throughout. From a linguistic point of view, we have
to notice, in atiṣṛishṭaka, line 11-12, the affix that I have commented on at page 69
above.—In respect of orthography, we have to notice (1) the use of the jihvāmūlīya
and upadhmanīya, in yaḥ≍kāñchanam, line 20; visarjjitaḥ≍kôṇḍinya, line 9; pradaḥ≍
parama, line 3; and dhiyaḥ≍pravadamnti, line 16; (2) the doubling of v, after the anusvāra,
in saṁvvatsara, line 24; (3) the insertion of a superfluous anusvāra, once only, in
pravadamnti, line 16; (4) the doubling of k, in conjunction with a following r, in vikkrama,
line 1; (5) the doubling of dh, in conjunction with a following y, in anuddhyāta, line 4;
and (6) the use of siṅgha for siṁha, line 28, and of tāmbra for tāmra, line 11.
The inscription is one of the Rāja Sudēvarāja or Mahā-Sudēvarāja; and the
charter recorded in it is issued, as in the case of the preceding inscription of Mahā-
Jayarāja, from the town of Śarabhapura. The occasion of its issue was the uttarāyaṇa,
or the sun's commencement of his progress to the north. The date of the engraving
of it is recorded, in numerical symbols, as the year ten of increasing victory, and the
ninth day, without any specification of the fortnight, of the month Māgha (January-
February). No era is referred to; and the tenth year must be simply that of the power
or government of Sudēvarāja. It is a non-sectarian inscription; the object of it being
only to record the assent of Sudēvarāja to the grant, to two Brāhmaṇs, of the village
of Śrīsahikā, in the Pūrvarāshṭra or Eastern Country.
TEXT.²
The Seal.³
a Prasanna⁴-hṛidayasy=aiva vikkram-ākkrānta-vidvishaḥ
b śrīmat-Sudeva⁵râjasya śāsanam ripu-śāsanam [II*]
First Plate.
1 Om Svasti Śarabhapurâd=vikkram-ôpanata-sâmanta-makuṭa-chûḍâ-maṇi-
2 prabhâ-prasêk-âmbu-dhô(dhau)ta-pâda-yugalô ripu-vilâsinî-sîmant-ôddha-
3 raṇa-hêtur=vvasu-vasudhâ-gô-pradaḥ⁶=paramabhâgavatô mâtâpitṛi-
¹ The symbol for the day might perhaps be interpreted as 30. But it seems, on the whole,
to be a transitional form of the symbol for 9, from which the modern Dêvanâgarî decimal figure 9
was developed.—Gen. Cunningham read the symbol for the year as 80, not 10; but I do not think
this can be upheld. It is evidently a square and upright variety of the second form of 10 given in
col. 5 of Dr. Bhagwanlal Indraji's Table in the Ind. Ant. Vol. VI. p. 44 f.
² From the original plates.
³ With the exception of the word prasanna at the beginning of the first line, the legend is
almost entirely obliterated. But there are faint indications here and there, which, with the help of
the legend on the seal of No. 40, page 193 above, and Plate xxvi., enable us to restore it as above.
⁴ Metre, Ślôka (Anushṭubh).
⁵ The lithograph in the Archæol. Surv. Ind. Vol. XVII. Plate xxvi. shews śrī-Mahā-Sudēva.
But this reading is not legible on the seal: and, as it does not suit the metre, it cannot have been so
engraved.
⁶ Here, and in line 16 below, the jihvāmūlīya, instead of being clearly formed as in lines 3 and
14 of No. 40, Plate xxvi., is indicated, hardly perceptibly, by little more than a vertical division
of the square top of the pa.