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

200 CORPUS INSCRIPTIONUM INDICARUM, VOL. III.
been assented to by Us indeed, for the increase of the religious merit of (Our) parents
and of Ourself.
(L. 13.)—" Being aware of this, you should be obedient to their commands, and
should dwell in happiness, rendering in proper manner (their) share of the enjoyment."
(L. 15.)—And he enjoins upon future kings,—" The ancients, whose minds are fixed
upon religion, say that the virtue that arises from the preservation (of a grant) is greater
than (that which arises from) making a grant; therefore your mind should verily incline to
preserve land that has been given to a Brâhmaṇ of very pure family and holy learning.
Therefore this gift should be preserved by you also."
(L. 18.)—And they cite on this point the verses that were sung by Vyâsa:—Gold is
the first offspring of fire; the earth belongs to (the god) Vishṇu; and cows are the
daughters of the sun: therefore the three worlds are given by him who gives gold, and a
cow, and land! The giver of land enjoys happiness in heaven for sixty thousand years;
(but) the confiscator (of a grant), and he who assents (to an act of confiscation), shall
dwell for the same number of years in hell! Land has been given by many kings, com-
mencing with Sagara; whosoever at any time possesses the earth, to him belongs, at that
time, the reward (of this grant that is now made, if he continue it)! O Yudhishṭhira,
best of kings, carefully preserve land that has been given, whether by thyself, or by
another; (verily) the preservation (of a grant) (is) more meritorious than making a grant!
(L. 25.)—In this same village, the irrigation-well called Śrîvâpikâ, constructed within
the mound on the land that skirts the eastern tank, (and) extending up to the road,
is given to Nâgavatsasvâmin, in excess of (his exact) half of the village, because he is
the elder.
(L. 27.)—At the command of (Mahâ-Sudêvarâja's) own mouth, (in) the year 10 of
increasing victory, (in) (the month) Mâgha, (on the day) 9, (this charter) has been
engraved by Drôṇasiṅgha.

No. 42; PLATE XXVIII.

APHSAD STONE INSCRIPTION OF ADITYASENA.

THIS inscription was discovered by Major Markham Kittoe, some time anterior to
1850; but the first notice of it, that I have been able to trace, is General Cunningham's
mention of it in 1863, in his report for the year 1861-62, which was issued as a sup-
plement to the Journal of the Bengal Asiatic Society, Vol. XXXII. p. iii ff., and was
in 1871 reprinted in the Archæol. Surv. Ind. Vol. I., where this inscription is referred to
on page 40.—In 1866, in the Jour. Beng. As. Soc. Vol. XXXV. p. 267 ff., Dr. Rajendra-
lala Mitra published his reading of the text, and a translation of it, from a transcript of
the original, in modern Dêvanâgarî characters, which Major Kittoe had given to General
Cunningham in 1850.—In 1882, in the Archæol. Surv. Ind. Vol. XV. p. 11, General
Cunningham supplemented this translation, by notifying, from his own examination of
a rubbing of the original inscription made by Major Kittoe, which had meanwhile been
discovered by Mr. J. D. M. Beglar in a box of inscriptions in the Bengal Asiatic Society's
Library, that the name of the second king was Harshagupta; not Hashkagupta, as read
by Major Kittoe.—And in 1883, in the Archæol. Surv. Ind. Vol. XVI. p. 79, he further
notified that Dr. Bhagwanlal Indraji, apparently in a letter to him, had indicated that