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

THE GUPTA INSCRIPTIONS; Nos. 44 AND 45. 211
Nos. 44 and 45; (No PLATE.)
MANDAR HILL ROCK INSCRIPTIONS OF ADITYASENA.
THESE two inscriptions were discovered by Dr. Francis Buchanan (Hamilton), and
were first brought to notice in his reports, from which Mr. Montgomery Martin compiled,
and in 1838 published, the book entitled Eastern India, where the inscriptions are men-
tioned in Vol. II. p. 58, with reduced lithographs (id. Plate iv. Nos. 3 and 4).—I cannot
find that any fuller notice of them has ever been published.
Mandâr or Mandâragiri¹ is a famous hill about seven miles south-east of Bânkâ,²
the chief town of the Bânkâ Sub-Division of the Bhâgalpur³ District in the Bengal Presi-
dency. When I was on tour in the north of India, I could not succeed in acquiring any
accurate information as to the position of the inscriptions, and was thus unable to obtain
impressions and publish lithographs of them. But Dr. Buchanan's facsimiles, though not
good enough to reproduce, are intelligible throughout, with the exception of the three
letters immediately following the name of Âdityasênadêva. And quite recently Mr.
Beglar has sent me a rubbing and a hand-copy of No. 44, which, though not suitable for
lithography, fully endorse Dr. Buchanan's rendering of this record, and enable me also
to read with certainty some of the letters that are doubtful in his lithograph. From Mr.
Beglar's remarks, I learn that this inscription, No. 44, is on the rock to the right of the
steps rising from a corner of the lower tank, now called Pâpahariṇî, and at the base of a
flight leading to the upper tank. The position of the other inscription, No. 45, seems to
be not now known at all.
The two inscriptions are identical in substance; but are arranged, one in two lines, and
the other in four. The writing of No. 44 covers a space of about 6′ 2″ broad by 2′ 11″
high; and is in a state of fairly good preservation; but the surface of the rock seems to
be so rough that it is doubtful whether an ink-impression could be obtained, sufficiently
good for lithography.—The average size of the letters is about 5″. The characters
belong to the northern class of alphabets, and are of almost precisely the same Kuṭila
type as those of the Aphsaḍ inscription of Âdityasêna, No. 42 above, Plate xxviii. page
200.—The language is Sanskrit; and the inscriptions are in prose.—The orthography
presents nothing calling for remark.
The inscriptions refer themselves to the time of Âdityasêna, of the family of the
Guptas of Magadha. They are not dated. But the paramount titles of Parama-
bhaṭṭâraka and Mahârâjâdhirâja applied here to Âdityasêna, shew that they belong to
the period of confusion and anarchy that attended the death of Harshavardhana of Kanauj,
when Âdityasêna established the independence of his family in Magadha; and that they
are slightly later than his Aphsaḍ and Shâhpur inscriptions, in the latter of which,—as
it is in prose,—the paramount titles would certainly have been introduced, if he had
assumed them by that date. They are non-sectarian; the record being simply that
Âdityasêna's wife, Kôṇadêvî, caused a tank to be made.
¹ The ‘Mandar, Mandargiri, Mundar Hill, and Mundar H. Temple,’ of maps, &c. Indian Atlas,
Sheet No. 112. Lat. 24° 50′ N.; Long. 87° 4′ E.
² The ‘Banka’ of maps.
The ‘Bhagalpur and ’Bhaugulpoor’ of maps, &c.
2 D 2