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

212 CORPUS INSCRIPTIONUM INDICARUM, VOL III.
TEXT.¹
No. 44.
1 Ôm Paramabhaṭṭâraka-mah[â]r[â]jâdh[i]r[â]ja-
2 śrî-Âditya²sênadêva-dayit[â] parama-
3 bhaṭṭârik[â]-r[â]j[ñ]i-mah[â]d[ê]v[î]-śrî-[Kô]ṇad[ê]v[î]
4 pushkariṇî-kîrttim=im[â]n=k[â]r[i]tava[tî] [॥*]
No. 45.
1 Ôm Paramabhaṭṭâraka-mah[â]r[â]j[â]dhirâja-śrî-Âd[i]tya³sênadêva-
day[i]tâ
2 paramabhaṭṭârik[â]-r[â]jñî-mahâd[ê]vî-śrî-K[ô]ṇad[ê]vî pu[shkariṇî-
kîrt]t[i]m-im[â]n-kâritavatî [॥*]
TRANSLATION.
Ôm ! The Paramabhaṭṭârikâ,⁴ the queen,⁵ the Mahâdêvî, the glorious Kôṇadêvî,—
the dear wife of the Paramabhaṭṭâraka and Mahârâjâdhirâja, the glorious Âditya-
sênadêva,—caused to be made this famous work⁶ of a tank.
¹ From Mr. Beglar’s rubbing of No. 44, and Dr. Buchanan’s published lithograph of No. 45.
² Read śry-Âditya. ³ Here, again, read śry-Âditya.
⁴ Paramabhaṭṭârikâ, lit. ‘she who is supremely entitled to respect or veneration,’ is the femi-
nine of paramabhaṭṭâraka (see page 17 above, note 3); it was one of the customary technical titles
of the wives of paramount sovereigns.
⁵ râjñî; also in line 2 ff. of the following Dêô-Baraṇârk inscription of Jîvagupta II.—The word is
only the feminine form of râjan; but it does not seem to have been so exclusively and technically
used as a subordinate feudatory title, in the way in which râjan was used. In the present day also
Rânî, which is the Prâkrit form of râjñî, is the proper title of a wife of a Râjâ, but is also used,
equally with Mahârânî, as a title of the Queen-Empress of England and India.
⁶ kîrtti.—Mr. K. T. Telang (Ind. Ant. Vol. IX p. 36, note 13) first brought to notice, on the
authority of Dr. Bhagwanlal Indraji, that in certain connections kîrtana has the meaning of ‘a
temple;’ e.g. in line 18 of the Khârêpâṭaṇ grant of Anantadêva, dated Śaka-Saṁvat 1016 (id. p.
34), which he was then editing.—This was supported by Dr. R. G. Bhandarkar (id. Vol. XII. p.
228 f.); who, in pointing out the error into which, from not being aware of this meaning of the word,
I had fallen in translating the passage in lines 14 f. of the Barôda grant of Kakka II., dated Śaka-
Saṁvat 734 (id. Vol. XII. p. 159), was able to quote three passages from the Agni-Purâṇa (in the
Bibliotheca Indica, Vol. I p. 111), Bâṇa’s Kâdambarî, and Sômêśvara’s Kîrttikaumudî, in which the
word evidently has the same meaning.—And to these instances I have since been able to add the
‘Dudahi’ inscriptions of Dêvalabdhi (id. Vol. XII. p. 289), and the Udayagiri inscription, dated
Vikrama-Saṁvat 1093 (id. Vol. XIII. p. 185).—On the analogy of these authorities, there is every reason
for allotting the same meaning, when required, to kîrtti, which is a derivative from the same root.
Dr. Bhandarkar has, however, recently suggested to me that kîrtti and kîrtana are hardly to be
actually translated by the word ‘temple,’ or by any other specific term; but denote generally ‘any
work, of public utility, calculated to render famous the name of the constructor of it.’ This is in
accordance with the etymology of the words, from the root kṛit, ‘to mention, commemorate,
praise.’ And the particular work referred to may be a temple, as in the instances quoted above; or a
tank, as in the present inscriptions; or anything else of a suitable nature.
Another passage in which kîrtti has the same meaning, though we have no information now
as to the specific nature of the work referred to, is in line 4 f. of an inscription on the right-hand
side pier in the porch of the temple of Vaidyanâtha at ‘Deoghar’ in the ‘Santâl’ Pargaṇâs in the
Bengal Presidency, edited by Dr. Rajendralala Mitra in the Jour. Beng As. Soc. Vol. LII. Part I