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

214 CORPUS INSCRIPTIONUM INDICARUM, VOL. III.
**Dêô-Baranârk,**¹ or Dêva-Baranârk, the ancient Vâruṇikâ of this inscription, is
a village about twenty-five miles south-west of Arrah (properly Ârâ), the chief town of the
Shâhâbâd District in the Bengal Presidency. The inscription is on two contiguous faces
of a pillar in the entrance-hall of a temple on the west side of the village,² which has
apparently been adapted in modern times as a temple of the god Vishṇu.³
The writing, which covers a space of about 2' 3½" broad by 1' 4" high, has suffered
a great deal of injury from the weather, especially down the proper right side, where
many passages are hopelessly illegible; but fortunately the whole of the genealogy of the
Guptas of Magadha given in this inscription is intact, with the exception of the first three
syllables of the name of Mâdhavagupta, in line 2, which can easily be supplied. In lines
7 ff., however, there was a good deal of historical information that is not now quite per-
fect.—The average size of the letters is about ⁷/₁₆". The characters belong to the north-
ern class of alphabets, and are of almost the same Kuṭila type as those of the Aphsaḍ
inscription of Âdityasêna, No. 43 above, Plate xxviii.; but they do not shew the bent tails
of the letters quite so markedly.—The language is Saṁskṛit; and the inscription is in
prose throughout. In style, it follows the customary form of a copper-plate charter; not
of a stone-inscription.—In respect of orthography, we have to notice (1) the use of sh,
instead of the jihvâmûlîya or the visarga, in antashpâti, line 7; (2) the use of the dental
n, instead of the anusvâra, before s, in hansa, line 14; (3) the doubling throughout of t, in
conjunction with a following r; e.g. in ttraya, line 1; puttra, line 5; and mittra, line 16;
and (4) the use of v for b, in vâlâditya, line 13.
The inscription is one of Jîvitagupta II., of the family of the Guptas of Maga-
dha; and the charter recorded in it is issued from the fort of Gômatîkoṭṭaka. It is not
dated.⁴ It is an inscription of solar worship;⁵ its object being to record the continuance
of the grant of a village, either Vâruṇikâ or Kiśôravâṭaka, to the Sun, under the
title of Varuṇavâsin, a name which is of some interest, as apparently preserving the ancient
belief, in accordance with which varuṇa, lit. 'that which envelopes,' meant 'the all-encom-
passing sky, before it became the name of the ocean-god Varuṇa, who himself was ori-
The characters, called Maithila by Dr. R. Mitra, shew that this inscription is quite modern,
—certainly not earlier than the sixteenth century A.D.; and it must have been engraved when the
boar-statue of Vishṇu, spoken of in line 6, was set up by Balabhadra. I have thought it worth
while, however, to give the record in full, because, in my opinion, it so plainly contains a memorial
of the great Âdityasêna of Magadha. The antiquity of the allusion is indicated by its being referred
to the Kṛita age. And though the name of Âdityasêna's wife is here given as Kôshadêvî, instead of
Kôṇadêvî, this is to be explained by the usual inability of the people, then as now, to read correctly
the ancient characters of the inscription or other record from which the composer of these verses
obtained his information; and it is a mistake of the kind that corroborates, not invalidates, the
identification of Âdityasêna.
¹ The 'Deo-Barnârak, Deo-Barnârâk, Deo-Barunârak, and Deonar Narooh,' of maps, &c. Indian
Atlas, Sheet No. 103. Lat. 25° 15′ N.; Long. 84° 31′ E.
² See Archæol. Surv. Ind. Vol. XVI. Plates xxii. xxiii. and xxiv.
³ id. p. 69.
⁴ Gen. Cunningham read in it the date of 152, which he referred to the era of Harshavardhana of
Kanauj. But this arose only from a misunderstanding of the words sa-daśâparâdha-pañcha, in line
19.
⁵ It appears that two special festivals in honour of the sun still take place at Dêô-Baranârk, on
the sixth day of the bright fortnight of the months Chaitra and Kârttika (see Archæol. Surv. Ind.
Vol. XVI. p. 72).