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

42 CORPUS INSCRIPTIONUM INDICARUM, VOL. III.
the termination of the Sanskrit name, the first part of which, dhruva, means 'constant,'
really was paṭu, 'smart, dexterous, intellectual,' rather than bhaṭa, 'a warrior.' It is to
be hoped that some light will be thrown on these points by Mr. Beal's forthcoming transla-
tion of the Life of Hiuen Tsiang, corresponding to the first of M. Julien's three volumes.
In 1861 the question was taken up by the late Dr. Bhau Daji, in connection with
his paper "On the Saṁskṛit poet Kâlidâsa," published in the Jour. Bo. Br. R. As. Soc.
Vol. VIII. pp. 19 ff., 207 ff. As regards the Gupta era, he here only expressed his opinion
that it commenced, with the Valabhî era, in A.D. 319. But he brought to notice an
important point (id. p. 207, note), in the fact that the Kahâum pillar inscription, of which
he seems to have then had the opportunity of examining a more reliable version prepared
for him by Dr. Bhagwanlal Indraji, was dated in the 141st year of the Gupta dynasty, and
in the reign of Skandagupta; not after his death, as rendered by Prinsep. And he also
announced his opinion (id. p. 208, note) that the Tou-lou-p'o-po-t'o or T'u-lu-h'o-po-tu of
Hiuen Tsiang was to be identified with the Mahârâja Dharapaṭṭa, the fourth and young-
est son of the Sênâpati Bhaṭârka who founded the Valabhî family.
Also in 1861, in the Jour. Beng. As. Soc. Vol. XXX. p. 1 ff., Dr. FitzEdward Hall
edited the two grants of the Parivrâjaka Mahârâja Hastin, dated in the years 156 and
163, No. 21, page 93, and No. 22, page 100, which, now that the saṁvatsaras of the
Twelve-Year Cycle of Jupiter that are quoted in them can be calculated with certainty, are
of such extreme importance, because the records also state that they are dated "in the
enjoyment of sovereignty by the Gupta kings." They had been previously brought to
notice, in 1858, in Mr. Thomas' edition of Prinsep's Essays, Vol. I. p. 251 f., by Prof. H.
H. Wilson's combined translation of the two inscriptions from Mr. Thomas' reading of the
texts; but they were first published in full by Dr. Hall. The crucial expression in them
is Gupta-nṛipa-râjya-bhuktau, "in the enjoyment of sovereignty by the Gupta kings,"
which had been read correctly by Mr. Thomas, and had been suitably rendered by Prof.
Wilson in the words "(in the 163rd year) of the occupation of the kingdom by the Gupta
kings." The same reading was adopted by Dr. Hall. But, without quoting any author-
ity in support, he laid down the dictum (Jour. Beng. As. Soc. Vol. XXX. p. 3 ff., note)
that bhukti, which means literally 'the act of enjoying or eating; enjoyment, eating; fruition,
possession, usufruct,' "if unqualified by a temporal particle, denotes 'possession' or
"'fruition' only as a thing of the past;" and he translated the phrase (id. p. 7) by "(in the
"year one hundred and fifty-six) of the extinction of the sovereignty of the Gupta kings;"
and, again (id. p. 12), "(one hundred and sixty-three years) after the domination of the
"Guptas had been laid to rest;" thus producing apparently conclusive evidence of an era
that dated from the extermination of the Gupta kings; in support of which he quoted
(id. p. 5, note) the Hindu tradition referred to by Albêrûnî, now completely refuted, that
the Śaka era dates from the discomfiture of the Śakas. In the course of his remarks, he
introduced his reading and revised translation of the first verse of the Kahâum pillar