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

228 CORPUS INSCRIPTIONUM INDICARUM, VOL. III.
(L. 5.)—His son (was) the king Sârdûlavarman, who stretched out over the faces
of the points of the compass, (as) an emblem of sovereignty, the renown that he had
acquired in the occupation of war resembling (in its extensiveness) the great swollen ocean;
who conquered (the stains of) this present age with (his) fame; who was illustrious; (and)
who acquired, as it were, the glory of the kalpa-tree, by satisfying with rewards the wishes
of (his) relatives and friends.
(L. 7.)—Of him, who was always possessed of infinite fame and renown, the son (is)
he, pure of soul, (and) possessed of intellect animated with innate piety, who is known by
the appellation of Varman commencing with **Ananta;**¹—by whom, desiring a shrine of
religious merit that should endure as long as the sun, the earth, the moon, and the stars,
this (image of) (the goddess) Kâtyâyanî has been placed in (this) wonderful cave of the
Vindhya mountains.
(L. 9.)—He has given to (the goddess) Bhavânî, to be enjoyed up to the time of the
destruction of all things, the charming village of . . . . . . ., possessed of a great wealth
of enjoyment,—the sin, impurity, mud, and blemishes of which are washed away by the
pure waters of a great river;²—which is filled with perfume by the breezes that agitate
the priyaṁgu³ and vakula-trees⁴ in (its) groves;—(and) from which the radiance of the
sun is screened off by (this) lofty mountain.

No. 51; PLATE XXXII A.

JAUNPUR STONE INSCRIPTION OF ISVARAVARMAN.

THIS inscription,—which was discovered by General Cunningham in 1875-76 or 1877-78,
and was first brought to notice by him in 1880, in the Archæol. Surv. Ind. Vol. XI.
p. 124 f., where he published his reading of the text, accompanied by a lithograph
(id. Plate xxxvii. No. 1),—is from a stone built in as one of the lower voussoirs of the outer
arch of the south gate of the Jâmi Masjid at **Jaunpur,**⁵ the chief town of the Jaunpur
District in the North-West Provinces.
The writing, which covers a space of about 1′ 3½″ broad by 1′ 1½″ high, is, so far as
it goes, in a state of very good preservation, except for the marks by which it has been
disfigured a little above the centre of the stone. But it is only a fragment of a very
much larger inscription. Nothing has been lost at the top, and at the ends of the lines.
But from thirty-eight to seventy-two aksharas,—probably the larger number,—are lost
at the beginning of each line; and also an indefinite number of lines below the last line that
is extant.—The average size of the letters is about ⁷⁄₁₆″. The characters belong to the

¹ i.e. Anantavarman.
² We might find in this verse a reference to "the pure waters of (the river) Mahânadî." But the
Mahânadî, which rises in the Râypur District, flows into the Bay of Bengal, without coming anywhere
within two hundred and fifty miles of the Nâgârjunî hill. The small river that runs past this hill, is
named the Phalgu; and it flows into the Ganges, not into the Mahânadî. Under the name of Phalgu,
it is mentioned in an inscription, belonging to about the twelfth century A.D., of a prince named
Yakshapâla, at the Satî Ghât at Gayâ (Ind. Ant. Vol. XVI. p. 64, line 2).
³ priyaṁgu; the Panicum Italicum; a medicinal plant, and perfume.
⁴ vakula; the Mimusops Elengi.
⁵ The 'Jounpoor' of maps. Indian Atlas, Sheet No. 88. Lat. 25° 41′ N.; Long. 82° 43′ E.