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

THE GUPTA INSCRIPTIONS; NOS. 53 AND 54, PLATE XXXIII A & B. 233
Nos. 53 & 54; PLATE XXXIII A & B.
NACHNE-KI-TALAI STONE INSCRIPTIONS OF THE
MAHARAJA PRITHIVISHENA.
THESE two inscriptions were discovered by General Cunningham in 1883-84, and were
brought to notice by him in 1885, in the Archæol. Surv. Ind. Vol. XXI. p. 97 f., where he
published his reading of the text of the complete one, No. 54, accompanied by lithographs
of both of them (id. Plate xxvii.)
Nachnê-kî-talâî,¹ meaning literally the "tank of Nachna," is a small village or col-
lection of huts, about seven miles south-west of Jasô,² the chief town of the Jasô State in
the Bundêlkhaṇḍ division of Central India. When I drafted the title of the Plate, I
understood that the inscriptions were on a boulder lying in the jungle; whereas it now
appears, from General Cunningham's published account, that they are on a loose slab
which was found lying at 'Lakhura, Lakhuria, or Lakhâwara,' which is the name of the
ground outside the fort of 'Kûthara or Kûtharagarh,' which again is given as an older
name of the site on part of which the village of Nachna or Nachnê-kî-talâî now stands.
The inscription of four lines, No. 54, is on the face of the slab; and the incomplete in-
scription, No. 53, on the side or edge of it. The explanation of No. 53 probably is, that
this side was intended to be the front of the stone; but that the stone was then found to be
too rough, and this face was made the side of it, and the inscription was commenced
again and finished on what is now the front of it. And I am extremely doubtful whether
the inscription on the side, No. 53, really consists of more than one line. Some signs
resembling the syllables vyâghra are pencilled-in on the impressions that were sent to me;
but I was unable to depute my own copyists to Nachnê-kî-talâî for the purpose of taking
fresh impressions to settle this point, or to go there myself.
The writing of No. 53 covers a space of about 1' 9¾" broad by 7½" high; and of
No. 54, about 1' 9" broad by 1' 1" high. The imperfections of some of the letters appear
to be due to incomplete engraving, owing to irregularities of the stone, rather than to sub-
sequent injury. In the centre of No. 54 there is a sculpture which may be either a
Buddhist wheel, or the sun-symbol. — The size of the letters varies from ⅞" to 1¼". The
characters belong to the southern class of alphabets, and give another specimen of the
'box-headed' variety of the Central India alphabet, which I have noticed at page 18 f.
above. — The language is Sanskrit; and both the inscriptions are in prose. — In respect
of orthography, the only point calling for remark is the doubling of dh, before y, in
anuddhyâta, in line 2 of No. 54.
As regards the contents of the inscriptions, No. 53 gives simply the name of the
Mahârâja Pṛithivishêṇa of the Vâkâṭaka tribe or dynasty. No. 54 repeats this, and
adds the name of a feudatory of his, Vyâghradêva. No date is given; and nothing to
shew any sectarian purpose. And the record simply refers to Vyâghradêva having made
something or other, which must have been either a temple, or a well or tank, of which this
slab evidently formed a part.
¹ The 'Nachna, Nâchna, and Narhua,' of maps, &c. It should be in the Indian Atlas, Sheet
No. 70, but is not entered there. Lat. 24° 24′ N., Long. 80° 30′ E.
² The 'Jasso, Jusso, and Jussoo, of maps, &c.
2 C.