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

THE GUPTA INSCRIPTIONS; No. 58, PLATE XXXVI B. 251
TRANSLATION.
Here, he,—who is possessed of extensive victory and fame; who is the protector of
the true religion of the warrior caste; who always cherishes princes; who is the protector
of the army of the **Pârthivas;**¹ who day after day . . . . . . . . . . . Śiśupâla . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .,—was created, as if he were a fifth Lôkapâla,² by (the god) Vidhâtṛi.

No. 58; PLATE XXXVI B.

BIJAYAGADH STONE INSCRIPTION OF THF YAUDHEYAS.

THIS inscription was first brought to notice by myself in 1885, in the Ind. Ant. Vol. XIV.
p. 8, and is now edited for the first time. It is from a stone that was found by my copy-
ists, built into the inside of the Fort wall, near the pillar which has on it the following in-
scription of the Varika Vishṇuvardhana, of the year 428, No. 59, Plate xxxviC., in the hill-
fort of Bijayagaḍh or Bêjêgadh, about two miles to the south-west of Byânâ,³ the chief
town of the Byânâ Tahsîl or Sub-Division of the Bharatpur⁴ State in Râjputânâ.
The writing, which covers the whole front of the stone, about 1' 5⅞" broad by 2⅝"
high, except for a margin of about an inch at the beginning of each line, is in a state of fair-
ly good preservation, as far as it goes. But it is only a fragment of the original inscrip-
tion. An indefinite amount is lost at the end of each line; and also an indefinite number
of lines below line 2. Every effort was made to discover the rest of the inscription, but
without success.—The average size of the letters is about ⅝". The characters must be
considered as belonging to the northern class of alphabets; and the so-called Indo-
Scythic form of the m stamps them at once as of decidedly early date. But they are of
such a peculiarly ornate type, that, having no inscription of known date with which
to compare them, it is not possible at present to suggest any definite period for them.—
The language is Sanskrit; and the extant portion of the inscription is entirely in
prose.—The orthography presents nothing calling for remark.
All the historical contents of the inscription, including the name, except perhaps
the first syllable and part of the second, of the Mahârâja and Mahâsênâpati whose titles
occur in line 1, are lost. The interest of the inscription lies in its being a record of the
tribe of the Yaudhêyas, who are mentioned elsewhere in this volume only in line 22 of
the Allahâbâd pillar inscription, No. 1 above, where they are included among the tribes
subjugated by the Early Gupta king Samudragupta.
¹ See the introductory remarks.
² The four Lôkapâlas, or regents of the quarters of the world, are—Indra, of the east; Yama, of the
south; Varuṇa, of the west; and Kuvêra, of the north.—The number is sometimes increased to eight,
by the addition of Agni at the south-east, Sûrya at the south-west, Vâyu at the north-west, and Chandra
at the north-east.
³ The ‘Byana’ of the Indian Atlas, Sheet No. 50. Lat. 26° 57′ N.; Long. 77° 20′ E.—Other writ-
ers give the name as ‘Baianâ, Bayâna, Biána, and Biânah;’ but this is wrong; the name, of which the
mediæval form is said to have been Bêhayânâ, is dissyllabic.—As regards Mr. A. C. L. Carlleyle’s
utterly untenable derivation of Byânâ from the name of the demon Bâṇâsura, see my remarks in Ind.
Ant. Vol. XIV. p. 9.—The ancient Sanskṛit name of the place was Śrîpathâ; see id. pp. 8 f., and 10;
and Vol. XV. p. 239.
⁴ The ‘Bhurtpoor’ of maps, &c.
2 K