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

258 CORPUS INSCRIPTIONUM INDICARUM, VOL. III.
No. 61; PLATE XXXVIII A.
UDAYAGIRI CAVE INSCRIPTION.
THE YEAR 106.
THIS inscription was discovered in 1874-75 or 1876-77 by General Cunningham, and was
first brought to notice by him in 1880, in the Archæol. Surv. Ind. Vol. X. p. 53 f., where
he published his reading of the text, and a translation of it by Râjâ Siva Prasad, accom-
panied by a lithograph (id. Plate xix).—And in 1882, in the Ind. Ant. Vol. XI. p. 309 f.,
Dr. E. Hultzsch, working from General Cunningham’s facsimile, published his own revised
reading of the text, and translation of it.
This is another inscription from **Udayagiri,**¹ in the Bhêlsâ Sub-Division of the
Îsâgadh District of Scindia’s Dominions in Central India. It is inside a cave-temple,
which General Cunningham has named “No. 10, the Jain Cave.” The cave, which is
about a hundred yards beyond “No. 9, the Amṛita Cave,” is readily discernible from the
plain, by means of the rough stone wall which forms the front of the main part of it; it is
high up in the north-western end of the hill, and is not very easy of access, in conse-
quence of its having to be entered by a narrow and steep flight of steps on the very edge
of the cliff. The inscription is on the smoothed face of the rock, on a partly natural and
partly artificial low arch, leading from the principal room of the cave to the next room
towards the east.
The writing, which covers an irregular space of about 1′ 3½″ broad by 7¾″ high, has
suffered a little damage at the beginning and end of some of the lines, owing to the chip-
ping of the angular edges of the rock; but the readings here can be completed without any
doubt; and the rest of the inscription is in a state of perfect preservation. Below the last
line, there is a row of five roughly cut modern numerals, reading 31245, the tops of which
can be seen in the lithograph; but they have no connection with the inscription.—The
average size of the letters is about ⅜″. The characters belong to the northern class of
alphabets.—The language is Saṁskṛit; and, except for the opening invocation of the
saints or perfect ones, the inscription is in verse throughout.—The orthography presents
nothing calling for special remark.
The inscription refers itself to the period of the Early Gupta kings; but not to
the reign of any particular sovereign. The recorded date, however, shews that it belongs
to the time of Kumâragupta. It is dated, in words, in the year one hundred and six
(A.D. 425-26), on the fifth solar day of the dark fortnight of the month Kârttika
(October-November). It is a Jain inscription; and the object of it is to record the instal-
lation of an image of the Tîrthaṁkara Pârśva, or Pârśvanâtha, at the mouth of the cave.
TEXT.²
¹ Namaḥ siddhêbhyaḥ [॥*] Śrî³-saṁyutânâṁ guṇa-tôyadhînâṁ Gupt-
ânvayânâṁ nṛipa-sattamânâṁ
¹ See page 22 above, and note 1. ² From the original stone. ³ Metre Indravajrâ.