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

THE GUPTA INSCRIPTIONS; No. 61, PLATE XXXVIII A. 259
2 râjyê kulasy=âbhivivarddhamânê shaḍbhir=yyutê varsha-śatê=tha mâsê [II*]
Su¹-Kârttikê bahula-dinê=tha paṁchamê
3 guhâ-mukhê sphaṭa-vikaṭ-ôtkaṭâm=imâm jita-dvishô Jina-vara-Pârśva-
samjñikâm Jin-âkṛitim śama-damavân=a-
4 chîkarat [II*] Âchâryya²-Bhadr-ânvaya-bhûshaṇasya śishyô hy=asâv=âryya-
kul-ôdgatasya âchâryya-Gôśa-
5 rmma-munêḥ=sutas=tu Padmâvatâv³=aśvapatêr=bbhaṭasya [II*] Parair⁴=a-
jêyasya Ripughna-mâninas=sa Saṅghi-
6 lasy=êty=abhiviśrutô bhuvi sva-samjñayâ Śaṅkara-nâma-śabditô vidhâna-
yuktaṁ yati-mâ-
7 rggam=âsthitaḥ [II*] Sa⁵ uttarâṇâṁ sadṛiśê Kurûṇâṁ udag-diśâ-dêśa-varê
prasûtaḥ
8 kshayâya karmm-âri-gaṇasya dhîmân yad=atra puṇyaṁ tad=
apâsasarjja [II*]
TRANSLATION.
Reverence to the Perfect Ones!⁶ In the augmenting reign of the family of the best
of kings, belonging to the Gupta lineage, who are endowed with glory (and) are oceans
of virtuous qualities;—in a century of years, coupled with six; and in the excellent month
of Kârttika; and on the fifth day of the dark fortnight;—
(Line 3.)—He⁷ who has conquered the enemies⁸ (of religion), (and) is possessed of
tranquillity and self-command, caused to be made (and set up) in the mouth of (this)
cave, this image of a Jina, richly endowed with (the embellishments of) the expanded hoods
of a snake⁹ and an attendant female divinity, (and) having the name of Pârśva, the best
of the Jinas.
(L. 4.)—He is, indeed, the disciple of the saint, the Âchârya Gôśarman, who was the
ornament of the lineage of the Âchârya Bhadra (and) sprang from a noble family; but he
¹ Metre, Ruchirâ. ² Metre, Indravajrâ.
³ We have here the locative case of a base padmâvati, which, to suit the metre, is substituted for
the proper base padmâvatî, the locative of which would be padmâvatyâm.
⁴ Metre, Vaṁśastha. ⁵ Metre, Upêndravajrâ.
⁶ siddhêbhyaḥ. These Siddhas are not to be confused with the mythical semi-divine Siddhas who
are mentioned, e.g., in line 1 of No. 18 above, page 81. They are saints, who by austere practices
have attained siddhi or 'perfection or final beatitude' (see the remarks on siddham, page 25 above,
note 4) in the shape of some or all of the five states of salôkatâ, 'residence in the same heaven with
any particular deity;' sarûpatâ, 'identity of form with the deity, or assimilation to him;' 'sâmîpya,
'nearness to the deity;' sâyujya, 'absorption into the deity;' and sârshtitâ or samânaisvaryatva,
'equality with the supreme being in power and all the divine attributes.'—The Jain term siddha
corresponds pretty closely to the Buddhist samyak-sambuddha, which occurs in line 1 of No. 11 above,
page 46.
⁷ i. e. Śaṁkara, whose name occurs in line 6 below.
⁸ The allusion is to the ari-shaṭka or ari-shad-varga; see page 156 above, note 5.
⁹ Dr. Hultzsch wrongly read sphuṭa, and thus missed the meaning of this passage.—For vikaṭâ,
which I have translated by 'an attendant female divinity,' see Monier Williams' Sanskrit Dictionary
s.v., where he explains it by 'a kind of female divinity, peculiar to Buddhists.'—The image referred
to in this inscription, is not now in the cave. But, in support of my explanation of the passage, we
may refer to a precisely similar image, in the Jain cave at Bâdâmi, described in Archæol. Surv.
West. Ind. Vol. I. p. 25. It represents the same Jina, Pârśvanâtha, with a five-hooded snake over him
as a kind of nimbus, and a female on the right side, with a serpent's hood, holding up the rod of the
umbrella that shades him