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

THE GUPTA INSCRIPTIONS; No. 62, PLATE XXXVIII B. 261
allowing for this, the details shew no particular development. In line 11, they include
forms of the numerical symbols for 1, 5, 30, and 100.—The language is Sanskrit; and
the inscription is in prose throughout. In pravishṭaka, line 4, we have to notice the affix
ka which I have commented on at page 69 above.—In respect of orthograpny, the only
point that calls for remark, is the doubling of v, after the anusvâra, in saṁvvat, line 11.
The inscription does not refer itself to the reign of any king; but the date recorded
in it, allots it to the time of either Kumâragupta, of the Early Gupta dynasty, or his
son and successor Skandagupta. It is dated, in numerical symbols,¹ in the year one
hundred and thirty-one (A.D. 450-51), on the fifth solar day, without any specification of
the fortnight, of the month Âśvayuj (September-October). It is a Buddhist inscription.
And the object of it is to record the grant, by the Upâsikâ or lay-worshipper Hari-
svâminî, the wife of the Upâsaka Sanasiddha, of certain sums of money to the
Ârya-Saṁgha, or community of the faithful, at the great vihâra or Buddhist convent of
Kâkanâdabôṭa,—i.e. the great Stûpa at Sâñchi,²—for the purpose of feeding one
Bhikshu day by day, and of maintaining lamps in the shrines of Buddha.
TEXT.³
1 S[iddha]m⁴ [॥*] Upâsaka-Sanasiddha-bhâryyayâ upâsik[â*]-Harisvâminyâ
mâtâ-
2 pitaram⁵=uddiśya Kâkanâdabôṭa-śrî-mahâ-vihârê châturddiśây=âryya-saṁ-
3 ghâya akshaya⁶-nîvî dattâ dînârâ dvâdasa [।*] êshâṁ dînârâṇâṁ
yâ vriddhi-
4 r=upajâyatê tayâ divasê-divasê saṁgha-madhya-pravishṭaka-bhikshur=êkaḥ
bhôja-
5 yitavyaḥ [॥*] Ratna-grihê=pi dînâra-trayaṁ dattam [।*] [ta]d-dînâra-
trayasya vri[d*]dhyâ ratna-grihê
6 bhagavatô Buddhasya divasê-divasê dîpa-trayaṁ prajvâlayitavyaṁ [॥*]
Chatur-Buddh-âsa-
7 nê=pi dattaḥ dînâra êkaḥ [।*] tasya vriddhyâ chatur-Buddh-âsanê
bhagavatô Buddhasya
8 divasê-divasê dîpaḥ prajvâlayitavyaḥ [॥*] Êvam=êsh=âkshaya-nîvî
9 â-chandr-ârkka-śilâ-lêkhyâ svâminî-Sanasiddha-bhâryyayâ
10 upâsik[â*]-Harisvâminyâ pravarttitâ iti [॥*]
11 Saṁvvat⁷ 100 30 1 Âśvayug=di 5 ॥
¹ Gen. Cunningham (Bhilsa Topes, p. 193) read the first symbol as 300. But the two marks on
the right side, required to convert 100 into 300, are entirely wanting; and he must have been misled
by the natural marks of the stone becoming exaggerated in an imperfect ink-impression.
² See page 31 above.
³ From the original stone.
⁴ This word is in the margin, before upâsaka. The traces that remain of it are very faint.
⁵ Read mâtâpitarâv.
⁶ The initial a of this word is badly formed, and is partly run into the ya of saṁghâya. Perhaps
saṁghây-âkshaya was being engraved, as required by saṁdhi, and then the initial a was inserted.
⁷ As regards the reading of the first symbol, see note 1 above.