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

THE GUPTA INSCRIPTIONS; No. 63, PLATE XXXIX A. 263
vinces. When I examined it, it was in the Government Museum at Allâhâbâd; but it has
now, I understand, been transferred to the Provincial Museum at Lucknow. Of the statue
itself, all that remains is the feet, with part of a small kneeling figure at each side;
and there is thus nothing to shew its nature; but, from the tenour of the inscription, it
must have been a standing image of Buddha.
At the commencement of the inscription, in the margin, there is engraved a Bud-
dhist dharmachakra, or 'wheel of religion,' an emblem the object of which appears to be
to denote the way in which religion encompasses and envelops everything.—The writing
covers a space of about 1' 6½" broad by 2¾" high; and is in a state of very good preserva-
tion, except in the last line, of which almost the whole of the last part is broken away and
lost.—The average size of the letters is about ½". The characters belong to the north-
ern class of alphabets. They include, in line 1, forms of the numerical symbols for
5, 20, 30, and 100.—The language is Sanskrit. The first two lines are in prose, and the
rest in verse.—In respect of orthography, the only point that calls for notice is the
doubling of v, after the anusvâra, in saṁvvatsara, line 1.
The inscription does not refer itself to the reign of any king; but, from its date, it
appears to belong to the time of the Early Gupta king Skandagupta; since his father,
Kumâragupta, having commenced to reign in at least the year 96, can hardly have conti-
nued on the throne up to the present date. It is dated, both in words and in numerical
symbols, in the year one hundred and thirty-five (A.D. 454-55), and on the twentieth solar
day, without any specification of the fortnight, of the month Pushya (December-January).
From the expressions used, as well as from the emblem on the margin of the stone, it is
evidently a Buddhist inscription; and the object of it is to record the gift of the statue, on
the pedestal of which it is engraved.
TEXT.¹
1 Saṁvvatsara-śatê paṁcha-striś²-ôttaratamê 100 30 5 Pushya-mâsê
divasê vi[ṁ]ś[ê] di 20 [I*] Dêya-dharm[ô]=yaṁ vihârasvâminy[â]
2 Dêvtâyâ³ [II]* Yad=atra puṇyaṁ tad=bhavatu mâtâpitrôḥ sarvva-
sat[t*]vânâñ=cha anuttara-jñân⁴-âptayê⁵ ||
3 Saubhâgyaṁ⁶ pratiru(rû)patâ guṇavatî kîrttis=sapatna-kshayaḥ śrîman[t]ô
vibhavâ bhavâ[ḥ*] sukha-phalâ nirvvaṇaṁ=amtê śivaṁ
4 a-stabdha(?)ni bhavanti dâna-niratau chittaṁ niyôjy=aikadâ [—] î [— — ◡]
vichâ(?tâ)raṇa[◡ ◡]dhiyâṁ [— — ◡ ◡ — —] i [◡] yâṁ [II*]
TRANSLATION.
In a century of years, increased by the thirty-fifth (year), (or in figures) 100 (and)
30 (and) 5; in the month Pushya; on the twentieth day, (or in figures) the day 20;—
this is the appropriate religious gift of the Vihârasvâminî⁷ Dêvatâ. Whatever religious

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¹ From the original stone. ² Read triṁś. ³ Read dêvatâyâḥ.
⁴ This n is rather an anomalous one; but the character cannot stand for anything else.
⁵ There is no objection to the present reading; but we usually have avâptayê.
⁶ Metre, Śârdûlavikrîḍita.
⁷ Vihârasvâminî, lit. 'mistress (lady-superintendent) of a vihâra,' seems, not to be a technical
religious title denoting an office held by females, but to mean simply 'the wife of a Vihârasvâmin;'
see page 279 below, note 5.—We may compare Dandanâyakitî, in line 40-41 of the Kargudari in-