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

264 CORPUS INSCRIPTIONUM INDICARUM, VOL. III.
merit (there is) in this (act),—let it be for the acquisition of supreme knowledge by (her)
parents and by all sentient beings !
(Line 3.)—Good fortune ; the condition of being a model (worthy of imitation),
abounding in virtuous qualities ; fame ; the destruction of the enemies (of religion) ;¹
riches abounding in prosperity, births that result in happiness ; (and) finally, an
auspicious nirvâṇa ;—(all these) are not permanent (?) ;² having once fixed the thoughts
upon the happiness of making gifts, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

No. 64 : PLATE XXXIX B.

GAḌHWÂ INSCRIPTION.

THIS inscription was discovered by General Cunningham in 1874-75 or 1876-77, and was
first brought to notice by him in 1880, in the Archæol. Surv. Ind. Vol. X. p. 10 f., where
he published his reading of the text, accompanied by a lithograph (id. Plate v. Nos. 2
and 3).
It is another inscription from Gaḍhwâ,³ in the Karchhanâ Sub-Division of the
Allahâbâd District in the North-West Provinces. It was found on pulling down a ruined
wall ; and is on two faces of a fragment of a square sandstone pillar which had been cut
into four beams by splitting it down the middle of each face, in order to adapt it to some
later building purposes. The other pieces were not found. The original stone is now in
the Imperial Museum at Calcutta.
The writing includes the remains of two separate records, which, however, seem to
refer to one and the same object of donation. On that face of the stone which is repre-
sented in the left part of the lithograph, we have the remains of fourteen lines, covering a
space of about 3¾″ broad by 1′ 2¾″ high ; and, on the other side, the remains of eight
lines, covering a space of about 6¼″ broad by 11½″ high. Such of the writing as remains,
is fairly well preserved ; but of course some of the letters are doubtful from want of the
context to explain them.—The size of the letters varies from ⅜″ to ½″. The characters
belong to the northern class of alphabets, and are of precisely the same type as those of
Nos. 7, 8, and 9 above, Plate ivB. C. and D. They include, in lines 18 and 19, forms of the
numerical symbols for 1 and 2.—The language is Sanskrit ; and the inscription is in
prose throughout.—In respect of orthography, the only point that calls for notice is the
use of the guttural nasal, instead of the anusvâra, before ś, in viṅśati, line 16.
From the letters visible at the end of line 1, the inscription may belong to the time
of the Early Gupta king Kumâragupta. The details of the date, however, have been

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scription of Śaka-Saṁvat 1030 (Ind. Ant. Vol. X. p. 252, and note 20) ; it means, not ‘a female Leader
of the Forces,’ but ‘the wife of a Danḍanâyaka.’ Modern instances of finding appellations for women
in the official titles of their husbands, are afforded by the Kanarese Gauḍasâni, and the Marâṭhî Pâṭlîn,
as used to designate the wife of the Gauḍa or Pâṭîl, the village-headman.
¹ The allusion is to the ari-shaḍ-varga or ari-shaṭka ; see page 156 above, note
² According to the Buddhist doctrine, it would appear that even nirvâṇa, or the extinction of
existence, is not a permanent state, and does not free the individual who attains it from the liability
of future births unless it is followed by parinirvâṇa, or absolute destruction of identity by complete
absorption into the divine essence.
³ See page 36 above, and note 1.