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

THE GUPTA INSCRIPTIONS; No. 68, PLATE XL B. 271
preceding generations); who was a highly esteemed Sâtvata;¹ who was an Âchârya of the
Yôga philosophy; and who was a devotee of the Divine One;—the son's son of the
Âchârya Vishnutrâta;—the son, begotten on Râvaṇî, of the Âchârya Vasudatta;—a
member of the Gôtama gôtra;—(and) the younger brother of the Âchârya and Upâdhyâya
Yaśastrâta.
No. 68; PLATE XL B.
DEORIYA STONE IMAGE INSCRIPTION.
THIS inscription was discovered in 1871-72 by General Cunningham, and was first
brought to notice by him in 1873, in the Archæol. Surv. Ind. Vol. III. p. 48 f., where he
published his reading of the text and a translation of it, accompanied by a lithograph (id.
Plate xviii D).
Dêôriyâ or Dêwariyâ² is a small village on the right bank of the Jamnâ, about
eight miles towards the south-west of Arail or Arayal, the chief town of the Arail
Parganâ in the Karchhanâ Sub-Division of the Allahâbâd District in the North-West
Provinces. The inscription is on the pedestal of a stone standing image of Buddha,—
draped, and with small attendant figures kneeling at his feet, one on the right
side, and two on the left,—that was found at this village. When I examined the image,
it was in the Government Museum at Allahâbâd; but it is now, I understand, in the
Provincial Museum at Lucknow.
The writing, which covers the whole front of the pedestal, about 1' 1" broad by
2½" high, is in a state of good preservation throughout.—The size of the letters varies
from 7/16" to 9/16". The characters belong to the northern class of alphabets.—The lan-
guage is Sanskrit; and the whole inscription is in prose.—The orthography presents
nothing calling for remark.
The inscription does not refer itself to the reign of any king, and is not dated; it
may be allotted, however, on palæographical grounds, to about the fifth century A.D.
It is a Buddhist inscription; and the object of it is to record the gift, by a Śâkya mendi-
cant named Bôdhivarman, of the statue, on the pedestal of which it is engraved.
TEXT.³
1 Dêya-dharmmô=yaṁ Śâkya-bhikshô[r*]-Bôdhivarmmaṇaḥ [1*] Yad=atra
puṇya[ṁ*]
2 tad⁴-bhava[tu*] mâtâpitrô[ḥ*] sarvva-sat[t*]vânâṁ ch-ânut[t*]ara-jñân-
âvâptayê [॥*]
¹ Sâtvata is explained in Monier Williams' Sanskrit Dictionary as being a name of Vishṇu or
Kṛishṇa, and also of a people, inhabiting a district in Central India, said to be the descendants of
outcaste Vaiśyas.—It seems to be, as used here, the name of some special sect of Vaishṇavas or
Bhâgavatas, probably from Central or Southern India.
² The 'Deoriya and Deorya' of maps. Indian Atlas, Sheet No. 88. Lat. 25° 19' N.; Long. 81
51' E.—Dr. Bhagwanlal Indraji writes the name 'Dêvalia' (Jour. Bo. Br. R. As. Soc. Vol. XVI.
p. 354).
³ From the original stone.
⁴ This d was at first omitted, and was then inserted above the line.