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

THE GUPTA INSCRIPTIONS; No. 75, PLATE XLII C. 281
No. 75; PLATE XLII C.
SARNATH STONE INSCRIPTION.
THIS inscription was discovered by General Cunningham, and was first brought to notice
by him in 1871, in the Archæol. Surv. Ind. Vol. I. p. 123, and Plate xxxiv. No. 4.
Sârnâth is the modern name of a large collection of Buddhist ruins, about three
and a half miles north of Benares (properly Banâras or Baṇâras), the chief town of the
Benares District in the North-West Provinces. The inscription is below a sandstone
bas-relief representation of three scenes in the life of Buddha, that was found here in the
course of excavations. The original stone is now in the Imperial Museum at Calcutta.
The writing, which covers a space of about 1′ 1⅞″ broad by 2¼″ high, is in a state
of fairly good preservation throughout. — The average size of the letters is about ⁷⁄₁₆″.
The characters are a peculiarly square variety of the northern alphabet. — The language
is Saṁskṛit; and the inscription is in verse. — The orthography presents nothing calling
for remark.
The inscription does not refer itself to the reign of any king, and is not dated.
But, on palæographical grounds, it may be allotted roughly to the fifth century A.D. It
is a Buddhist inscription; and the object of it is to record that the sculpture, below which
it is engraved, was made by the order of a religious mendicant named Harigupta.
TEXT.¹
1 Guruṁ² pūrvvaṅgamaṁ kṛitvâ l³ mâtaraṁ pitaraṁ tathâ l kâritâ
2 pratimâ śâstuḥ l⁴ Hariguptêna bhikshuṇâ ll
TRANSLATION.
Having placed first (in the order of those who are to acquire religious merit from
this act) (his) spiritual preceptor and (his) mother (and) father, this image of the
Teacher has been caused to be made by the Bhikshu Harigupta.
No. 76; PLATE XLII D.
BODH-GAYA STONE IMAGE INSCRIPTION.
THIS inscription, which does not appear to have been previously brought to notice, is
from the pedestal of a Buddhist stone statue that was found by General Cunningham and
Mr. Beglar in their excavations at Bôdh-Gayâ,⁴ in the Gayâ District in the Bengal Pre-
sidency. The original statue is now in the Imperial Museum at Calcutta.
The writing, which covers a space of about 1′ 11″ broad by 2″ high, towards the
top of the pedestal, is in a state of very good preservation throughout. — The average
¹ From the original stone. ² Metre, Ślôka (Anushṭubh).
³ and ⁴ In each case, the mark of punctuation is unnecessary.
⁴ See page 274 above, and note 1.
2 N,