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

288 CORPUS INSCRIPTIONUM INDICARUM, VOL. III.
the inscription is to record the allotment of the village of Sûlisagrâma by Samudrasêna,
to a body of Brâhmaṇs who studied the Atharva-Vêda at the agrahâra of Nirmaṇḍa,
for the purposes of the god Tripurântaka or Śiva, who, under the name of Mihirêśvara,
had been installed by his mother Mihiralakshmî at a previously established temple of the
same god under the name of Kapâlêśvara. It is therefore a Śaiva inscription; but the
occurrence of the word mihira, 'the sun,' as the first component of the god's name, seems
to indicate that, in this particular case, some form or other of solar worship was combined
with the Śaiva rites.
TEXT.¹
1 ² . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . bhikhyâta - narapati - vaṅśa - jas = sama³bhavach = chatur - udadhi-
samatikkrânta-kîrttir=anêka-sâmant-ôttamâṅg-âvanata-mukuṭa - maṇi - mayûkha-
vichchhurita-charaṇâravinda-⁴
2 vugala⁵h = kratu-yâjî mahâsâmanta-mahârâja-śrî-Varuṇasênas- Tasya putras=tat-
pâd-ânudhyâtaḥ = paramadêvyâp(m) = Pravâ(bâ)likâ-bhaṭ[ṭ]ârikâyâm = utpannaḥ=
pitr=aiva tulyô guṇair-mma-
3 hâsâmanta-mahârâja-śrî-Sañjayasênas- Tasya putras=tat-pâd-ânudhyâtaḥ=parama-
dêvyâṁ Śikharasvâminî-bhaṭ[ṭ]ârikâyâm=utpannas=samara-śata-lavdha(bdha)-
jayas=tyâgî ma-
4 hâsâmanta-mahârâja - śrî-Ravishêṇas- tasya putras=tat-p[â]d-ânudhyâtaḥ=parama-
dêvyâṁ śrî-Mihiralakshmî-bhaṭ[ṭ]ârikâyâm=utpannaś=śarad-amala-sakala-
rajanîkara iva prâṇi-

true that the alphabetical characters of that part of the country are of an extremely conservative
type; but not to anything like such an extent as to enable us to refer the present record to within
several centuries of so late a period. The more important point, however, is, that his reading of the
date is completely wrong. Overlooking altogether the numerical symbol that stands after the
word saṁvat, he has obtained his reading of the date by interpreting, among the words that
precede saṁvat, arka as 'twelve,' and gaṇa as 'twenty-seven.' According to the numerical-word
system, arka certainly does stand for 'twelve;' and gaṇa might possibly be used for 'twenty-seven,'
though I can find no authority for it. But, in the present passage, arka is simply the second
component of the name of the writer of the grant; and, whatever gaṇa may mean here, it is most
certainly not used as a numerical word. The date is recorded, in the usual way, in the numerical
symbol that stands immediately after saṁvat; and that symbol is a 6.—Gen. Cunningham found
some corroboration of his interpretation, in the fact that the accepted genealogy of the 'Mandi'
and 'Suket' families contains a Samudrasêna, whose date, reckoning backwards at the rate of thirty
years to the generation from A.D. 1500, would be about A.D. 1140 to 1166, and who might,
therefore, on his interpretation of the date, be identified with the Samudrasêna of this inscription.
But this identification cannot be accepted for a moment; it is wholly impossible to accept the names
of Vîrasêna, Savâhanasêna, Kanavâhanasêna, and Naravâhanasêna, which precede him in the
genealogy, as being identical with, or even intended to represent, the Ravishêṇa, Sañjayasêna, and
Varuṇasêna, of the inscription.
¹ From the original plate.
² Four letters, or perhaps five, are broken away and lost here. A small part of the last of them,
immediately preceding the first legible syllable, bhi, is visible; but it is impossible to say what the
entire letter may have been.
³ The mark over this ma is a fault in the copper, making a hole right through it.
⁴ The mark between the vi and the nda is a fault in the copper, making a hole right through it.
⁵ The upper parts of these three letters are broken away and lost; but enough remains to shew
distinctly what they were.