North Indian Inscriptions

THE GUPTA INSCRIPTIONS

29 Lichchhavi-dauhitrasya mahādēvyāṁ Kumāradēvyām=utphannasya¹ mahā- rājādhirāja-śrī-Samudraguptasya sarvva-pṛithivī-vijaya-janit-ōdaya-vyāpta- nikhil-āvanitalāṁ kīrttim=itas=tridaśapati-
30 bhavana-gaman-āvāpta-laḷita-sukha-vicharaṇām=āchakshāṇa iva bhuvō bāhur=ayam=uchchhritaḥ stambhaḥ [ﺍ*] yasya |² Pradāna-bhuja-vikkrama- praśama-śāstravāky-ōdayair=uparyyupari-sañchay-ōchchhritam=anēka- mārggaṁ yaśaḥ [|*]
31 punāti bhuvana-trayaṁ Paśupatēr=jjaṭ-āntar-guhā-nirōdha-parimōksha-śīghram=iva pāṇḍu Gāṅgaṁ [payaḥ] [|| 9*] Ētach=cha kāvyam=ēshām=ēva bhaṭṭāraka-pādānāṁ dāsasya samīpa-parisarppaṇ-ānugrah-ōnmīlita-matēḥ
32 Khādyaṭapākikasya³ mahādaṇḍanāyaka-Dhruvabhūti-putrasya sāndhivigrahika- Kumārāmātya-ma[hāḍanḍanāya]ka-Harishēṇasya sarvva-bhūta-hitasukhāy =āstu |
33 Anushṭhitaṁ cha paramabhaṭṭāraka-pād-ānudhyātēna mahādaṇḍanāyaka- Tilabhaṭṭakēna | [|*]

TRANSLATION

       (Verse 3) Whose mind is surcharged with happiness in consequence of his association with the wise, who is thus accustomed to retain⁴ the truth and purpose of (any) science . . . . . . fixed . . . . . . upraised . . . . . . who, removing impediments to the grace of good poetry through the very injunction (ājñā) of (poetic) excellence (guṇa) clustered together (guṇita) by the experts, enjoys, in the literate world, in an attractive fashion, sovereignty, in consequence of fame for copious lucid poetry.⁵

        (Verse 4) (Exclaiming) ‘Come, oh worthy (one)’, and embracing (him) with hair standing
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above, Introduction, p. 3). [And yet. some authors and writers continue to take the name of the first king of the dynasty as Śrīgupta and not as mere Gupta; see, for instance, A.S.Altekar, Catalogue of the Gupta Gold Coins in the Bayana Hoard (1954). Introduction, p. c et passim. The whole question has been clinched and it has been shown, beyond any doubt, that the names was Gupta only, which is also one of the thousand names of God Vishṇu, whose worshippers the Guptas were: Guhyō Gabhīrō Gahanō Guptaś=Chakragadādhavaraḥ (verse 58 of the Vishṇusahasranāma). See the article on Coin Legends of Gupta Emperors and Vishṇusahasranāma. JNSI., Vol. IX. pp. 137 ff., and its Hindi version in the Nāgarī Prachāriṇī Patrikā (N.S), Year 54 Saṁvat 2006), pp. I ff.–Ed.].
¹ Read =utpannasya.
² This daṇḍa is unnecessary.
³ [Dr. Sircar would restore the reading as Khādyakūṭapākika, Sel. Ins., 1965, p. 268, note, 1. –Ed.].
⁴ Attention may be invited to Pāṇini II, 2, 15 tṛijakābhyāṁ kartari. And, as bhartṛi here is part of the compound, it has to be taken as tṛiṇ-pratyay-ānta, denoting tāchchhīlya.
⁵ The translation of this stanza by Fleet is anything but clear. Bühler renders it as follows: “The order of the possessor (i.e., of Samudragupta) of the true meaning of the Śāstras whose heart is highly happy at the association with the good,––multiplied as its power is, by the virtues of the wise––puts an end to the war between good poetry and prosperity and thus enjoys, in the world of the learned, a far-extending sovereignty whose shining glory endures in many poems.” (Ind. Ant.,Vol. XLII, p. 177). The first half of Bühler’s translation also is vague, at any rate, not sufficiently intelligible. In the second half he notices too learned an allusion to the well-known allegory about the discord between the Muse of Poetry and the Goddess of Wealth; but it leaves the third and fourth lines of this stanza utterly unconnected. He has failed to explain how Samudragupta has established kīrtirājya on account of his own poetry, by removing the discord between Śrī and Sarasavatī in the case of other poets. [Dr. V.Raghavan, who has discussed in detail this stanza as well as stanza 8 of this inscription, translates it as follows: “Of him whose mind found its proper delight in giving itself up to the lady of Intellect and who was the master of (the soldiers called) the truths of śāstras, the celebrated and prolific Poesy (of that king), having excellent literary productions as its treasury, having removed literary flaws by (following) the rules of the literary excellences enumerated by the learned (critics), (having destroyed all opposition by the command of the six, guṇas of statecraft advocated by the wise counsellors), enjoys the kingdom of fame in the ‘wide’ world of scholars. “JOR., Vol. XVI, p. 161. The verb bhunakti in the original obviously stands for ‘enjoys’ as it has been translated by all. In that case, the correct form should have been bhuṅktē and not bhunakti, according to Pāṇini I, 3, 66 –bhujō=navane. –Ed.].