North Indian Inscriptions

PART A

female donor is not mentioned, but she is called ‘the mother of so and so’ cf. Seṭaka-mātu (Śreshṭhaka-mātṛi) A 18, Ghāṭila-mātu A 28, and Tosālasa māta = Gosālasa matu (Gośālasya mātuḥ) A 90. In A 54b, a man named Nagarakhita (Nāgarakshita) occurs as a donor in the company of his mother.

   A female donor is referred to as ‘ the wife of so and so’ in Revatimitabhāriyā (Revatīmi- trabhāryā) A 34, in Vasukasa bhāriyā A 46, or ‘the daughter of so and so’ in Mahamukhisa dhitu (Mahāmukhino duhituḥ) A 42.

   The professions of lay-donors are mentioned only in two cases. One of the donors (A 22) is styled as ‘horseman’ (asavārika = aśvavārika), and the other (A 55) as ‘sculptor’ (rupakāraka=rūpakāraka). In A 21, the donor is characterized as ‘householder’ (gahapati- gṛihapati).^[1]

A great variety is to be found in ecclesiastical titles :^[2]
aya (ārya) ‘the venerable’ A 8, A 67 –A 72 ;
bhadata (bhadanta) ‘the reverend’ A 41, A 64- A 66 ;
bhānaka (bhāṇaka) ‘the reciter’ A 54, A 54a, A 63 ;
combination of bhadaṁta with aya A 38 ;
combination of aya with bhānaka A 62 ;
combination of bhadata with bhānaka A 39, A 61 ;
combination of aya with sutaṁtika (sūtrāntika) ‘the student of
the sūtrāntas’ A 51 ;
combination of aya with peṭaki (peṭakin) ‘who known the piṭakas’ A 56 ;
combination of aya with aṁtevāsi (antevāsin) ‘the pupil’ A 73 ;
combination of bhadata with saṭupadāna (sṛishṭopādāna) ‘who has abandoned attachment’ A 58 ;
combination of bhadata with aya, bhānaka, and navakamika (navakarmika) ‘superintendent of the works’ A 59 ;
bhatudesaka (bhaktoddeśaka) ‘superintendent of meals’^[3] A 17 ;
paṁchanekāyika (pañchanaikāyika) ‘who known the five Nikāyas’ A 57 ;
bhikhunī (bhikshuṇī) ‘a nun’ ^[4] A 11, A 12, A 29, A 44, A 52, A 80 ;
bhichhunī A 24, A 37, A 42, A 43, A 74 – A 79.

Personal Names

   As the following classification points out, there is a great variety in the names given to persons. A large number of these names is religious (theophoric).^[5] Apparently we are in a period when the worship of old vedic deities still existed and when the rule of some Gṛihyasūtras recommending to name a person after some nakshatra was in vogue. But the cult of minor deities and spirits like Yakshas, Bhūtas and Nāgas and of saints seems to have
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^[1] In Sāñchī inscriptions there is a great variety of professional epithets like seṭhi (a banker), vanija (a merchant), āvesani (a foreman of artisans), rājalipikara (a royal scribe), rajuka (a high District officer), lekhaka (a writer), vaḍhaki (a mason), pāvārika (a cloak-seller), sotika (a weaver), and kamika (an artisan). The epithets ‘horseman’ (asavārika, Bhārh. A 22) and ‘householder’ (gahapati, Bhārh. A 21) occur as well (Rhys Davids SBE XI, p. 257, note, sees in gahapati a ‘village landholder’).
^[2] In Sāñchī we get some more ecclesiastical titles like thera (Senior), dhamakathika (preacher of the law), vināyaka ( guide, instructor) and sapurisa (a holy man). On the general importance of some of the church titles see below p. 48 and notes.
^[3] The donor is not specially said to be a monk. But the office he holds is known from the pāli texts to be that of a clergyman.
^[4]The corresponding designation for monks : bhikhu or bhichhu (bhikshu) is not to be found, as mentioned above p. 1, note 11.
^[5] “Theophore Namen”, see Hilka, Alfons, Die altindischen Personennamen, Breslau, 1910, pp. 78-112.