North Indian Inscriptions

PART A

TRANSLATION:
The gift of Sirimā (Srīmatī)^[1], the Parakaṭikā (inhabitant of Parakaṭa)-

A 49 (836); PLATE XXIV

ON a rail-bar of the South-Western quadrant. Original lost. Edited by Cunningham, StBh. (1879), p. 140, No. 21, and Pl. LV; Barua-Sinha, BI. (1926), p. 21, No. 71.

TEXT:
Golayā Pārikiniyā dānaṁ^[2]

TRANSLATION:
The gift of Golā,^[3] the Pārikinī (inhabitant of Parikina).

  Barua-Sinha, following Cunningham, translate the inscription: ‘The gift of Pārikiṇī from Golā’. As the epithet indicating the native place of the donor of placed sometimes before and sometimes after the personal name, and as Golā occurs as a female name in the Sāñchī inscription List No. 596, there can be no doubt that here also Golā is the personal name. Pārikinī then is probably derived from the name of a place. With Parikina may be compared Dharakina in No. 259 of my List and Dabhina, From which Dabhinikā is derived in No. A 42.

A 49a; Plate XXXIX

ON a pillar, now in the Allahabad Municipal Museum (Ac/2914); inscribed below the inscription No. B 31a. Edited by Kala, BhV. (1951), p. 31; Sircar, EI., Vol. XXXIII (1959/60), p. 59.

TEXT:
Tis[a]ya Benākaṭikāya dān[a]^[4]

TRANSLATION:
The gift of Tisā (Tishyā), the Benākaṭikā (inhabitant of Benākaṭa)^[5].

A 50 (721) ; PLATE VII

ON a pillar of the South-Eastern quadrant, now in the Indian Museum, Calcutta (No. 6510).^[6] Edited by Cunningham, StBh. (1879), p. 132, No. 10, and Pl. LIII; Barua-Sinha, BI. (1926), p. 7, No. 11.
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^[1] See classification I, 4, b, 3 (names derived from minor deities).
^[2] From Cunningham’s eye-copy which agrees with his transcript.
^[3] See classification II, 1, b (names derived from appearance of the body).
^[4] dān[ā] may be a mistake for dāna=dānaṁ. The final anusvāra is sometimes not represented, see above § 25 (ii). It is hardly believable that dānā has been used in the plural number for dānāni.
^[5] Benākaṭa is a place-name ending in kaṭa like others mentioned above p. 7. In a Nāsik Buddhist Cave inscription, List No. 1125, we find Gotamiputa Siri-Sadakaṇi (Gautamiputra Śrī-Śātakarṇii) called “lord (svāmin) of Benākaṭaka of Govadhana (Govardhana)”. According to Bimala Churn Law (Historical Geography of Ancient India, Paris [1954], p. 301, s. v. Veṇākaṭaka) the place was situated on the Veṇva river in the Nasik district. Nundo Lal Dey (The Geographical Dictionary of Ancient and Mediaeval India, 2nd ed. 1927, p. 29) mentions “Benakataka” as “Warangal, the capital of Teliṅgana or Andhra”; l.c. p. 28 he gives “Bena” as “the river Wain-Gaṅgā in the Central Provinces”, “a tributary of the Godāvari”.
^[6] See ASIAR., 1925/26, p. 148, Note 1, and p. 297, No. 48.