North Indian Inscriptions

THE GUPTA INSCRIPTIONS

SUPIA PILLAR INSCRIPTION OF THE TIME OF SKANDAGUPTA : YEAR 141

        (Verse 5) The bright mode of life of whom, possessed of spotless fame, which has sprung out of peerless restraint of senses . . . . . . forgiveness and heroism, which have perforce eclip- sed the splendour of (his) weapon, is sung in every direction by contented men down to the boys;

       (Verse 6) Who, with enemies conquered by the strength of (his) arm, established again the Sovereignty of the Houses that had turned adrift when (his) father had repaired to heaven; (and) delighted because he had won, he approached (his) mother whose eyes were full of tears, just as Kṛishṇa did Dēvakī1 when he had slain (his) foe.

       (Verse 7) Who, with his own forces, has established (again) (his) lineage that had totte- red. . . . . . , who, having conquered the earth with (his) two arms and shown mercy to the people in distress, has become neither puffed up nor amazed though (his) radiance is increasing day day by day; (and) whom the narration of (his) mode of life, whether with songs or with pane- gyrics, is raising to the dignity of an Ārya;

        (Verse 8) Of whom, when he had come in contact with the Hūṇas, with (his) two arms, in battle, the earth quaked; of whom that cause terrible whirlpools among enemies . . . . . proclaimed . . . . . is noticed in (their) eras as if it were the twanging of the bows.

       (Verse 9) The monument² of his father . . . . . .

       ((Verse 10) Firmly convinced that some image should be made, he made this (image) of Śārṅgin (Vishṇu) (called Kumārasvāmin).³

       (Verse 11) And having here installed this (god), he, whose rule is well-established, has assigned this village (to the god) for the augmentation of the spiritual merit of (his) father.

       (Verse 12) Thus this image of the Divine One and (the column)⁴ which was consecrated here—both these the pious minded one has indicated for the spiritual merit of (his) father.

No. 32 : PLATE XXXII

SUPIA PILLAR INSCRIPTION OF THE TIME OF SKANDAGUPTA :
YEAR 141

       The stone pillar bearing the inscription under study was discovered in the village of Supiā in the former Rewa State, now in Madhya Pradesh in 1943-44.¹ It was first published by B. Ch. Chhabra in the Proceedings of the All India Oriental Conference, Varanasi, Vol. III, 1948, pp. 587-89. It was briefly noticed by D. C. Sircar in JAS., Letters, Vol. XV, 1949, p. 6 and edited by him in Ep. Ind., Vol. XXXIII, pp. 306-08, along with plate. Another inscription,
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on a foot –stool which was the king (of that tribe himself).” But Divekar rightly says: “Had the writer meant to express what Dr. Fleet would make him do, he would have written the late line as tad-adhipa-pada-pīṭhē sthāpitō vāma-pādaḥ” (ABORI., Vol. I. p. 103). But if we accept the other reading, namely, yudhy=amitrāṁś=cha, kshitipa- charaṇa-pīṭhē acquires a natural sense, and what the line means is that he occupied the throne and rested his left foot on the foot-stool which is an integral part of a king’s throne; in other words, it means that he made himself kings.
¹ This reference to Kṛishṇa and Dēvakī clearly shows that Skandagupta’s enemy was a close relative of his mother, possibly her brother. This stanza may be compared with stanza ² of the Junāgaḍh rock inscription (No. 28 above).
² For this sense of the word kīrtti, see p. 242 note 1 above.
³ This is in accordance with our restoration of the line. If this is accepted, Kumārasvāmin becomes the name of the god Vishṇu installed by Skandagupta in honour of his father Kumāragupta I. This may be compared to Vāillabhaṭṭasvāmin, an image of Vishṇu founded by Alla in honour of his father Vāillabhaṭṭa (Ep. Ind., Vol. I, p. 159, line 6).
⁴ This, of course, refers to the place where the column is set up and where the purificatory ceremony took place.
⁵ [D. R. Bhandarkar’s manuscript does not contain his article on this inscription though he was aware of its discovery and possessed an impression of it.—Ed.].