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The Indian Analyst
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North Indian Inscriptions |
THE GUPTA INSCRIPTIONS SARNATH STONE INSCRIPTION OF KUMARAGUPTA:YEAR 154 on the left which also clearly shows that he was a devotee of Vishṇu—a fact which accords with the epithet Paramabhāgavata which is coupled with his name on the seal. TEXT 1 [sya] NO. 34 : PLATE XXXIV SARNATH STONE INSCRIPTION OF KUMARAGUPTA:YEAR 154 This inscription was discovered during the excavations carried out by H. Hargreaves in the cold season of 1914-15 at Sārnāth near Banaras in the Uttar Pradesh and was transcribed and translated by Y. R. Gupte in the A.R. ASI., 1914-15, p. 124, No. XV, and Plate LXIX, n. It is engraved on the pedestal of a Buddha image (Plate LXIII, b of the same Report) which was recovered east of the main shrine.
The writing is in three lines and covers a space of about 1’ 7” broad, by 2¾” high. The inscription is, on the whole, well-preserved, though the ending portion of line 3 is undecipherable. The average size of the letters is 1½”. The characters belong to the northern class of the Gupta alphabet such as was prevalent in Uttar Pradesh. The letters, in other words, resemble those of Central India, except m, which is of the eastern variety. The m, again, has, like that of the Karamḍāṁḍā record, two recessed corners. Further palaeographic peculiarities are: (1) the form of the letter bha, (2) the left limb of śa and ga which ends in a slight curve and (3) the ending m which is indicated by a serif covering the whole top. The language is Sanskrit; and the inscription is in verse throughout. In respect of orthography, the only point that calls for notice is the doubling of a consonant in conjunction with a preceding r. The inscription refers itself to the reign of the Imperial Gupta king Kumārgupta II. It is dated, in words, when a century of years increased by fifty-four of the Guptas (had passed away) on the second day of the month of Jyēshṭha. The date is thus equivalent to 473-74 A.D. It is a Buddhist inscription; and the object of it is to record the setting up of an image of the Teacher (Buddha) by the monk Abhayamitra, on the pedestal of which it is engraved. TEXT [Metres: verses 1-3, Arya] 1 Varsha-śatē Guptānāṁ sa-chatuḥ-paṁchāśad-uttarē bhūmīṁ | rakshati
Kumāraguptē māsē Jyēshṭhē [dv]i[t]ī[y]ā*]yām || [1*] 1 [Daya Ram Sahni suggests pūrvvaiḥ in the A.R. ASI., for 1914-15, p. 124, note 1, which is a better reading Ed.].
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