North Indian Inscriptions

THE GUPTA INSCRIPTIONS

sisting of Man and Dasōr which were originally lying side by side and of which Man has been completely wiped out of existence. The second of these, namely, Dasōr, is a regular modern derivative of the ancient Daśapura. And, in fact, in some bilingual sanads or warrants of more than two centuries ago, whereas the Persian draft gives Mandasōr as the name of the place, the vernacular version preserves the old name Dasōr, as J.F. Fleet has assured us. Again, Daśapura has been mentioned not only by Varāhamihira in the Bṛihatsaṁhitā (chapter XIV, verse 11-16), but also by Kālidāsa in the Mēghadūta (I. 47). As to inscriptions, it is found as early as in those of the Nāsik caves. It is mentioned in one of the records of Ushavadāta (=Ṛishabhadatta), son-in-law of the Mahākshatrapa Nahapāna, along with the three big cities, Śōrpāraga, Gōvardhana and Bharukachchha, where he executed works of public utility. Possibly it was the capital of Nahapāna also and was known as Minnagar.¹ Quite in keeping with this is the fact that there is a Brāhmaṇa caste called Dasōrā after Daśapura. Two more interesting details are supplied by our inscription about this ancient town. One is that it was encircled by two rivers. At present, however, one river only is known in the close neighbourhood of Mandasōr, namely, the Śiwanā. Probably, the other river has either dried up or has been filled up with the ancient remains of the town. The other details about it mentioned in the inscription is the piece of information that the temple of the Sun built by the Guild was situated in the western pura or Ward of the town. The word here used is pura, which gives rise to the inference that Daśapura was so called because it consisted of daśa puras or ten wards. Fleet is, therefore, quite right in remarking that just as now the town-ship includes from twelve to fifteen outlying hamlets or divisions, such as Kilchīpur, Jankūpurā and so forth, so in ancient times, at any rate, when it was originally constituted, Daśapura included exactly ten (daśa) such hamlets (pura).²

TEXT

[Metres: verses 1 and 2 Śārdūlavikrīḍita; verses 3, 5, 6, 11, 14, 18, 20, 22, 25, 27, 30-32 and 40 Vasantatilakā; verses 4, 13, 21, 33, 38, 39, 41 and 42 Āryā; verse 7-9 and 24 Upēndravajrā; verses 10 and 12 Upajāti of Indravajrā and Upēndravajrā; verse 15 Drutavilambita; verse 16 Harinī; verses 17 and 26 Indravajrā; verses 19 and 43 Mālinī; verse 23 Vaṁśastha; verse 28 Upajāti; verse 29 Mandāktāntā; verses 34-37 and 44 Anushṭubh]

1 [Sid*]dham [||*] [Y]ō dh[ṛity-a[r*]ttham=upāsyatē sura-gaṇais=siddhaiś=[cha] siddhy-artthibhir=ddhyān-aik-āgra-parair=vvidhēya-vishayair=mmōksh-ārtthibhir=yyōgibhiḥ | bhaktyā tīvra-tapōdhanaiś-cha munibhiś=śāpa-prasāda-kshamair=hētur= yyō jagatah=kshay-ābhyudayayōh=pāyāt=sa vō bhāskaraḥ |[|1*] Tatva³-jñāna-vido= pi yasya na vidur=brahmarsha-
2 yō=bhyudyatāh=kṛitsnaṁ yaś=cha gabhastibhiḥ pravi-sṛitaih=push[ṇ]āti lōka- trayam [|*] ganddharvv-āmara-siddha-kinnara-narais=samstūyatē=bhyutthitō bhak- tēbhyaś=cha dadāti yō=bhilashitaṁ tas[m]ai savitrē namaḥ |[|2*] Yah=pratyaham prativibhāty=udayāchalēndra-vistīrṇṇa-tuṅga-śikhara-skhalit-āṁśu-jālaḥ [| *] kshīb- āṁgan[ā*]-
3 jana-kapōla-tal-ābhitāmrah=pāyāt=sa vas=su-k[i*]raṇ-ābharaṇō vivasvān [||3*] Kusuma-bhar-ā*]nata-taruvara-dēvakula-sabhā-vihāra-ramaṇīyāt Lāṭa-vishayān= nag-[ā]vṛita-śailāj=jagati prathita-śilpāḥ |[|4*] Tē dēśa-pārtthiva-guṇ-āpahṛitāḥ prakāśam=addhv-ādi-jāny=a-viralāny=a-sukha-
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¹ Ind. Ant., Vol. XLVII, p. 78. [Daśapura is mentioned, along with Madhyamā, in a sixth century A.D. inscription at Chitorgarh. Cf. Ep. Ind., Vol., XXXIV, pp. 53 ff.—Ed.].
² CII., Vol. III, 1888, p. 79, Note 2.
³ Read Tattva-