North Indian Inscriptions

THE GUPTA INSCRIPTIONS

nalābhyām=apaviñchchhya cha [kṛishiṁ¹n=ōchchhindhya²] cha Nābha[kāya*]
11 [dēyam ētad-u*]ttara-kālaṁ samvyacahāribhir=ddharmmam=avēkshya prati-pālanīyam=uktañ³=cha maharshshi(rshi)bhiḥ (|*] Sva-dattām=para-dattāṁ vā yō harēta vasundharāṁ(rām) [|*]
12 [sa vishṭhā*]yāṁ kṛimir=bhūtvā pitṛibhis=saha pachyatē [|| 1*] Bahubhir= vvasudhā dattā rājabhis=Sagarādibhiḥ [|*] yasya yasya yadā bhumis=tasya tasya
13 [tadā*] phalaṁ(lam) [|| 2*} Shashṭiṁ varshsha(rsha)-sahasrāṇi svarggē mōdati bhūmidaḥ [| *] ākshēptā ch=ānumantā cha tāny=ēva narakē vasēd=iti⁴

TRANSLATION

       (Lines 1-2) [The year is 100] (and) 60 (and) 3, (the month of) Āshāḍha, the day 10 (and) 3, while Paramadaivata Paramabhaṭṭāraka Mahārājādhirāja, the prosperous Budhagupta, is the lord of the earth; (and) while the Mahārāja Brahmadatta, the Uparika of the Puṇḍravardhana Province, selected by His (Majesty’s) feet, is carrying on the administration;

       (Lines 2-3) Hail ! From Palāśavṛindaka, the Ashṭakula Board⁵ headed by the Mahattara,⁶ in conjunction with Viśvāsa,⁷ and, the husbandmen⁸ who are village headmen,⁹ after enquiring
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¹ Basak reads tushṭimō[lli]ṅgya which makes no sense. Our reading is in accord with -karshaṇ-āvirōdhi-sthānē in line 18 of the Baigram copper-plate Inscription (Ep. Ind., Vol. XXI, p. 82).
² Read =ōchchhindya.
³ Read pratipālanīyam || uktañ=
⁴ Read vasēt [|| 3*] Iti.

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⁵ Ashṭakula, like Pañchakula, was one form of local self-government in ancient India. In the first, eight, and, in the second, five, representatives of village families were taken to form a Board to decide a dispute that might arise. That Ashṭakula was a pretty ancient institution may be seen from the fact that the Aṭṭhakathā or Commentary of Buddhaghōsha on the Mahāparinibbāṇasuttanta speaks of Aṭṭachakulakā while giving an account of the judicial procedure prevalent in the Vajjian kingdom (D. R. Bhandarkar, Carmichael Lectures 1918, p. 155; B. C. Law, Some Kshatriya Tribes of Ancient India, p.103). For the exact sense of adhikaraṇa affixed to Ashṭakula in this expression, see note 7, p. 286 above.
⁶ This word occurs in the Faridpur grants also, where Pargiter renders it by “men of position in the villages, the leading men” (Ind. Ant., Vol. XXXIX, p. 213). A common title for the headman of a village in East Bengal now, says he further in the foot-note, is Mātabbar or Mātabar, which he derives from the Arabic mu’tabar, “trust-worthy, reputable.” A. S. Altekar says that Mahattara by itself signifies ‘village elders’, and consequently the expression Mahattar-ādhikārika, ‘Officers appointed from among the village elders’ (A History of Village Communities in Western India, p. 21). According to Bhagwanlal Indraji “Mhātārā the Marāṭhi for an old man is the same word. In the Valabhi plates mahattara seems to be generally used to mean the accredited headman of a village, recognised as headman both by the people of the village and by the Government” (BG., Vol. I. Pt. I, p. 81). He had better be taken as the accredited Head of a village community appointed by the state from among its lowest revenue officials.
⁷ The term Viśvāsa occurs not only in this but also in another inscription (Ep. Ind., Vol. XXIII, p. 54, text line 1). In both the places it is rendered by ‘with confidence,’ which, however, yields no sense. It seems to have survived in the modern Bengali surname Biswas, which is found not only among Hindus but also Muhammadans. Originally it most probably denoted “the village accountant”. Titles like Viśvāsa-rāya and Viśvāsa-khāna meaning ‘Lord Chancellor of the Exchequer’ were known to Mediaeval Bengal (Ibid., Vol. XXIV, p. 128).
⁸ In Ancient India it seems that the middle classes were divided principally into kuṭumbins or cultivators and gṛihapatis or mercantile people. Each of these was further distinguished into a number of smaller groups. Thus we hear of Gahapati-Nēgama (Lüders’ List, Nos. 1001,1127 and 1153), Gahapati-Sēṭhi (ibid., Nos. 1056, 1073 and 1075) and Gahapati-Sathavāha (ibid., No. 1062). It will thus be seen that Gṛihapatis were divided into Śrēshṭhins, Sārthavāhas and Naigamas. As regards Kuṭumbin, in one inscription a Hālakīya or ploughman is spoken of as Kuḍubika (Kuṭumbika) whereas his son was a Gahapati (Gṛihapati) (ibid., No. 1121). What the other groups of the Kuṭumbin were we do not know. In modern times the term Gṛihapati has been entirely forgotten, but Kuṭumbin is still traceable in the Mārāṭhi Kuḷmbī and the Gujarāti Kaṇbī, both denoting the cultivating classes.
⁹ Grāmika-kuṭumbinaḥ is divided by Basak into two words and rendered by “the village-heads (grāmika) and the housecholders.” He rightly explains grāmika by saying that “this word is used by Manu in verses 116 and 118 of
......................................................................................................................(Contd. on p. 338)