North Indian Inscriptions

THE GUPTA INSCRIPTIONS

line 9, this part of the inscription seems to have belonged to the Sakta or Tantrika form of worship,¹ with Bhadrarya as the predominant goddess.

       The second part, which also contained a date, now lost, is a record of apparently a son of Skandagupta, possibly Budhagupta as he had a longer reign than any one of his brothers, during the troublous times that followed the reign of Skandagupta. Enough of it, however, remains to show that it contained a grant to the same temple of Bhadrāryakā by Bhaṭṭa Guhilasvāmin at the request apparently of his grandfather.

TEXT²

First Part

1 [- -]ḥ³ nṛi-⁴chandra Indrānuja-tulya-vīryyō guṇair=atulyaḥ [ U U - U - -] [||]
2 [- -] [ta]⁵ sy=āpi sūnur⁶=bhuvi svāmi-nēyaḥ khyātaḥ sva-=kīrttyā [U U - U - -] [|]
3 [- -] [sva]⁷s=aiva yasy=ātula-vikramēṇa Kumāragupt[t]ē[na] [U - U - -] [||]
4 [ --] p[i]tṛi(tṛī)ṁś=cha dēvāṁś=cha hi havya-kavyaiḥ sadā nṛiśaṁsy-ādi [U –U - -] [||]

5 [- U -) [a]chīkarad⁸=dēvanikēta-maṇḍalaṁ kshitāv=anaupamya- [U - U - U -]
6 . . . . . . . ba (?)ṭē (?)⁹ kila stambha-var-ōchchhri(chchhra)ya-prabhāsē tu maṇḍa . . . . . . . . . [||]
7 . . . . . . . bhir=vṛikshāṇāṁ kusuma-bhar-ānat-āgra-śuṁ(?)ga(?)-vyālamba-stavak . . . .
8 [- -] Bhadrāryyayā¹⁰ bhāti gṛihaṁ nav-ābhra-nirmmōka nirmu[kta U - U - -] [||]
9 [- -] Skanda-pradhānair=bhuvi mātṛi bhiś=cha lōkān=sa su(?)shya(?) [U U – U - -] [||]
10 [- - U]]yūp-ōchchhrayam=ēva chakkrē [||*] Bhadrāryy-ādi . . . . . . . . .
11 . . . . . . [Ska(?)] ndaguptabaṭē anśāni 30 5 tā(?)mrakaṭāku(?)ḥ kala . . . . . . . .
12 . . . . . . pituḥ sva-mātur=yyady=asti hi dushkṛitaṁ bhajatu tanē . . . . . . . . . . . . .
13 . . . . . . k-āgrahārē anśāni 3 Anantasenen=opa . . . . . . . . . . .

>

________________________________________________

¹ Compare the undoubted instance of this, in the same period, in the Gaṅgdhār inscription of Viśvavarman (CII., Vol. III, 1888, No. 17, pp. 72 ff.). The mātaraḥ or mātṛigaṇa, ‘the divine Mothers,’ are personified energies (śakti) of the principal deities. They are closely connected with the worship of the god Śiva. Originally they were seven in number,—Brāhmī or Brāhmaṇī, Vaishṇavī, Māhēśvarī, Kaumārī, Vārāhī, Aindrī or Indrāṇī or Māhēn- drī, and Chāmuṇḍā, as representing the Pleidaes, the seven mothers or nurses of Kārttikēya, the son of Śiva. Afterwards the number was increased to eight, nine, sixteen, and various other figures. The chief object of the Śākta or Tāntrika worship now is Pārvatī, Durgā or Ṁāhēśvarī, the wife and female energy of Śiva; especially under the name of Jagadambā, ‘the mother of the universe.’ Not long after this period, Svāmi-Mahāsēna, or Kārttikēya, and the divine Mothers, “the seven mothers of mankind,” appear as special objects of worship, and tutelary deities, of the Early Kadambas (e.g., Ind. Ant., Vol. VI, p. 27), and of the Early Chalukyas (e.g., Ind. Ant., Vol. VII, p. 162; Vol. VI, pp. 74; and Vol. XIII, p. 137 ff.).
² “As far as line 25, from the ink-impression; partly from Gen. Cunningham’s lithograph, and partly from the lithograph published with Dr. Fajendralala Mitra’s reading.”—J. F. Fleet.
³ The first two entire pādas, and parts of the third pādas of most of the verses, have peeled off and are lost all the way down.
⁴ Metre: Upēndravajrā.
⁵ Metre: Indravajrā.
⁶ The metre is faulty here; since the vi of bhuvi, which should remain short, is lengthened by the following so.
⁷ Metre: Upēndravajrā; and in the next verse.
⁸ Metre: Vaṁśastha.
⁹ Metre: apparently Gīti; and in the next verse.
¹⁰ Metre: Indravajrā; and in the following two verses.