North Indian Inscriptions

THE GUPTA INSCRIPTIONS

       (Line 5) . . . . . . . . . caused to be made a group of temples, not [rivalled by]anything else that could be compared with it in the world.

       (Line 6) . . . . . . . . . . assuredly in [Skandaguptabaṭa] which is beautiful with the erection of (this) best of columns.

       (Line 7) . . . . . . . . . of the trees . . . . . . . the groups of fig-trees(?) and castor oil (?) plants, the tops of which are bent down by the weight of (their) flowers.

       (Line 8) . . . . . . . . in consequence of Bhadrāryā, the edifice shines freed from (dirt) like a fresh cloud or serpent slough.

       (Line 9) . . . . . . . . headed by (the god) Skanda, and by the divine Mothers, on the earth, . . . . . . . . mankind . . . . . . . .

       (Line 10-11) . . . . . . . [he] made, indeed, the erection of (this) sacrificial post . . . . . . . . (for) Bhadrāryā and others . . . . . . . in [the village(?) called] Skandaguptabaṭa 30 (?), (and) 5 shares . . . . . . . . . . . . .

        (Line 12) . . . . . . . . . if there be any misdeed on the part of (his) father (or) his mother, let his share . . . . . .

       (Line 13) . . . . . . . . in the agrahāra of . . . . . . . . . . 3 shares . . . . . . . . by Anantasēna . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Second Part

       (Line 14-19) . . . . . . . The son of Mahārājādhirāja, the prosperous Samudragupta,–who was the exterminator [of all kings]; who had no equal adversary on earth; [whose fame was tasted by the waters of the four oceans]; who was equal to (the gods) [Dhanada and Varuṇa] and Indra and Antaka; [who was the very axe] of Kṛitānta (god of Death); [who was the giver of many crores of lawfully acquired cows and gold]; who was the performer of the aśvamēdha sacrifice, that had long decayed; [who was the son of the son’s son of Mahārāja, the prosperous Gupta]; who was the son’s son of [the Mahārāja, the prosperous] Ghaṭōtkacha (and) who was [the son] of the Mahārājādhirāja, [the prosperous Chandragupta (I), (and) the daughter’s son of the Lichchhavi], begotten on the Mahādevi Kumaradevi.

       (Line 19-21) (was) an ardent devotee of Bhagavat (Vāsudēva), the Mahārājādhirāja, [the prosperous Chandragupta (II)], [who was selected (as successor) by him;¹ [who was born of] the Mahādēvī [Dattadēvī], (and) [who was himself without an equal adversary].

       (Lines 21-22) [His son], who meditated on [his feet], (and) [who was born of the Mahādēvī Dhruvadevi], (was) [the arden devotee of Bhagavat (Vāsudēva)], [the Maharājadhiarja, the glorious Kumaragupta].

       (Lines 22-23) [His] son, who meditated on his feet, (and) [who was born of the Mahādēvī Anantadēvī (is) an ardent devotee of Bhagavat (Vāsudēsva), the Mahārājādhiraja, the prosperous] Skandagupta.

       (Line 24-31) [His son, who meditated on his feet (and) who was born of the Mahādēvī chandradēvī (is) the] ardent devotee of Bhagavat (Vāsudēva) [the Mahārājādhirāja, the prosperous Budhagupta], [I issue a command] . . . . . . . . . . . .of the town of Ajapura in the . . . . in the . . . . . . vishaya . . . . . . . . . . . a perpetual endowment . . . . . . . . . . a village-field . . . . . . . the Uparika,² the Kumārāmātya . . . . . . . . . . . . . . acquired by the merchant . . . . . . . . in the
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¹ I. e., by Samudragupta; see page 245 above, note 1.
² Uparika is a technical official title, the exact purport of which is not known, and a suitable rendering of which cannot be offered. But see B.Ch. Chhabra’s article, Office of Uparika, in D. R. Bhandarkar Commemoration Volume, pp. 231-33.