North Indian Inscriptions

THE GUPTA INSCRIPTIONS

or noble named Gōparāja came to Ēraṇ and fought a battle with the Maitras;¹ that Gōparāja was killed; and that his wife accompanied him, by cremating herself on his funeral pyre, apparently near the place where the pillar was set up. This is the earliest instance of Suttee coming into vogue.²

TEXT³

[Metres : verses 1 and 2 Anushṭubh; verses 3 and 4 Indravajrā]

1 Om Saṁvatsara-śatē ēka-navaty-uttarē Śrāvaṇa-bahula-paksha-sap[t]a- my [āṁ]
2 saṁvat 100 90 1 Śrāvaṇa ba di 7 Śulakkha-vaṅśad=utpannō [– - ]
3 rāj-ēti-viśrutaḥ [|* ] tasya puttrō=ti-vikkrāntō nāmnā rāj=ātha Mādhavaḥ || [1*] Gōparāja [ḥ]
4 sutas=tasya śrīmān=vikhyāta-paurushaḥ [| *] Śarabharāja-dauhittraḥ sva-vaṅśa-tilakō=[bhavad(?)] [|| 2*]
6 Śrī-Bhānuguptō jagati pravīrō rājā mahān=Pārtha-samō=ti-śūraḥ [ *] tēn= ātha sārddhan=tv=iha Gōpar[ā]j[ō]
6 M[ai]ttrān=udaśy=āchakit-ānuyātaḥ || [3*] Kṛitvā [cha*] y[u]ddhaṁ sumahat prak[ā]śaṁ svarggaṁ gatō divya-var-Ē(?) [ndra-kalpaḥ | *]
7 bhakt=ānuraktā cha⁴ priyā cha kāntā bh[ā]r[y]=ā[va]lag[n]=ānugat=āg[n]i- r[ā]śim || [4 *]

TRANSLATION

       (Lines 1-2) Ōm ! When a century of years, increased by ninety-one, (had elapsed) on the seventh lunar day of the dark fortnight of (the month) Śrāvaṇa, (or in figures) the year 100 (and) 90 (and) 1 (the month) Śrāvaṇa the dark fortnight⁵; the (lunar) day 7;-

       (Verse 1) (there was) a ruler, renowned as . . . . rāja sprung from the Śulakkha⁶ lineage; and his son (was) valorous by the name (of) Mādhava.
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¹ It is true that the name of Maittra is not quite clear and beyond all doubt. Nevertheless, it is as good as certain. For the immigration of the Maittrakas, see JPASB., Vol. V. pp. 183 and ff. Ind. Ant., Vol. XL, pp. 31 ff.
² ABORI., Vol. XIV, p. 233, which contains a scholarly article on the subject by Sakuntala Rao. There are several inscribed Suttee monuments about Ēraṇ though they are of much later date, as noted by Cunningham (CASIR., Vol. X, p. 90). But much earlier memorial stones of this type and going up to the 9th century have been found at Ōsiā (PRAS., W. C., 1906-07, p. 37).
³ From the ink impression.
⁴ The metre is faulty here, as the cha, which should remain short, is lengthened by the following double consonant. [This is covered by the rule praharē vā i.e. a short vowel preceding pra or hra can remain short if required in a metre as in Dāridryād=dhriyan=ēti hrī-parigataḥ prabhraśyatē tējasaḥ, etc. Here i of ēti remains short, as required by the metre, even though it is followed by hrī-,—Ed.].
⁵ Ba of the text in line 2 obviously is an abbreviation of bahulapaksha of line 1 just as saṁvat of line 2 is of saṁvatsara of line 1. Di similarly is an abbreviation of dina or divasa and may stand for the lunar or solar day. In this particular case it must stand for ‘lunar day’ as it is preceded by ba ( =bahula). Corresponding to ba is śu which represents śukla or śuddha. When in an inscription di occurs without śu or ba preceding it, it is doubtful whether it denotes the solar or the lunar day unless it is followed by a numerical figure exceeding 15; in that case it must stand for the solar day. It is therefore not clear what Fleet means by saying that the inscription “is dated, in both words and numerical symbols, on the seventh lunar day of the dark fortnight, and solar day of the month of Śrāvaṇ (July-August).”
⁶ Śulakkha seems to be the name of the line to which Gōparāja belonged. May it be identical with Śūlikas who are mentioned along with the Andhras and Gauḍas as having been vanquished by the Maukhari ruler Īśānavarman (D. R. Bhandarkar, A List of the Inscriptions of Northern India, etc., No. 10 and note 3)?