North Indian Inscriptions

THE GUPTA INSCRIPTIONS

3 śrī-Samudraguptasya puttras=ta[t-pa]ri[gṛi]hītō Mahādēvyān=Dattadēvyām =u[tpanna]s=svayaṁ ch=āpratirathah=Paramabhāga-
4 vatō Mahārājādhirāja-śrī-Chandra[gupta]s=tasya puttras=tat-pādānuddhyātō Mahād[ē]vy[āṁ] Dhruvadēvyām=utpannō Mahāra-
5 jādhirāja-śrī-Kum[ā*]ragupta[s=ta]sya puttras=tat-pādānuddhyātō Mahā dēvyām=Anantadēvyām=utpannō Mahā-
6 rāj[ā*]dhirāja-śrī-Purug[uptas=ta]sya puttras=tat-p[ā]dānuddhyāt[ō*] Mahā- dēvyāṁ śrī-Chandradēvyām=utpannō Mahā-
7 rājādhirāja-[śrī-Narasiṁhaguptas=tasya puttras=tat-pādānuddhyātō Mahā- dēvyāṁ śrī-Mittradē-
8 vyā[m=utpannah=Parama]bhāgavatō Mahārājādhirāja-śrī-Kumāraguptaḥ

TRANSLATION

       (Lines 1-3) Of the Mahārājādhirāja, the prosperous Samudragupta, who was the exterminator of all kings; who had no antagonist (of equal power) in the world; who was the son of the son’s son of the Mahārāja, the prosperous Gupta, who was the son’s son of the Mahārāja, the prosperous Ghaṭōtkacha, (and) who was the son of the Māhārājādhirāja, the prosperous Chandragupta (I), (and) the daughter’s son of the Lichchhavis, begotten on the Mahādēvī Kumāradēvi.

       (Line 3) The son (was) the Paramabhāgavata, the Māhārādhirāja, the prosperous Chandragupta (II), who was accepted by him (Samudragupta); who was begotten on the Mahādēvī Dattadēvī; and who was himself without an antagonist (of equal Power).

       (Line 4) His son, who meditated on his feet, (and) who was begotten on the Māhādēvi Dhruvadēvī, (was) the Mahārājādhirāja, the prosperous Kumāragupta (I).

       (Line 5) His son, who meditated on his feet, (and) who was begotten on the Mahadevi Anantadevi, (was) the Maharajadhiraja, the prosperous Purugupta.

       (Line 6) His son, who meditated on his feet, (and) who was begotten on the Māhādēvī, the prosperous Chandradēvī (was) the Mahārājādhirāja, the prosperous Narasiṁhagupta.

       (Line 7) His son, who meditated on his feet, (and) who was begotten on the Mahādēvī, the prosperous Mittradēvī (is) the Paramabhāgavata, the Māhārājādhirāja, the prosperous Kumāragupta (III).

No. 46 : PLATE XLVI

BHITARI COPPER-SILVER SEAL OF KUMARAGUPTA III

       This seal was discovered some time before 1886, when the foundations for a new building were being dug at Bhitarī, in the Sayyidpur Tahsil of the Gazipur District, Uttar Pradesh. It was presented by a Muhammadan gentleman of the place to C. J. Nicholls, B.C.S., Judge of Kanpur, and is now in the Government Museum, Lucknow. Its discovery was first announced in the Pioneer newspaper of the 13th May 1889. V. A. Smith made some remarks on it in the issue of the same newspaper of the 28th May following and published a detailed account of the seal in the JASB., Vol. LVIII, Part I, pp. 84 ff. In continuation of his account, A.F. Rudolf Hoernle edited the inscription on the seal with a photo-collotype. Subsequently it was critically re-edited by J. F. Fleet in the Ind. Ant., Vol. XIX, pp. 224 ff. without, however, any plate accompanying it.

       The seal is oval in shape, pointed at the top and bottom. Its extreme measurements are, as nearly as possible, 4 5/8" broad by 5¾" high. The face of the seal is protected by a raised rim, of which the average breadth is about ¾" and the average height a little less