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The Indian Analyst
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North Indian Inscriptions |
THE GUPTA INSCRIPTIONS than 3/8". On the back of it there are two projecting knobs, each about 3/8" in diameter, evidently intended for the purpose of attaching it to some such object as a copper charter, which is now lost. The metal is of whitish grey colour, Which suggested at first that it was base silver; but it was found, by analysis, to consist of copper, silver and gold, in the proportion of 62.970, 36.255, and 0.405, with a trace of iron; so that it is practically a copper rather than a silver seal. The weight of the seal is 59 5/8" tolas. The upper section of the face of the seal, slightly less than half, is occupied by an effigy of Garuḍa, executed in fairly high relief on the countersunk surface. He is represented standing on a base, composed of two parallel lines, facing front, with outspread wings. His face is that of a man, broad and full, with thick lips. On his forechead is faintly visible the upright Vaishṇava tilaka which is the earliest plastic representation of this mark. Curiously enough, his hair is arranged exactly like the wig of an English Judge. A hooded snake is coiled round his neck, its head projecting above his left shoulder. A circle and a crescent, doubtless intended for the sun and the moon, are faintly represented in the field to the proper right and left respectively of the figure. A space about an inch high is left blank at the extreme bottom of the seal. The interval between this space and the parallel lines on which Garuḍa stands is occupied by writing consisting of eight lines of prose and done in relief. A good deal of it is fairly legible. But lines 2 and 3 are rather badly damaged about the centre; and in some other places the writing is too worn out to be properly read. In the light, however, of the better preserved Nālandā seals of the same ruler, (No. 45 above) there is now absolutely no difficulty in restoring the lost or damaged letters on the present seal. Even a superficial observation will show that this seal is just a metallic replica of the clay specimens from Nālandā, though slightly larger in size than the largest of them. The text and device are identical in all details. Even the lines open and close alike. A careful examination of the original as well as the published plate shows that line 5 closed with mahā as on the Nālandā seals, and not with mahārā as was supposed by Hoernle and Fleet, there being no trace of rā at the end of the line. Vestiges of this letter are fairly visible at the beginning of the next line where it may confidently be restored from the clear reading in the corresponding line of the Nālandā seals. All other doubtful readings on this seal can likewise be checked and definitively settled by reference to the latter. The characters are well-formed, and are of precisely the same type as those of the Nālandā clay seals of the same ruler (No. 45). The average size of the letters is somewhat less than 1/8”. The language is Sanskrit. In respect of orthography no points call for notice beyond those detailed in our account of No. 45.
The inscription on the seal is genealogical and refers itself to the time of Kumāragupta III. For the misreading of some Gupta names on this seal and their corrections, attention is invited to the discussion on p. 357 above. TEXT 1 [Sar]v[v]a-rāj==ōchchhēttuh=pṛithivyām=apratirathasya Mahārāja-śrī-G[u]pta-
prapaut[tr]asya Mahārāja-śrī-Ghaṭōtkacha-pauttrasya Ma[hā]-
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