North Indian Inscriptions

THE GUPTA INSCRIPTIONS

21 rājabhis=Sagar=ādibhiḥ [|*] yasya yasya yadā bhūmis=tasya tasya tadā phalaṁ [|| 2*] Shashṭhiṁ¹ varshsha(rsha)-sahasrāṇi svarggē mōdati bhūmida[ḥ*] [|]
22 ākshēptā ch=ānumantā cha tāny=ēva narake vasediti²

TRANSLATION

       Seal –Of the town court of Kōṭivarsha.

       (Lines 1 to 5) The year 200 (and) 20 (and) 4, (the month of ) Bhādra, the day 5, while Paramadaivata Paramabhaṭṭāraka Māhārājādhirāja, the prosperous [Vishṇu ?]gupta is the lord of the earth; and while the Kōṭivarsha District is running on with the enjoyment (of the rule) consisting of elephants, horses and soldiers of Mahārāja. . . . . . . . . . . His Honour, the Prince, the Bhaṭṭāraka, and Uparika over the Puṇḍravardhana province, being selected by His (Majesty’s) feet; and while the vishayapati Svayambhūdēva, appointed by him, is administering the Court of the Town as the chief of the Nagara-śrēshṭhin Ārya Ribhupāla, the Sārtthavāha Sthāṇudatta, the Prathamakulika Matidatta and the Prathamakayastha Skandapala;

       (Lines 6 to 10) Whereas the Kulaputraka³ Amṛitadēva, an inhabitant of Ayōdhyā, has petitioned: “In the district here is customary the sale, at the rate of one kulyavāpa for three dīnāras, of unfurrowed waste land free from revenue. So ye deign, to assign a bit of land, for the augmentation of the spiritual merit of my mother, after accepting dīnāras from me (and) turning it into a copper-plate charter in accordance with the Law of Irrevocable (Endowment),⁴ for the execution of repairs to cracks and fissures, for the establishment of bali, charu and satra, for the supply of cow’s milk, frankincense and flowers and for the use of madhuparka, light and so forth, in the temple of the god Śvētavarāha-svāmin here in the forest”;

       (Lines 10 to 13) Whereas it (has been determined) through the ascertainment of the chief record-keeper Naranandin, and Gōpadatta and Bhaṭanandin that the application has been made properly (and) in the spirit of the administration of Law (dharma), that no objecttion whatever can be taken by the Vishayapati (and) that. . . . . . . . . . . there will be purely an acquisition of one-sixth (of the produce) to the prosperous and great Venerable Bhaṭṭāraka, as a lawful accrual;

       (Lines 14 to 18) In consequence of this line of ascertainment (and) having received fifteen dīnāras from that Amṛitadēva, (and) out of kindliness to his mother, five kulyavāpas of land including high land⁵ were granted, to be enjoyed for all time to come, in accordance with the Law of Irrevocable (Endowment) to the god Śvētavarāha-svāmin, namely two kulyavāpas including high land in Svachchhandapāṭaka and Lavaṅgasikā accessible through Arddhaṭī, one kulyavāpa including high land in Sāṭuvanāśramaka, one kulyavāpa including high land in Paraspatikā to the north of Pañchakulyāvāpaka⁶ and the east of the Jambūnadī, and one kulyavāpa to the east of Pāṭaka in Pūrṇavṛindikahari.
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¹ Read shashṭiṁ.
² Read vasēt [|| 3*] iti [|| *]
³ The word kulaputra occurs not only in Sanskrit, but also in Pali literature; e.g., iha sarvasva-phalinaḥ kulaputra-mahādrumāḥ in the Mṛichchhakaṭika, Act IV, verse 10 and Yassa Kassachi Mahānāma Kulaputtassa pañcha dhammā saṁvijjanti in the Aṅguttara-Nikāya, Part III, p. 76. It is generally rendered by “a son of a noble family, respectable youth.” But it corresponds to the Bengali kulīn in such phrases as kulīn-Brāhmaṇa and kulīn-Kāyastha and had better be translated by ‘scion of a good stock or recognised clan.’
⁴ Apradā-dharmēṇa tāmrapaṭṭīkṛītya of this record may be compared to akshaya-nīvyās=tāmrapaṭṭēna dātnm in line 17 of Baigram copper-plate inscription (Ep. Ind, Vol. XXI, pp. 81 ff.) and line 7 of Nandapur copper-plate inscription (Ibtd. Vol. XXIII, pp. 52 ff.).
⁵ The word vāstu is used in practically the same sense as in lines 9 and 16 of Baigram copper-plate inscription (Ep.Ind. Vol. XXIII, pp. 52 ff.).
⁶ As surmised by Basak, this seems to be a plot of land so named because it contained five kulyavāpas.