|
The Indian Analyst
|
North Indian Inscriptions |
THE GUPTA INSCRIPTIONS (Lines 19) So these (kulyavāpas) should be respected by administrators in time to come, out of devotion to the god. There are also verses relating to the grant of land:â (Verse 1) He, who takes away land given by himself or by others, having become a worm in excreta, rots with his forefathers. (Verse 2) Land has been granted by many kings such as Sagara and others. The fruit (of such grant) belongs to whosoever possesses the earth at any time. (Verse 3) The giver of land rejoices in heaven for sixty thousand years. He who resumes it and he who assents to (it) may dwell in hell for exactly those (years). No. 48 : PLATE XLVIII NĀLANDĀ CLAY SEAL OF VISHṆUGUPTA The seal bearing an inscription of Vishṇugupta was also exhumed like those of Vainya- gupta and others in 1927-28 from Monastery Site No. 1 at Nālandā, Patna District, Bihar. It has remained unnoticed even in Hirananda Sastri’s Nalanda and its Epigraphical Material (MASI., No. 66). It is published for the first time by Krishna Deva in Ep. Ind., Vol. XXVI, pp. 235 and ff. This seal also was originally a clay impression which was burnt eventually into a terracotta mentioned on page 355 above.
The seal is fragmentary, its upper right half being broken off. The extreme measurements of the extant fragment are, as nearly as possible, 3” by 2½” by 2⅛”, comprising the last four lines of writing. There is no doubt that like the other Gupta seals from Nālandā this seal also was oval in shape, pointed at the top and bottom, and that its edge was marked by a border line which is distinct at the bottom. Like the m, again, its upper field must have been occupied by a figure of Garuḍa, flanked by the sun and the crescent, the lower containing eight lines of writing. Of these, the proper right halves of the first four have been completely lost, and of the fifth, not only the right half but also part of the left. Nevertheless, on the analogy of the other seals the full legend of this seal also can be restored with reasonable certainly. The characters exhibit a mixture of southern and eastern varieties. The notable examples of the former are sa and ha, and of the latter ma. The height of the letters varies from 1/16” to 2/12”. The language is Sanskrit. In respect of orthography we have to notice (1) the doubling of dh in conjunction with a following y as in –pādānuddhyātō, (lines 2 and 3); (2) the doubling of t in conjunction with a following r as in puttras=, (lines 2 and 3); and the use of the upadhmānīya sign as in . . nnah= Parama0 (line 4). The inscription on the seal is genealogical in character, and refers itself to the reign of Vishṇugupta. What is preserved of the seal says that he was the son of the Mahārājādhirāja Kumāragupta, grandson of the Mahārājādhirāja Purugupta. This shows that as in other seals this also sets forth in an unbroken line of succession the Gupta princes from Mahārāja Gupta to Kumāragupta, father of Purugupta. This seal carries the genealogy of the Imperial Gupta dynasty one generation further than was hitherto known. It is, however, unfortunate that the name of Vishṇugupta’s mother has been lost in the broken portion of the last line. .................................................................TEXT 1 . . . . hārājādh[i]r[ā]ja-śr[ī*]-[P*]u . . . . .
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| > |
|
>
|