North Indian Inscriptions

THE GUPTA INSCRIPTIONS

TRANSLATION

        (Line 1) Ōṁ! Hail! From the great camp of victory, containing¹ ships, elephants and horses and situated at Ānandapura.

       (Lines 1-5) The prosperous Samudragupta, the Mahārājadhirāja, and ardent devotee of Bhagavat (Vāsudēva), who is the exterminator of all kings; who has no equal adversary on earth; whose fame is tasted by the waters of the four Oceans; who is equal to (the gods) Dhanada, Varuṇa, Indra, and Antaka; who is the very axe of Kṛitānta (Death); who is the giver of many crores of lawfully acquired cows and gold; who is the performer Aśvamēdha sacrifice, that had long decayed; who is the son of the son’s son of the prosperous Gupta, the Mahārāja; the son’s son of the prosperous Ghaṭōtkacha, the Mahārāja; (and) the son of the prosperous Chandragupta, the Mahārājādhirāja, the daughter’s son of the Linchchhavi (and) born of the Mahādēvī Kumāradēvī–addresses to (the officers) attached to the Treasury of the two villages; (1) Bhadrapushkaraka pertaining to the Vāvirikshyara district (and) (2) Pūrṇanāga pertaining to the Krivilā district, and says as follows:

       (Lines 6-7) “Be it known to you! For the sake of augmenting the spiritual merit of (my) parents and of myself, these two villages have been granted by me as agrahāra, with the assignment of the uparikara . . . to Jayabhaṭṭa-svāmin . . .

       (Lines 7-10) You should therefore listen to this Traividya (conversant with the three Vēdas) and be obedient to his commands; and all dues in accordance with the customary law of the village should be paid, such as (the find of) gold and so forth. And, from this time forth, the tax-paying cultivatiors, artisans, etc., of other villages should not be allowed to enter by this Traividya; (for) otherwise there would be a forfeiture of the Agrahara.

       (Lines 10-12) Registered² (in) the year 9; the day 2 of Māgha. Drawn up by the order of Gōpasvāmin, Mahāpīlūpati, Mahābalādhikṛita, the Akshapaṭalādhikṛita of Anyagrāma. The Dūtaka, the prince śrī-Chandragupta.

No. 4 : PLATE IV

GAYA COPPER-PLATE INSCRIPTION OF SAMUDRAGUPTA : THE YEAR 9

       This inscription is from a copper-plate that was obtained years ago by General Cunningham at Gayā³ the chief town of the Gaya District in the Bihar State and was apparently first brought to notice by him in 1883, in his Book of Indian Eras, page 53, where it is entered as being dated in the year 40. J. F. Fleet obtained the original plate, for examination, from General Cunningham, and published it in the CII., Vol. III, 1888, pp. 254 ff.
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¹ In the Śātavāhana period we meet with the expression sēnāyē vējayaṁtiyē vijayakhadhāvārā (Ep. Ind., Vol. VIII, p. 71, line 1), the first two terms of which stand apparently for mahā-nau-hasty-aśva of this grant, which des- cribes the components of vaijayantī sēnā. The grants of Harshavardhana contain practically the same phraseology, such e.g. as, mahānau-hasty-aśva-jaya-skandhāvārāt śrī-Varddhamānakōṭyā (ibid., Vol. IV, p. 210, line 1). The word vāsaka however does not occur. In the Pratīhāra charters the phraseology runs as follows: śrī-Mahōdaya-samāvāsita-anēka-nau-hasty-aśva-ratha-patti-sampanna-skandhāvārāt (ibid., Vol. XIX, p. 17, line 1). Here the word samāvāsita is no doubt met with, but the phraseology has become too big and bombastic. There is greater resemblance in the initial part between the grants of Samudragupta and Harshavardhana. Even the epithets of Samudragupta were not forgotten in the 7th or 8th century A.D. and were actually assumed by the Kalachuri king Śaṅkaragaṇa (ibid., Vol. VI, p. 298, line 9). It is, therefore, no wonder that the initial part of the grants of the former king is found in those of the latter.
² The word nibaddha is traceable as early as in the Śātavāhana grants engraved in the Nasik caves (ibid., Vol. VIII, p. 73, line 12).
³ The ‘Gaya’ of maps, etc. Indian Atlas, sheet No. 104, Lat. 24° 48' N.; Long. 85° 3' E.