North Indian Inscriptions

THE GUPTA INSCRIPTIONS

Inscription on Image C¹

1 Bhagava[tō] =rha[taḥ]² [Padma]³prabhasya pratim=ēyaṁ [kā]ritā mahā[rājā]dhirā[ja]-
2 śrī-[Rāmaguptē]na⁴ u[padēśat=pā]⁵ṇi-[pātri] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ⁶
3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ⁷
4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

TRANSLATION

       (Lines 1-4) This image of Lord Chandraprabha,⁸ the Arhat, has been caused to be made by the illustrious Mahārājādhirāja Rāmagupta under instruction from the mendicant Chēlla, who is the good son of Gōlakyāntī, the disciple of the teacher Sarpasēna, the mendicant (and) the disciple’s disciple of the teacher Chandrakshama, the mendicant and monk, who took a vow use his palms as a bow!.⁹

No. 6: PLATE VI

MATHURĀ PILASTER INSCRIPTION OF CHANDRAGUPTA II:
THE YEAR 61

       This inscription, which I published for the first time, in 1933, in the Epigraphia Indica, Vol. XXI, pp. 1 ff., is engraved on a tiny pillar originally attached to a well situated in the Chandul Mandul Bagichi near Raṅgēśvara Mahādēva temple at Mathurā. It was discovered there by one Bholanath, a dealer in antiquities, in July 1928 and removed to his place. Later, it was taken possession of by the local Police authorities and was lying in their custody in the mālgudām (godown), Mathurā. Thereafter, it was secured by the Director General of Archaeology in India and transferred to the Curzon Museum at Mathurā where it is kept now, bearing the number 1931. In January 1931 Hirananda Sastri, the then Government Epigraphist for India, visited the Museum and took some impressions of the inscription. He was so good as to send me two excellent estampages, one plain, in one whole piece, and the other inked, in two parts. It is on these estampages that my transcript of this epigraph was based, when I first edited it. The transcript remains practically unaltered in this second account of the record.

       The inscription is really engraved on the shaft of a tiny pillar, which is octagonal. The inscribed portion covers only five of its faces, which are well dressed, the remaining three being left rough. The top and the base of the pillar have each four sides, only one of which is well-dressed. While the well-dressed side of the top is sculptured with a trident, that of the base has a standing figure, apparently, of Lakulīśa. This shows that our sculpture is not
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¹ This record is badly damaged and effaced.
² Traces of visarga marks can be seen on the impression.
³ Traces of these letters can be seen on the impression.
⁴ Faint traces of the letters ma and ptē can be seen on the impression so that the word can be restored as Rāmaguptēna.
⁵ The letters in the brackets have been restored with the help of the other records.
⁶ The remaining letters in this line are completely effaced.
⁷ The letters in this line and the following are completely effaced.
⁸ The name of the image appears as Pushpadanta in B and as Padmaprabha in C.
⁹ I.e. to eat and drink only from his hands.