North Indian Inscriptions

THE GUPTA INSCRIPTIONS

memorial structures to his gurus in the ‘Teachers’ Shrine’, of which he must, doubtless, have been an ārya or owner.

TEXT

1 Siddham [|] Bhaṭṭāraka-mahārāja-[rājādhi]rāja-śrī-Samudragupta-sa-
2 tputrasya bhaṭṭāraka-ma[hārāja]-[rājādhi]rāja-śrī-Chandragupta-
3 sya vija-rājya¹-saṁvatsa[rē] . . . . . . kā]²- ānuvarttamāna-saṁ-
4 vatsarē ēka-shashṭhē 60 1 . . . . . ³ [pra]thamē śukla-divasē paṁ-
5 chamyāṁ [|] asyāṁ pūrvvā[yāṁ] [bha]ga[vat-Ku]śikād=daśamēna bhagava-
6 t-Parāśarāch=chatur[th]ē[na] [bhagavat-Ka]p[ila]-Vimala-śi-
7 shya-śishyēṇa bhagavad[-Upamita]-vimala-śishyēṇa
8 āryy-Ōdi[tā]chāryyē[ṇa] [sva]-pu[ṇy-ā]pyāyana-nimittaṁ
9 gurūṇāṁ cha kīrty-a[rtham-Upamitēśva]ra-Kapilēśvarau
10 Gurvv-āyatanē guru . . . . .⁴ pratishṭhāpitō⁵ n=ai-
11 tat=khyāty-artham=abhili[kh]ya[tē] [atha] mahēśvarāṇāṁ⁶ vi-
12 jñaptih.=kriyatē sambōdhanaṁ cha yathā-kā[lē]n=āchāryyā-
13 ṇāṁ parigraham=iti matvā viśaṅka[ṁ] pūjā-pura-
14 skāra[ṁ] parigraha-pāripālyaṁ kuryyād=iti vijñaptir=iti [|*]
15 Yaś =cha kīrty-abhidrōhaṁ kuryy[ā]d=yaś=ch=ābhilikhitam=uparyy=adhō
16 vā⁷ sa paṁchabhir=mah[ā]pātakair=upapātakaiś=cha saṁyuktas=syāt [|*]
17 Jayati cha bhagavā[ṇ=Ḍaṇḍah]⁸ rudra-daṇḍō=gra-[nā]yakō nitya[ṁ] [|*]

TRANSLATION

        Luck !⁹

        (Lines 1-5) In the year 61 according to the era (of the Gupta kings), in the victorious reign the Bhaṭṭāraka Mahārāja Rājādhirāja, the prosperous Chandragupta, the good son of the Bhaṭṭāraka Mahārāja Rājādhirāja, the prosperous Samudragupta–on the fifth of the bright half of the first (Āshāḍha).
___________________

¹ Read vijaya-rājya-.
² This may be restored to Gupta-nṛipa-rājya-kāl-. [See above, p. 236 and note 1.–Ed.].
³ The lacuna may be filled up with Āshāḍha-māsē-
⁴ This may perhaps be restored to guru-pratimā-yutau.
⁵ The ō in tō is quiet clear at the back of the uninked estampage. Correct the word, however, into pratishṭhā- pitau.
⁶ Read māhēśvarāṇām.
⁷ Read uchchhindyāt or some such word after vā.
⁸ Read bhagavān=Daṇḍaḥ sa.
⁹ The word Siddham occurs frequently at the beginning of ancient inscriptions, Prakrit or Sanskrit. It is translated by Stevenson by ‘To the Perfect one.’ Later, on the analogy of an inscription (CASIR., Vol. V, Pl. xli H) which commences with Siddhiḥ Śrīḥ Saṁvat, Bühler takes siddhaṁ as the neuter nominative of the passive perfect participle and as an equivalent of siddhiḥ and translates it by ‘success’ (Ind. Ant., Vol. X, p. 273). Thereafter, on the analogy of jitaṁ bhagavatā of the Gaḍhwā inscription of Kumāragupta 1 (No. 26, below) and the grant of the Pallava Yuvamahārāja Vishṇugōpavarman (Ind. Ant., Vol. V, p. 51), Fleet takes siddhaṁ as the remnant of some such phrase as siddhaṁ bhagavatā, “perfection or success has been attained by the Divine One” (CII., Vol. III, 1888, p. 25, note 4). But he forgets that, as we do not meet with jitaṁ as the abbreviated form of jitaṁ bhagavatā, we do not find siddhaṁ bhagavatā as the fuller form of siddhaṁ. And further what jitaṁ bhagavatā means is explained in an amplified form by the verse with which the Tuśām inscription (CII., Vol. III, 1888, p. 269-70) begins, to which Fleet himself has drawn our attention. On the other hand, about the commencement of Patañjali’s Mahābhāshya there occurs the following passage which is worthy of note in this connection: māṅgalika āchāryō mahataḥ śāstr-aughasya maṅgal-ārthaṁ siddha-śabdam=āditaḥ prayuṅktē maṅgal-ādīni hi śāstrāṇi prathantē vira-purushakāṇi cha bhavanty=āyushmat-purushakāṇi ch=ādhyētāraś=cha siddh-ārthā yathā syur=iti. “An auspicious teacher, desirous of success, employs the word siddha at the very outset for the purpose of auspiciousness to the great volume of (his) scientific treatise, because scientific treatises commencing with auspicious utterances
......................................................................................................................(contd. on p. 241)