North Indian Inscriptions

THE GUPTA INSCRIPTIONS

yet been identified. What Kākanādabōṭa exactly means or denotes we do not know. Never- theless a shrewd guess may be hazarded. It is worthy of note that Kākanāva and other Prākṛit forms of Kākanāda occur in five inscriptions connected with Sāñchī and Andhēr Stūpas. Two of these, associated with Sāñchī Stūpa No. I, utter an imprecation against any one who takes away or causes to be taken away an arch (tōraṇa), railing (vēdikā) or stonework (selakama) from ‘this Kākanāva’ and causes it to be transferred to another āchariya-kula (Lüders’ List Nos. 340 and 350). Bühler, on the suggestion of Jacobi, translates the term āchariya-kula, by ‘temple of the teacher’; and Lüders follows him. But the word, on the analogy of dēvakula and rājakula had better be rendered by ‘the seat or establishment of a teacher.’ It thus seems that some site near Sāñchī Stūpa No. I formed the establishment of one Teacher, which, again, was known as Kākanāva (=Kākanāda). This sense which we have attached to the word does not run counter to the text of a third inscription found at Sāñchī Stūpa No. I which, according to Bühler, runs: Kā[kaṇā]yē bhagavatō pamāṇa-laṭhi (Ep. Ind., Vol. II, p.99, No. 21). His translation, however, is faulty, and we have to accept that of Fleet and Lüders, namely, “The measuring-staff of Bhagavat at Kākanāya” (loc. cit., No. 200). There are two more records which mention Kākanāda. One of these is engraved on the steatite box of Andhēr Stūpa No. II. Fleet correctly reads it Sapurisasa Gōtiputasa Kāknāda-Pabhāsanasa Kōḍiña-gōtasa (CII., Vol. III, 1888, p. 31) and Lüders correctly renders it by “(Relics) of the saint (sapurisa) Gotiputa (Gauptīputra) of the Koḍiña (Kauṇḍinya) gōtra (gota) who illumined (? pabhāsana) Kākanāva” (loc. cit., No. 681). The only doubtful word here is pabhāsana, which means ‘illuminator.’ And, prima facie, this appears to be the correct sense, because Kākanāda, being the site of an Āchārya-kula, was already a holy place. And if there was a teacher here who was an illuminator of Kākanāda, he must naturally have been looked upon as sapurisa (=satpurusha) or saint whose relics were worthy of being enshrined in a stūpa close by, namely at Andhēr. But the fifth or the last record which we have now to notice seems to cast some doubt on this point. It is engraved on the inner circle of the steatite box in Sāñchī Stūpa No. II. According to Cunningham it reads: Kākanava-pābhāsasāhana dānam (Bhilsa Topes, p. 288, No. 2); and Lüders translates it by “Gift of The Pābhāsasāhas of Kākanava” (No. 659). It is well-known that Cunningham’s readings of inscription in this volume are very often faulty and the Plates, being mere eye-copies, cannot be considered as very reliable. In these circumstances it is permissible to compare these two records, one with the other, and suspect that what he reads as pābhāsasāhana is a mistake for pabhāsanakāna and further infer that Pabhāsana or Pabhāsanaka may, after all, be the name of the line to which the Āchāryas of Kākanāda pertained. Anyhow, this much is certain that Kākanāda is the name of the site occupied by the Āchārya-kula connected with Sāñchī Stūpa No. I.

       What then does Kākanādabōṭa mean ? It is worthy of note that the whole expression Kākanādabōṭa-śrī-mahāvihārē occurs in the Sāñchī stone inscription¹ of the year 131, which also is engraved on a railing of and is connected with Sāñchī Stūpa No. I. In this connection Fleet says : “It is not quite certain what meaning is to be allotted to bōṭa in this name; but it is probably another form of pōṭa, ‘the foundation of a house.” This does not help us at all in under-standing the term Kākanādabōṭa. It is true that in a footnote Fleet remarks further that bōṭa occurs again as part of a proper name in Raṅkabōṭa, in line 8 of the Khoh Copper-plate inscription² of Mahārāja Jayanātha and vōṭa as territorial name, in line 6 of the Khoh Copper- plate inscription³ of Mahārāja Sarvanātha. We have also Bōṭaka, as a proper name, in a
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¹ CII., Vol. III, 1888, No. 62, p. 261.
² Ibid., No. 27, p. 122.
³ Ibid., No. 29, p. 131.