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THE GUPTA INSCRIPTIONS
alphabet which is noticeable here is m, which is practically identical with that of the Allahābād
pillar inscription of Samudragupta except in that there is a slightly marked curve in the left
downward stroke of this letter. The other test characters, namely, l, s and h are of the western
Gupta variety. The language is Sanskrit; and the extant portion of the inscription is in prose
throughout. The orthography does not present anything calling for remark.
The inscription is one of the Imperial Gupta king Chandragupta II. His name does not
occur in the portion that is extant. But the instrumental case putrēṇa in line 9, immediately
after the mention, in the genitive case, of Samudragupta, shows that the genealogy was continued down to, and ended with, his son and chosen successor (parigṛihīta), whose name came in line 11 or 12, and who is known from the subequent record to have been ChandraguptaII(e.g., line 19 of No. 33 below). The date of the inscription, if any was recorded, and the subject
of it, were in the portion that has been broken away and lost.
TEXT1
1 . . . [Sarvva-rāj-ōchhēttuḥ pṛithiv]y[ām=apratiratha]-
2 [sya chatur-udadhi-sali]l-āsvādita-ya[śasō Dha]-
3 [nada-Varuṇ-Ēndr-Āntaka-sa]masya Kṛitānta-[paraśōḥ]
4 [nyāy-āgat-ānēka-gō]-hiraṇya-kōṭi-prada[sya chir-ō]-
5 [tsann-āśvamēdh-āharttur=mma]hārāja-śrī-Gupta-prapau[t]r[asya]
6 [mahārāja-śrī-Ghaṭōtka]cha-pautrasya mahārājādhir[āja]-
7 [śrī-Chandragupta-pu]trasya Lichchhavi-dauhitrasya mahā[dē]-
8 [vyāṁ Kumāra]d[ē]vyām=utpannasya mahārājādhirā-
9 [ja-śrī-Sa]mudraguptasya putrēṇa tat-parigṛi-
10 [hī]t[ē]na mahādēv[y]āṁ Dat[t]adēv[y]ām=ut[pan[n]ē-
11 [na2 paramabhāgavatēna mahārājādhirāja-śrī]-
12 [Chandraguptēna] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
( The rest of the inscription is entirely broken away and lost.)
TRANSLATION
(Lines 11-12) [By the prosperous Chandragupta, the Mahārājādhirāja, an ardent
devotee of Bhagavat (Vāsudēva),3
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1 Form the original stone. The passages that have been broken away are supplied from lines, 24, 26, 28 and
29 of the Allahābād pillar inscription of Samudragupta (No. 1 above), and from lines 1 to 4 of the Bhitari
pillar inscription of Skandagupta (No. 31 below).
2 These two lines have been added to show how the original record must have continued.
3 Bhāgavata literally means ‘a devotee of Bhagavat,’ and consequently Parama-Bhāgavata ‘an ardent devotee
of Bhagavat.’ The term is employed as an epithet of any god or object of worship; thus, it is applied to Śaṁbhu
(Śiva) in line 5 of No. 11, below; to Svāmi-Mahāsēna (Kārttikēya), in line 7 of No. 16, below; to Vishṇu, in line 6
of No. 40, below; to Varuṇavāsin (the sun), in line 13 of Deo-Baranark inscription (CII., Vol. III, 1888, No. 46) ;
to Dadhikarṇṇa, lord of serpents, in line 3 of No. 18, Ep. Ind., Vol. I, p. 390; to the Buddha, in line 6 of Sāñchī
Stone inscription (CII., Vol. III, 1888, No. 62) and to Jinēndra, in line 1 of the Aihoḷe inscription of
Pulakēśin II (Ep. Ind., Vol. VI, p. 4). But it seems to denote Vishṇu or rather Vāsudēva when used by itself, as
in bhagavat-pāda0, lines 8-9 of the Khōh plates of the Mahārāja Jayanātha of the year 177 (No. 27, CII., Vol. III,
1888) Similarly, bhāgavata denotes ‘a devotee of Bhagavat (Vāsudēva)’ when there is nothing in the context to
give it any other application; thus, in the celebrated Besnagar pillar inscription, the Greek ambassador (Yōna-dūta), Hēliōdōra (Heliodoros), calls himself Bhāgavata in connection with the erection of the pillar by him as a
Garuḍa-dhvaja in front of the shrine of Vāsudēva, god of gods (A.R. ASI., 1908-09, p. 128). Similarly, the term
bhāgavata occurs in line 7 of the Khōh plates just referred to. The term could, however, be affixed to the name of
any other god to denote devotees of that god. Thus, the Mahābhāshya, Verse 2.76, speaks of Śiva-bhāgavatas in the
sense of ‘devotees of Śiva, the bhagavat.’ As regards Parama-Bhāgavata, it is a technical sectarian title, analogous
to Parama-Māhēśvara (e.g., No. 38 of CII., Vol. III, 1888), Parama-Brahmanya (e.g., line 39 of the grant of
......................................................................................................................(Contd. on p. 254)
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