North Indian Inscriptions

THE GUPTA INSCRIPTIONS

UDAYAGIRI GAVE INSCRIPTION OF CHANDRAGUPTA II

       (Lines 5-8) who was 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 (I)], the Mahārājādhirāja, the daughter’s son of the Lichchhavi; (and) born of the Mahādēvī Kumāradēvi.

No. 11: PLATE XI

UDAYAGIRI GAVE INSCRIPTION OF CHANDRAGUPTA II

        This inscription appears to have been discovered by General Cunningham, and was first brought to notice by him in 1880, in his Archaeological Survey of India Report, Vol. X, pp. 51 ff. where he published his own version of the text, and a translation of it by Raja Siva Prasad, accompanied by a lithograph (ibid., Plate xix). This rendering of the inscription was followed for a long time, except that in 1882, in the Ind. Ant., Vol. XI, p. 312, E. Hultzsch pointed out some errors in the last line as published. The inscription was thereafter critically edited for the first time by J. F. Fleet in CII., Vol. III, 1888, pp. 34 ff. and Pl. IV A, and his treatment has remained the standard version though his text and translation have been slightly revised by G. Bühler in the Vienna Oriental Fournal, Vol. V, pp. 226 ff.

        The inscription is on the back wall, a little to the left as one enters, inside a cave at Udayagiri, in the Vidiśā District of Madhya Pradesh which is known as the “Tawā Cave”, from the resemblance of the large flat stone, on the top of the rock in which it is excavated, to a gigantic tawā, or ‘griddle for baking cakes.’

        The writing which covers a space of about 3’ 7” by 1’ 2”, has suffered a good deal from the peeling off of the surface of the rock on which it is engraved; but the general purport of it remains complete, and nothing of historical nature appears to have been lost. The size of the letters varies from ¾" to 1-¼". The characters belong to the eastern variety of the Gupta alphabet, and are of radically the same type as those of the Allahābād pillar inscription of Samudragupta, No. 1, pp. 203 ff., above, Plate I. They include in the numbering of the verse, forms of the numerical symbols for 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5. The language is Sanskrit; and, except for the opening word siddham, the inscription is in verse throughout, and the verses are numbered. In respect of orthography, the only point that calls for notice is the use of the jihvāmūlīya and upadhmānīya in ⁰jñah. =kavih=Pāṭali⁰, in line 4.

        The inscription refers itself of the time of Chandragupta II, of the Imperial Gupta dynasty, whose name is recorded in line 1. As no date is given, there might be some doubt as to whether the Chandragupta mentioned here is the first or the second of the name. But the fact that the inscription records that the Chandragupta mentioned in it came in person to Udayagiri, coupled with the existence at Udayagiri of the inscription of the year 82, No. 7, pp. 242 ff., above, which is proved by its date to be one of Chandragupta II, shows that the king mentioned here is Chandragupta II, not his grandfather, Chandragupta I. It is a Śaiva inscription; and the object of it is to record the excavation of the cave as a temple of the god Śambhu (Śiva), by the order of a certain Vīrasēna, surnamed Śāba and pertaining to the Kutsa gōtra, who was one of the ministers of Chandragupta II.

........................................................TEXT¹

...................................[Metre: Ślōka (Anushṭubh) throughout]

1 Siddham² [ﺍﺍ*] [Ya]d=a[ṁ]tarjjyōtir=arkk-ābham=u[r]vvy[ām]-UUU-U³[ﺍ*]
- U – U U U⁴vyāpi Chandragu[pt-ākhya]m=adbhutam [ﺍﺍ*] 1
_____________________

¹ From inked estampages.
² In the original this word stands in the margin, opposite the commencement of line 3.
³ This has probably to be restored to [=asulabhaṁ nṛishu*].
⁴ The gap may perhaps be filled up with [tat=sudhī hṛidaya*].