North Indian Inscriptions

THE GUPTA INSCRIPTIONS

Second Fragment

...........1 Garggāyaṇa-sagōtrō vai jñāti[taḥ*] . . U U - [|*]
...........2 Purē mahati vikhyātē Pañcha-dvig[uṇa-saṁjñakē*] [||*]
...........3 Nānā-vṛiksha-latā-gulma-saṁpra[yukta*] U – U - [|*]
...........4 Dhanyō bhavatu maṅgalyaḥ pu[tra]-[pautra-samanvitaḥ*] [||*]
...........5 Krushṇēn¹=āddhyushitas-tāva[t]

TRANSLATION

First Fragment

        (Line 1) Luck!

       (Verse 1) Obeisance to that Thousand-headed Purusha² (Supreme Being) whose soul is boundless and who is sleepy on the waters of the bed-like four oceans.

       (Verse 2) When there had been completed³ the auspicious quaternion of hundred years increased by sixty-one, known as Kṛita and traditionally handed down according to the reckoning of the Mālavas;

       (Verse 3) When there had been completed the auspicious rainy season which caused contentment to the mind of men; and when there is going on the festival of Indra approved by Kṛishṇa;⁴ then

       (Verse 4) The corn-wreathed earth, with replenished rice and fodder, is adorned with kāśa flowers, and shines more intensely with luminaries.

       (Verse 5) On the fifth day of the bright half of Āśvina–when such an excellent season, well-ordered and enjoyable, is dominating the world;

       (Verse 6 and 7) When the prosperous Mahārāja king Naravarman, whose desires were cherished through repeated accumulation of merit in previous births, is the ruler of the earth–(Naravarman) who is the grandson of king Jayavarman, (and) is the virtuous son of Siṁhavarman, (and) who is the follower of Siṁha-vikrānta, (and) is as valorous as Dēvēndra;

       (Verse 8 to 11) As exemplification of the good qualities of his (Naravarman’s) administration, (Satya) whose accumulated wealth is the acquisition of religious merit in (his) previous births; whose undertakings, as soon as they were accomplished, were multiplied with the plentitude of his fame and spiritual merit,–regarding this world of living beings to be as unsteady as the water of the mirage, or a dream, or lightning, or the flame of a lamp,
_____________________________________________

¹ Read Kṛishṇēn=
² This refers to Purusha-sūkta (Ṛigvēda, X, 90) where Purusha is described as sahasra-śīrsha. Purusha again is identified with Nārāyaṇa who is thus described by Manu (I. 10): “The waters are called nārāḥ; the waters are, indeed, the offspring of Nara; as they were his first residence (ayana), he is thereby remembered as Nārāyaṇa”. This explains why Purusha is described as sleeping on the waters of the four oceans. Compare also Raghuvaṁśa, Canto XIII, verse 6.
³ The word prāpta occurs twice in this record, once in this and once in the next verse; and Haraprasad Sastri translates it once by “on the arrival” and once by “on the approach” which both give “arrived, reached” as the sense of the word intended here. This sense, however, cannot suit the context, especially in the case of verse 3. For, if we stick to this meaning and say that the object of the inscription, whatever it was, was executed “on the approach of the auspicous rainy season” as Haraprasad Sastri evidently understands it, this is in contradiction to the date of the record, viz., the 5th of the bright half of Āśvina. Because the Varsha or rainy season begins with the month of Śrāvaṇa, which, however, is immediately followed by Bhādrapada and not Āśvina. The term prāpta must therefore be taken in another sense. Now one of the senses of this word is ‘completed, accomplished’. This suits here excellently, because prāvṛiṭ-kālē prāptē in verse 3 can thus mean “when the rainy season had been completed” and further is perfectly congruous with the date of the inscription, because the rainy season terminates with Bhādra and as the 5th of the bright half of Āśvina can follow immediately thereafter.
⁴ See pp. 263-64 for an explanation of this passage.