North Indian Inscriptions

THE GUPTA INSCRIPTIONS

13 Yēn==āpūrvva-vibhūti-sañchaya-chayaiḥ-ai –i U - - U - ḥ [|] tēn==āyaṁ Dhruva [śa]rmmaṇā sthira-varas==[st]aṁbh-ōch[chhr]ayaḥ kāritaḥ |[| 2*]

TRANSLATION

       (Line 6) When the detailed order of the date was this, that is, in the ninety-sixth year of the increasingly victorious (Gupta) rule, pertaining to the prosperous Kumāragupta (I) the Mahārājādhirāja.

       (Line 5) Who is the son, born of the Māhādēvī Dhruvadēvī of the prosperous Chandra- gupta (II), the Māhārājādhirāja, who was himself without an equal adversary, (and) an ardent devotee of Bhagavat (Vāsudēva), (and)

       (Line 4) (Chandragupta II), who was the son born of the the Mahādēvī Dattadēvī of the prosperous Samudragupta, the Mahārājadhiraja,

       (Line 1-2) (Who was the exterminator of all kings; who had no equal adversary on earth); whose fame was tasted by the waters (of the four oceans) ; who was equal to (the gods) Dhanada, Varuṇa Indra and Antaka, who was the very axe of Kṛitānta (God of death); who was the giver of (many) crores of (lawfully acquired cows and) gold; who was the per- former of the āśvamēdha sacrifice, that had long decayed, (and),

       (Lines 3-4) (Who was the son of the son’s son of the prosperous Gupta, the Mahārāja; the son’s son of the prosperous Ghaṭōtkacha, and Mahārāja), (and) the son of the prosperous Chandragupta I, the Mahārājādhirāja, the daughter’s son of the Lichchhavi; (and) born of the Mahādēvī Kumaradevi.

       (Lines 7-9) At this temple of Lord Mahāsēna, the divine (one), whose wonderous body is produced out of the mass of the lustre of the three worlds; who is the god Brahmaṇya; (and) who resides at . . . . . . . . . this magnificent work has been accomplished by Dhruvaśarman who follows the path of the practice and true religion of the Kṛita Age, (and) who has been honoured by the assembly . . . . . . . . .

       (Lines 10-11) Having constructed a gateway, charming (to the eye), (containing) abodes of sages, having the appearance of a staircase leading to heaven, resembling kaubērachchhanda (in style), white-shining, because it bears the radiance of crystal gems and petals’––(and having constructed), in a very proper manner, a (religious) alms-house (?), a structure eminent in qualities, and as beautiful as the best of mansions;-he, of righteous intention, moves about charmingly among the pious. May Dhruva continue in bliss !

       (Lines 12-13) That same Dhruvaśarman, who . . . . . by means of the abundance of the unprecedented accumulation of wealth, . . . . . . . . . ., ¹ has caused the erection of this firm and excellent pillar.²

No. 17: PLATE XVII

.....GAḌHWĀ STONE INSCRIPTION OF KUMĀRAGUPTA I: THE YEAR 98

       This is another of the inscriptions on the stone discovered by Rājā Śiva Prasād, in 1871-72, at Gaḍhwā in the Allahābād District, Uttar Pradesh. It was not noticed when the stone was
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¹ Though portions of the first half of the verse are legible, it is left untranslated because of the uncertainty of the construction owing to the missing words.
² The wording in the original is faulty; sthira-varaḥ qualifies the stambha which is wrongly compounded with uchchhraya ‘erection’ or ‘loftiness’.