THE GUPTA INSCRIPTIONS
first discovered; but was afterwards found, on clearing away the lime under which it was
hidden, by General Cunningham, who then, in 1890, published his reading of the text in the
CASIR., Vol. X, p. 9, with a lithograph (ibid., Plate V, No.1). It was afterwards edited by
J. F. Fleet in CII., Vol. III, 1888, pp. 40 ff. and PI. IV D.
This inscription is on the upper part of the proper right side of the stone. Almost the
whole of the first line, and the first half of each of the remaining lines, have been entirely
broken away and lost. The remnant of the writing, however, covering a space of about 4"
broad by 9" high, is fairly well preserved and easy to read. The size of the letters varies from
¾" to ½". The characters belong, on the whole, to the eastern variety of the Gupta alphabet
where s alone is of the western, and are of precisely the same type as those of the two inscriptions Nos. 8 above and 26 below, being probably engraved by the same hand. They include,
in the date, forms of the numerical symbols for 8 and 90. The language is Sanskrit; and the
inscription is in prose throughout. The orthography presents nothing calling for remark.
The name of the king is broken away and lost in the first half of line 2. But the inscription is dated, in numerical symbols, in the year ninety-eight (416-17 A.D.); and this shews
that the record must belong to the time of the Imperial Gupta king Kumāragupta. So
little remains of it that the form of religion or the sect to which it belonged, cannot be determined; nor can the object of it; except that it records a gift of twelve dīnāras, apparently as a
contribution to some Brāhmaṇa from Sadāsattra.
(Line 4) (Chandragupta II), who was the son born of the the Mahādēvī Dattadēvī of the
prosperous Samudragupta, the Mahārājadhiraja,
TEXT
1 [Jitaṁ bhagavatā || Paramabhāga*][vata-mahā][rājādhi*]-
2 [rāja-śrī-Kumāragupta-rājya-saṁvatsa*]rē 90 8 . . .
3 [asyāṁ divasa*]-pūrvvāyaṁ padūa1 . . .
4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .nē (?) n=ātma-puṇy-ōpa[chay-ārtthaṁ*]
5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .rē kālīyaṁ Sadāsa[t*][tra]- . . .
6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .kasya talakanivānlē(?) . . .
7 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .bhyaṁ dīnārāḥ dvādaśa . . .
8 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .sy=āṁkur-ōdbha(?)sta-chchha
9 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .[saṁ*]yukta[ḥ*] syād==iti |2
TRANSLATION
(Lines 1-3) [Victory has been achieved by Bhagavat (Vāsudēva) !]3 [In the year] 90
(and) 8 [of the (dynastic) rule4 of the prosperous Kumāragupta, the Mahārājādhirāja, an
ardent devotee of Bhagavat (Vāsudēva)5 . . . . . ; when this was the specification of the date6 . . .
(Line 3-8) [For the purpose] of augmenting (his) own spiritual merit . . . . . . (to endure)
for the time . . . . . . . Sadāsattra7 . . . . . . . twelve dīnāras . . . . . .
(Line 8-9) [And whosoever breaks up this bit of charity shall become infected with
(the Five Great Sins)].
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1 May be read also as paṭṭa with Fleet.
2 Expressed by a horizontal stroke.
3 The meaning of this phraseology is explained by verse 1 of the Tuśām inscription (CII., Vol. III, 1888,
No. 67, p. 270) showing that bhagavatā stands for Vīshṇunā.
4 See note 1 to Translation of No. 8 above, p. 246.
5 See note 3 to Translation of No.10 above, p. 253.
6 See note 1 to Translation of No. 6 above, p. 241.
7 See note 1 to Translation of No. No. 8 above, p. 247.
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