North Indian Inscriptions

THE GUPTA INSCRIPTIONS

14 . . . . . . . ā [u]ktañ=cha bhagavatā Dvaipāyanēna Svadattām=paradattām=vā
15 . . . . . . .[bhiḥ] saha pachyatē [||*] Shashṭiṁ varsha-sahasrāni(ṇi) svarggē mōdati [bhū]midaḥ [|*]
16 . . . . . . .[Pū]rrva-dattāṁ dvijātibhyō yatnād=raksha Yudhishṭhira [|*] mahīm [mahī][matāñ=chhrēshṭha*]
17 . . . . . . .ya[ṁ] su(?) Srībhadrēna(n=ṇa)¹ utkīrṇṇaṁ Stha(Sta)mbhēśvaradāsē- [na] . . . . .

TRANSLATION

        (Lines 1-7) When one hundred years exceeded by thirteen [had passed] . . . . (and) when, in this detailed order of the date,Paramadaivata, Paramabhatṭāraka, etc.,Kumāragupta (is the lord of the earth), the husbandmen (consisting of) . . . . the Brāhmaṇas Śivaśarman and Nāgaśarman and the village Board of the Ashṭakula (consisting of the Mahattaras Dē?) vakīrtti, Kshēmadatta, Gōshṭhaka, Varggapāla, Piṅgala. Śuṅkuka Kāla . . . . , . . . . vishṇu, Dēvaśarman, Vishṇubhadra, Khāsaka, Rāmaka, Gōpāla,. . . . .su(?) Śrībhadra, Sōmapāla, Rāma and others were informed by . . . . . vishṇu as follows:

       (Lines 7-10) in the district of Khādā(ṭa)pāra (according to) the rule of sale prevalent here . . . . . to be had on the termination of the Endowment Contract (nīvi-dharma). Deign ye, therefore, to grant me according to this same custom by the neighbouring husbandmen who are obedient and are addressed in a body, having established it all.

       (Lines 10-13) Whereas it was so determined and accepted saying ‘so be it’, one kulya-vāpa of land, being severed by 8×9 reeds, was given by the Āyuktaka officer to the Chhandōga (Sāmavēdin) Brāhmaṇa Varāhasvāmin, resident of. . . bhrātṛi-kaṭaka. So . . . . . considering the merit and demerit in the grant and confiscation of land and (the impermanence) of body and gold (it should be respected by the administration in time to come).

       (Line 14) And it has been said by the divine Dvaipāyana :

       (Verse 1) He (who takes away land) given by himself or by others, (having become a worm in excreta) rots with his forefathers.

       (Verse 2) The giver of land rejoices in heaven for sixty-thousand years. (He who resumes it and he who assents to it may dwell in hell for as many years).

       (Verse 3) Carefully preserve the land that has already been given to the twice-born (Brāhmaṇas), Yudhishṭhira, the best of land-owners. (Preservation is more meritorious than grant of land.)

       (Line 17) . . (written) by Śrībhadra. Engraved by Stambhēśvaradasa.

No. 20 : PLATE XX

............TUMAIN INSCRIPTION OF KUMARAGUPTA I : THE YEAR 116

This inscription was discovered as early as 1919 in the course of his tour for the preparation of the List of Antiquities by M.B.Garde, the then Superintendent, Archaeological Department of the erstwhile Gwalior State, who first published a summary of it in the Ind. Ant.,
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¹ [D.C. Sircar suggests the restoration as likhitā paṭṭik=ēyaṁ amātya-Bhadrēṇa. Sel. Ins., 1965, p. 289, note 3.–Ed.].