North Indian Inscriptions

THE GUPTA INSCRIPTIONS

Vol. XLIX, pp. 114-15 and subsequently edited it in the Ep. Ind., Vol. XXVI, pp. 115 ff., with a plate.

        Tumain is a village in the Guna District of Madhya Pradesh, about forty miles to the west of Ēraṇ the Airikiṇa of ancient India, in the Khurāī Tahsil of the Sagar District. The original stone is now in the State Museum at Gwalior.

       Nearly one half of the inscription, the proper right portion, is destroyed. It is also not clear how much of the lower part is missing. The writing on what is preserved of the stone covers a spce 7" high by 24" broad, and is in an excellent state of preservation, except in the last line where the letters are injured here and there. The size of the letters varies from 5/12" to 1-5/12". The characters belong to the western variety of the Gupta alphabet, as is clear from the formation of such test letters as m, s and h. There is some doubt only about l, which, in the word lōka- in line 1, looks more like the eastern than the western prototype. Three more palaeographic peculiarities, which are noteworthy, are: (1) the ending m which is denoted by a miniature form of this character surmounted by a horizontal bar, the whole occupying half the height of a normal letter; (2) the virāma which is indicated sometimes by a horizontal stroke as after lōka-tray-āntē in line 1 and after yuktē in line 4, but sometimes by vertical uprights as e.g., at the end of lines 3 and 5; and (3) the jihvāmūlīya which is denoted by the character for m as in tatah.=kanīyān in line 5. The language is Sanskrit; and, so far as the preserved text goes, it is in verse. As regards orthography, it is sufficient to note that (1) the letters j, t, y and v following r are doubled; (2) that the visarga followed by s has been once changed to that letter, in =ōditas=sa, line 3; (3) that the anusvāra and gh following it have been twice changed to ṅh, once in siddha-saṅhaiḥ, line 1 and another time in Saṅhadēvaḥ,line 5; and (4) that the jihvāmūlīya has been used once in tatah =kanīyan, line 5.

       The inscription refers itself to the reign of Kumāragupta I of the Imperial Gupta dynasty. In the existing portion of line 1 is preserved the second half of a stanza, which, according to Garde, “apparently refers to Samudragupta.” This, however, seems unlikely, because what remains of this line speaks of the lotus-like feet of some one described in the stanza as being adored by the bands of the Siddhas. This eulogy which is worthy of a divinity can hardly apply to Samudragupta. It is safer to take the line, as containing praise of some god, possibly Śiva, who seems to have been referred to in the last verse, as well shall see presently. The next stanza in line 1 describes Chandragupta II as being in charge of the earth up to the bounds of the ocean. Line 2 informs us that Chandragupta had a son called Kumāragupta who was almost equal to Mahēndra and who protected the earth as if she were his chaste and lawful wife. The first verse in line 3 compares Ghaṭōtkacha to the moon and the second represents him as having inherited the inherent prowess of his ancestors and attained to fame. Line 4 specifies the date of the inscription thus: “When a century of years of sovereigns (born of Gupta) (had elapsed), accompanied by sixteen years” and refers it to the reign of Kumāragupta who is described as “shining on earth like the sun in the autumn”. Lines 5-6 specify the object of the record. In the first place, we are told that there was a family of brothers hailing from Vaṭōdaka which was noted as a settlement of sādhus or merchants. From there, they seem to have migrated and settled in Tumbavana where they constructed a temple, apparently, of Pinākin or Śiva.

       It is worthy of note that in the record Kumāragupta has been mentioned twice, first in line 2, and, afterwards in line 4 where, in fact, the date of the inscription has been specified and is referred to his reign. In between these two lines mentioning Kumāragupta, that is, in line 3, occurs the name of Ghaṭōtkachagupta. It is a pity that the first half of this line has not been