North Indian Inscriptions

THE GUPTA INSCRIPTIONS

GAḌHWĀ STONE INSCRIPTION OF KUMĀRAGUPTA I

TEXT¹

1 Om² Namō Budhāna³ [|*] Bhagavatō samyak-sambuddhasya sva-mat-āviruddhasya iyaṁ pratimā pratishṭhāpitā bhikshu-Buddhamitrēṇa
2 Samvat 100 20 9 mahārāja-śrī-Kumāraguptasya rājyē Jyēsṭha-māsa di 10 8 sarvva-duḥkkha⁴-prahān-ārttham⁵ [||*]

TRANSLATION

       Om !⁶ Obesiance to the Buddhas !⁷ This image of the Divine One, who completely attained to perfect enlightenment, (and) who was uncontroverted in respect of his tenets, has been installed by the Bhikshu Buddhamitra, (in) the year 100 (and) 20 (and) 9; in the reign of the Mahārāja, the glorious Kumäragupta; (in) the month Jyēshṭha; (on) the day 10 (and) 8, for the purpose of averting all sufferings.

No. 26 : PLATE XXVI

GAḌHWĀ STONE INSCRIPTION OF KUMĀRAGUPTA I

       This is the last of the inscriptions on the stone discovered by Rājā Śiva Prasād, in 1871-72, at Gaḍhwā, in the Allahābād District, Uttar Pradesh. It was first brought to notice, in 1873, by General Cunningham, who published his reading of the text in the CASIR., Vol. III, p. 55, accompanied by a lithograph (ibid., Plate XX, No. 1). It was afterwards edited by J. F. Fleet in CII., Vol. III, 1888, pp. 39 ff. and Pl. IV C.

       This inscription is on the lower part of the proper left side of the stone, immediately below the inscription of Chandragupta II, No. 8 above, from which it is separated only by a line across the stone.

       The last half of each line has been entirely broken away and lost. The remnant of the writing, however, covering a space of about 4" broad 10" high, is fairly well preserved and easy to read. The average size of the letters is about ¼". The characters belong to the northern class of alphabets, and are of practically the same type as those of No. 8 above.
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¹ From the ink-impression.
² As was usual throughout the whole of the period covered by this volume, this word is represented by a symbol, not by actual letters. Ōm is not of very frequent occurrence at the commencement of Buddhist inscriptions. But another instance is afforded by line 1 of the Shergaḍh (Kōṭāh) inscription of the Sāmanta Dēvadatta dated Vikrama 847 (D. R. Bhandarkar’s A List of the Inscriptions of Northern India, No. 21).
³ The form Budhāna after namō and bhagavatō immediately preceding samyak-sambuddhasya are relics of the Monumental Prakrit which survived in what is called Mixed Dialect, so commonly used in the Buddhist and Jaina inscriptions of the Kushāṇa period. The use again of genitive after nāmo is common enough in Monumental Prakrit; e.g., in the Hāthigumpha cave inscription of Khāravēla, which commences with Namō Arihaṁtānaṁ namō sava-siddhānaṁ (Ep. Ind., Vol. XX, p. 79), in the Mathurā record beginning with Namō Arahatō Mahāvirasa (Ibid., Vol. II, p. 200, No. 8) in the Amrāvatī stūpa inscription, opening with Sidham Namō bhagavatō sava-satutanasa Budhas (ASSI., Vol. III; Notes on the Amarāvati Stūpa, p. 12, No. 12 B) and others too numerous to mention.
⁴ Read duḥkha.
⁵ Read prahāṇ-ārttham.
⁶ Ōm is an auspicious exclamation, used at the beginning of books, etc. It is made up of the three letters a, u and m; and in later times it was looked upon as a mystic name for the Hindu traid, and as representing the union of the three gods, Vishṇu (a), Śiva (u), and Brahman (m). The efficacy of the exclamation is detailed in the Mānavadharmaśāstra, ii, verses 74-85 (Bühler’s Translation, SBE, Vol. XXV, pp. 43-44).
⁷ With this plural, compare the mention of four Buddhas in the Sāñchī inscription of the year 131 (CII., Vol. III, 1888, No. 62, Plate XXXVIII b) and also Bhagavatāṁ samyak-saṁbhuddhānāṁ Buddhānāṁ, “of the divine Bud- dhas, who attained to complete enlightenment” in line 22 of the Wāla grant of Dhruvasēna I. (Ind. Ant., Vol. IV, p. 105).