North Indian Inscriptions

THE GUPTA INSCRIPTIONS

protect it, about a mile to the east of the town, and at the commencement of the gorge that leads to the valley which lies round the mountain Girnar.

       The writing, which covers a space of about 10' 0" broad by 7' 3" high, is in a state of fairly good preservation; and it is only in lines 22 ff., where the rock has actually peeled off, that there are some extensive lacunae in the inscription. It is, however, not very easy to read; owing partly to the irregular, and occasionally rather shallow, nature of the engraving; partly to the roughness of the rock, and the way in which the natural marks of it mix themselves up a good deal with the letters; and partly to the fact that at several places the engraver, in consequence of unusual irregularities of the surface, passed over considerable portions of the rock and left them blank. The size of the letters varies from about 9/10" to 1 1/8". The characters belong to the southern class of alphabets; but the type is a later development of that which was used in the inscription of the Mahākshatrapa Rudradāman on the same rock; it marked characteristics is the way in which the subscript y is represented by the full form of the letter, not, as in other alphabets, by a curtailment of it; e.g. in buddhyā, line 5; vyasanī, line 6; nyāy-, line 8. The language is Sanskrit; and, except fot the opening word Siddham, and a few words in line 23, the entire inscription is in verse. In respect orthography we have to notice (1) the use of the guttural nasal, instead of the anusvāra, before ś in -vaṅśa-, line 24; (2) the doubling of dh in conjunction with a following y, in buddhyā, line 5; and (3) the indifference about the doubling of consonants in conjunction with a preceding r; e.g. the consonant is doubled in -ārtthaṁ, line 1, -āttir=, line 2, and –darpp-, line 3; but not in –vīryō, line 2, -paryanta-, line 3, sarvān=, line 5, ārjav-, line 7, and –ārjanē=rthasya, line 8.

       The inscription divides itself into two parts: the first is concerned with the renovation of the embankment of the Sudharśana lake and the second with the construction of two temples. Both the works were undertaken and completed by Chakrapālita during the reign of Skandagupta of the Imperial Gupta dynasty. As regards the first part of the record, it begins with an invocation of the god Vishṇu, which is followed by five verses in praise of the reigning king, Verse 2 informs us that he “forged an order with an effigy, namely, Garuḍa, which rendered, devoid of poison, the Serpent (bhujaṅga) rulers, who uplifted their hoods in pride and arrogance.” As royal families of the name of Nāga which term is synonymous with bhujaga were in existence during the Gupta period and as Garuḍa was an insignia of the Gupta House, it is difficult to avoid the conclusion that in Skandagupta’s time there was Nāga rising which he effectively put down. Similarly, verse 4 says that the fame of this Gupta sovereign was proclaimed by his enemies who were forced by him to return to the Mlēchchha country. Obviously these enemies must have been Mlēchchhas themselves who invaded the Gupta territory but were repulsed and compelled to return to the Mlēchchha country from which they had come. In all likelihood these Mlēchchha enemies were the Huṇās whose terrific onset against Skandagupta has been so vividly described in the Bhitarī pillar inscription (No. 31 below). Verse 11-13 narrate how Skandagupta appointed a certain Parṇadatta to govern the Surāshṭra country, that is, Kāṭhiāwāḍ, which was included in his kingdom. Parṇadatta’s son was Chakrapālita (verse 16), who was appointed by the father to govern the city at which the inscription is (verse 20). The inscription then proceeds to its real object namely, to record that the embankment of the lake Sudarśana (formed in the valley round the foot of Girnār, near where the inscription is) burst in consequence of excessive rain, at night, on the sixth day of the month Prausṭhapada (August-September) in Gupta year 136 (expired)=455-56 A.D., or “when a century of years,” as the inscription puts it, “increased by thirty and also six more (had elapsed), making the calculation according to the Gupta era” (verse 27). When the dam gave way, all the rivers that originated from the mountain Raivataka and also the