South Indian Inscriptions

Contents
Index
Introduction
Contents
List of Plates
Additions and Corrections
Images
Contents
Altekar, A. S
Bhattasali, N. K
Barua, B. M And Chakravarti, Pulin Behari
Chakravarti, S. N
Chhabra, B. CH
Das Gupta
Desai, P. B
Gai, G. S
Garde, M. B
Ghoshal, R. K
Gupte, Y. R
Kedar Nath Sastri
Khare, G. H
Krishnamacharlu, C. R
Konow, Sten
Lakshminarayan Rao, N
Majumdar, R. C
Master, Alfred
Mirashi, V. V
Mirashi, V. V., And Gupte, Y. R
Narasimhaswami, H. K
Nilakanta Sastri And Venkataramayya, M
Panchamukhi, R. S
Pandeya, L. P
Raghavan, V
Ramadas, G
Sircar, Dines Chandra
Somasekhara Sarma
Subrahmanya Aiyar
Vats, Madho Sarup
Venkataramayya, M
Venkatasubba Ayyar
Vaidyanathan, K. S
Vogel, J. Ph
Index.- By M. Venkataramayya
Other South-Indian Inscriptions
Volume 1	Volume 2
Volume 3	Vol. 4 - 8
Volume 9	Volume 10
Volume 11	Volume 12
Volume 13	Volume 14
Volume 15	Volume 16
Volume 17	Volume 18
Volume 19	Volume 20
Volume 22 Part 1	Volume 22 Part 2
Volume 23	Volume 24
Volume 26	Volume 27
Tiruvarur	Darasuram
Konerirajapuram	Tanjavur
Annual Reports 1935-1944	Annual Reports 1945- 1947
Corpus Inscriptionum Indicarum Volume 2, Part 2	Corpus Inscriptionum Indicarum Volume 7, Part 3
Kalachuri-Chedi Era Part 1	Kalachuri-Chedi Era Part 2
Epigraphica Indica	Epigraphia Indica Volume 3
Epigraphia Indica Volume 4	Epigraphia Indica Volume 6
Epigraphia Indica Volume 7	Epigraphia Indica Volume 8
Epigraphia Indica Volume 27	Epigraphia Indica Volume 29
Epigraphia Indica Volume 30	Epigraphia Indica Volume 31
Epigraphia Indica Volume 32	Paramaras Volume 7, Part 2
Śilāhāras Volume 6, Part 2	Vākāṭakas Volume 5
Early Gupta Inscriptions
Archaeological Links
Archaeological-Survey of India
Pudukkottai

EPIGRAPHIA INDICA

PRAKRIT INSCRIPTIONS FROM GHANTASALA

This sculpture is a recumbent lion figure, alas sadly mutilated, the head and forelegs having vanished. We may imagine that ornamental sculptures of this kind were carved by the sculptors in their worship and that, when several orders had to be carried out, a notice like the present was not superfluous.

The fourth inscription (D) is found on a stone slab which must also have belonged to a pillar, as part of the decorative carving in the shape of a lotus-rosette is visible over the writing. The pillar is split from top to bottom with the result that of the six lines of writing only the initial five, six or seven aksharas have been preserved. The fragmentary state of the epigraph renders it impossible to state its exact purport. The opening word sidhaṁ is followed by the locative Paṭanē which probably indicates the locality where the monument of which the pillar formed part was erected. We may safely assume that the first line ended with the syllables apa-, so that, when combining them with the begging of the second line we have [Apa]rasēliyānaṁ. The Pāli chronicles of Ceylon (Mahāvaṁsa, v. 12, and Dīpavaṁsa, v. 54) mention the Pubba-and Aparasēlikas as two subdivisions of the Mahāsaṅghikas. The Aparasēlikas are presumably the same as the Aparamahāvinasēliyas, mentioned three times in the Nāgārjunikoṇḍa inscriptions.

The fifth inscription (E), which is cut on a stone slab, consists of three lines. The aksharas ta, ya and ha show a different and perhaps earlier type, when compared with the inscriptions A-D. The writing is plain and irregular. The inscription is well preserved with the exception of a portion of the third line where a few letters have become effaced. Evidently, the inscription records the pious gift, by a lady, of an āyaka pillar. Such pillars existed also at Amarāvatī, Jaggayyapēṭa and Nāgārjunikoṇḍa. The term met with in the Jaggayyapēṭa inscriptions is āyakakhaṁbha, which I have discussed in my edition of the Nāgārjunikoṇḍa inscriptions.^[1]

We now proceed to give transcripts and translations of the five inscriptions.

TEXTS	TRANSLATIONS
A2	A
1 [Si]dhaṁ \| Ukhasirivadha[mane] Kaṁ- ṭakasōla-vathavēna 2 Dhaṁmavāniya-putēna Budhisirigahapa- tinā imaṁ 3 sēla-maṁḍapō sa-gaṁdhakuḍi-vētika-tō- raṇō kāritō ti	Success ! At Ukhasiriva[d]dhamāna this stone maṇḍapa with a gandhakuṭī, a railing (vēdikā)3 and a tōraṇa was caused to be made by the householder Bu[d]- dhisiri, the son of Dhammavāniya. a resident of Kaṇṭakasōla.

B4	B
1 Sidhaṁ \| Ukhasirivadham[ā]nē Kaṁ- ṭakasōla-vatha[vēna] 2 Dhaṁmavāniya-putēna Budhisirigaha- patina [imaṁ] 3 sēla-maṁḍapō sa-gaṁdhakuḍi-vētika- tōraṇō k[āritō ti]	Ditto.5
C	C
Ukhasirivadham[ā]nē Budhisirigahapati- maṁḍavasa \|	Of the maṇḍapa of the householder Bu[d]dhisin at Ukhasiriva[d]dhamāna.

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^[1] Above, Vol. XX. p. 2. Cf. S. Paranavitana, The Stūpa in Ceylon (Memoirs Arch. Survey of Ceylon, Vol. V), 1947, pp. 59 f.
^[2] The inscribed pillar was found by Dr. Chhabra near to Ramaṇamma tank at Ghaṇṭasāla.
^[3] The form vētikā occurs in Amarāvatī inscriptions (cf. Lüders, List, Nos. 1216 and 1269). With the personal name Dhammavāniya we may compare Budhi[vā]niya in inscription F, 1. 2, from Nāgārjunikoṇḍa (above, Vol. XX, p. 22).
^[4] The inscribed pillar, about 5 ft. long and 1 ft. wide, is square below and octagonal above. It is now in the compound of the choultry.
^[5] The text of B is identical with that of A from which the missing syllables have been restored.

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