South Indian Inscriptions

EPIGRAPHIA INDICA

In explaining these lines one cannot separate them from the following inscription (No. 9), its abridged reproduction, the motive of which we cannot quite make out. This comparison proves that the connection with the sect of the Dharmôttarîyas applies in the mind of the authors to Sâtimita himself. What is more doubtful, is, whether the first genitive following sa . nathasa applies to him or to his master. I do not believe in Bühler’s conjecture sama[ṇa]nâthasa. It is too risky to restore a purely hypothetical title of hardly satisfactory meaning at the cost of a mistake attributed to the engraver, and I am unable to suggest a plausible restoration of my own. It seems to me very tempting to find here the proper name (e.g. Savanâthasa or Sakanâthasa, i.e. ‘of Śarvanâtha’ or ‘of Śakranâtha’) of this master of our donor ; but generally the title thera precedes the proper name. Hence it is a priori more probable that the name is hidden in the letters following therasa, which cannot be restored with any certainty. I have said that the remaining traces would favour the reading ºputasa for the second part of the word which AS reads Nadipatisa and CTI. Nadâputisa. If we read at the beginning Na[ṁ]da, or Na[ṁ]dâº, or Na[ṁ]diº, the reading ºputasa seems to me assured by the consideration that Sâtimita, being a preacher and belonging to the sect of the Dharmôttarîyas, ought to have been a monk and consequently unmarried.^[1] As regards the use of dânamukha as an equivalent of dêyadharma, it is well known in the Buddhist epigraphy of the North-West, and its occurrence in literature is now sufficiently well established.

No. 9, Plate iii. (K. 9).
Chaitya cave. Immediately below the preceding inscription.

TEXT.
1 Sopârakâ bhayaṁtânaṁ Dhamutariyânaṁ (1) bhâṇa-
2 kasa Sâtimitasa
3 sasariro thabo dânaṁ.

REMARK.

(1) AS. and CTI. ºyâna ; but this anusvâra appears to me as certain as the others.

TRANSLATION.

“ (This) pillar containing relics (is) the gift of the preacher Sâtimita, (of the sect) of the venerable Dhaṁmutariyas, from Sopâraka.”

As I have stated in connection with the preceding inscription, I think that the gentive Dhamutariyânaṁ cannot depend, as Bühler thinks, on bhâṇakasa, but goes with Sâtimitasa ; compare the genitives Gatânaṁ and Apaguriyânaṁ at Junnar (AS. Nos. 5 and 6).

No. 10, Plate i. (K. 10).
Chaitya cave. On the fourth pillar ; left row.

TEXT.
1 Dhenukâkaṭâ
2 Dhaṁma-Yavanasa.

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^[1] We find another Sâtimita at Kuḍâ (AS. No. 5). But the type of the writing is there considerably later than that of our inscription and does not permit us to identify the two homonyms.