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EPIGRAPHIA INDICA
. . . . . . , (and) son’s son of the king, the Mahâkshatrapa Lord Chashṭana
the taking of whose name is auspicious,[1] . . . . . .
. . . . when by the clouds pouring with rain the earth had been
converted as it were into one ocean,[2] by the excessively swollen floods of the Suvarṇasikatâ
Palâśinî and other streams of mount Ûrjayat the dam . . . . . .
. . . . . , though proper precautions [wee taken], the water─ churned by a storm
which, of a most tremendous fury befitting the end of a mundane period, tore down hill-tops, trees,
banks, turrets, upper stories, gates and raised places of shelter[3]─ scattered, broke to pieces,
[tore apart] . . . . . ,─ with stones, trees, bushes and creeping
plant scattered about, was thus[4] laid open down to the bottom of the river :─
(L. 7.) By a breach four hundred and twenty cubits long, just as many broad, (and)
seventy-five cubits deep, all the water escaped, so that (the lake), almost like a sandy desert,
[became] extremely ugly [to look at].[5]
(L. 8.) [6] . . . . for the sake of . . . . . ordered to be made by the Vaiśya
Pushyagupta, the provincial governor[7] of the Maurya king Chandragupta ; adorned with
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[1] The exact meaning of sugṛihîta-nâman is well indicated by a passage in the Harshacharita, Bombay ed.
p. 210, l. 6, which shows the result of uttering a bad man’s name : nâm=âpi gṛihṇatô ’ sya pâpakâriṇaḥ pâpamalêna
lipyata iva mê jihrâ, ‘ as I take merely the name of this miscreant, my tongue seems soiled with a smirch of sin.’
Sugṛihîra-nâman itself often occurs in the Harshacharita, applied to royal or noble personages, both living and
deceased ; compare p. 30, l. 6 ; p. 85, l. 13 ; p. 101, l. 6 ; p. 179, l. 3 ; p. 200, l. 1 ; p. 246, l. 20 ; p. 261, l. 23 ; and
p. 278, .l 19. From inscriptions I can quote only sugṛihîta-nâmadhêya which occurs in the Bâdâmi pillar inscription of Maṅgalêśa, applied to Maṅgalêśa’s grandfather Raṇarâga, Ind. Ant. Vol. XIX. p. 16, l. 3 of the text.
[2] For the notion of the earth’s being converted into one ocean (êkârṇava-bhûtâyâm=iva) compare e.g. Râm.
V. 49, 20 : ayaṁ hy=utsahatê kruddhaḥ kartum=êkârṇavaṁ jagat. I may add that nouns ending in bhûta like
êkârṇava-bhûta are most common in the Râmâyaṇa ;I have noted âścharya-bhûta, tṛiṇa-bh., dahana-bh., nimitta-bh., nyâsa-bh., ratna-bh., Râma-bh., mṛita-bhûta iva (III. 36, 23), and others.
[3] My translation of upatalpa and uchchhraya requires some, justification. Dr. Bhagvanlal Indraji has translated the former by ‘ (pieces of) the neighbouring ground,’ Prof. Bühler by ‘ Tempelzinnen ’ (i.e. pinnacles of
temples) ; and both scholars, I do not know on what authority, have rendered uchchhraya by ‘ pillars of victory.’
To me it seems highly probable that the words aṭṭâlak-ôpatalpa of our text are identical in sense (as they are
closely connected in form) with talp-âṭṭa in Ragh. XVI. 11, viśîrṇa-talp-âṭṭa-śatô nivêśaḥ ; there talpa is
explained to mean ‘ a room on the top of a house ’ or ‘ upper story,’ and the same meaning I would claim for
upatalpa. Uchchhraya in line 1 of this inscription is used in the sense of ‘ height,’ and in line 13 in that of ‘ raising,
lifting up, elevation.’ The word also (see e.g. the commentary on Râm. VII. 81, 10) means ‘ anything which
rises,’ ‘ elevation ’ in the sense of ‘ an elevated piece of ground,’ etc. ;and if in the present passage we take
śaraṇôchchhraya as one word, there is no reason to go beyond that strictly etymological meaning. Śaraṇôchchhraya
would be ‘ any raised place serving as shelter,’ a meaning that seems perfectly appropriate. We may compare
stambhôchchhraya in Gupta Inscr. p. 44, l. 13, used clearly in the sense of ‘ a raised pillar, a lofty pillar ’ (uchchhritaḥ
stambhaḥ, as the expression is ibid. p. 9, l. 30).─ The reader will observe the contrast between uchchharaya and the
immediately following vidhvaṁsin, which two words remind one of udaya-dhvaṁsa and similar expressions found
elsewhere.
[4] Viz. in the manner described in the following paragraph of the inscription.
[5] For the play on the words─ the lake Sudarśana became durdarśana─ compare Gupta Inscr. p. 60, l. 17.
[6] This paragraph speaks of the original construction of the lake during the reign of the Maurya Chandragupta
and of improvements made under (his grandson) Aśôka. The subject of the sentence undoubtedly again was ‘ the
lake’ ; ‘ the lake (probably for the benefit of the people) had been ordered to be made . . . ; it was
adorned . . . ’).
[7] The position held by Pushyagupta and Tushâspha, who were immediately instrumental in the making and
improving of the lake under Chandragupta and Aśôka, is indicated by the words râshṭriyêṇa and adhishṭhâya
respectively. Considering that adhi-shṭhâ in line 20 of this inscription is used in the sense of ‘ to govern,’ and that
adhishṭhâna in line 18 means ‘ government,’ it seems most natural to ascribe the same meaning also to adhishthâya
in the present passage, i.e. to translate it by ‘ after having assumed the government ’ or ‘ while he was governing
(this province).’ And this again should lead us, I think, to ascribe a similar meaning to râshṭriya. I accordingly
take this word, in its etymological sense, to be equivalent to râshṭrê ’ dhikṛita, ‘ appointed to rule a province or
district,’ as the word is explained e.g. in the commentaries on Amarakôśa I. 7, 14 (compare also Pâṇini IV. 2,
93). The technical meaning ‘ a king’s brother-in-law,’ which the word has in the plays, would seem to be out of
place here.
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