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APRIL, 1919]
PATNA MUSEUM INSCRIPTION OF JAY ASENA
madan in vasion took place in or about a.d. 1199 and after that according to Taranatha came the later Sênas who were subordinate to the Turushkas or Muhammadans.19 The first of this series of subordinate Sênas is Lavasena II who was succeeded by Buddhasêna. The latter, if Taranatha is to be believed, should, therefore, naturally be placed much later than A.D. 1202 and as such could not probably be the father of Jayasêna.
Text, 20 1. Om 21 svasti || 22 Sriman - Mahabodhi-puram 2 purâņam parampa : - 2. rivam niyatan Jinânâm hy = adhvasthitânam sthiti - 3. r = asti yatra sambôdhayê X5 Bodhitaros = talam cha ll [1] 4. 36 Srimad-Vajrasanaya sthala -jala-sahitah Kottha5. 14-grâma 27 @sha â-chandrårkkam pradattas = tad-adhivasata - 6. yê Mangalasvami - bhikshoh hastê sri - Sim ghalasya 28 7. tripitaka - kritiņah basanikritya rajna nir-vyâ-- 8. jah Saptaghatte halakara-ka [li]ta 29 Buddhason- & tmajê 9. [nal | [2] 30 Datto dânam - imam gråmam Jayasenah sa bhûpatih 10. [Pi] thi-patir = uvâch = êdam = Acharyaḥ satyavág - vachah [3*] *? Vamse 11. madîyê yadi kô = pi bhûpa! sishto S thava dushtata - 12. ro vinash tal) | vyatikramam châtra karoti tasya tâ13. tah kharah sûkarikâ cha mâtâ 11*3 [4*]11, Lakshmana -
14. senasy 34 - Atita -rajye 35 San 83 Kârttika Sudi 15. 19 Loc. cit. See also V. A. Smith, Early History of India, 3rd ed., 421-2.
20 From the original stone. Above the writing there is a representation of Buddha seated in the bhúmi-sparsamud:d under the Bodhi-tree, and the sun and the moon on both the sides, showing perhaps the permanency of the grant. For a similar representation cf. Epi. Ind., IX, Pl. opposite p. 262. 21 Expressed by a symbol.
- Metre : Upajati, 23 Mr. Panday reads it as pradasi. To show that it is not so one has got to compare these two letters with prada in pradalla (1. 5) and pura in purdnan (1.1) oocurring just after the word in question. Further, the reading pradar would offend against the metre and render the construction grammatically impossible. If mahabodhi pradam is taken to be an adjes tive of bodhi-taros = talash, which Mr. Panday apparently prefers, then the particle cha has nothing to be connected with. My reading purum reino ves all these difficulties. For srfman-Mahâbidhi as a place name see e.g. Epi. Ind., XII, 29; and above, XVII. 310.Bödh-gay& used at this time to be called Mahabodhi. cf. Purushottama's Bhaahav ritti (III, 3, 137), a work of the 12th century A.D. which cites Mahâbidhim ganta amal as an illustration, and Cunningham's Mahdbodhi, p. 3. ? Read parampa ..
. 5 Read sambo.
26 Metre : Sragdharà. -7 The letter m has bee damaged.
28 Read frf-Sainhalasya. 29 The upper portion of the s-stroke has peeled off. Read kalitô. 20 Metre : sloka (Anushţubh). i Wrong for datted.
32 Metre : Upajati. 29 Below the writing there is an indecent, traditional representation of this curse which is, however, not the first instance that has come to notice in Bihar,' as Sir Edward Gait says-JBORS. v. 5. For this see also an inscription of Asokachalla, now in the Indian Museum, Caloutta.-Epi. Ind., XII, 28, pl. cf. also Jo(yo)anyatha karoti tasya gardabhah pita sikari mata in a Nagavamsi inscription ibid, IX, 164; X, 34 and 42. The earliest representation of the above figure, so far as it has come to my notice, is to be found on a Bharhut relief, in the Indian Museum. After the word máta and before the word Lakshinanasenasya there is a blank space. To show the importance of a particular proper name in Indian epigraphs & space was occasionally left blank before it. Is the space left here to make the name Lakshmanasena appear more prominent than it would otherwise have been ?
31 The letter n has been so engre ved that it looks like 8.
33 Mr. Panday wrongly reads it as rajya-sam. But the d-stroke is very clear. In the two inscriptions of Asokaohalla also we got attardjye. Apparently through an over-sight this phrase in the above records was mis-read by Mr. Banerji as atka-rajya JASB., N. S., IX, 271-2; but c. Epi. Ind., XII, 29, 30. Curiously enough this erroneous reading has been supported by Pandit Gaurishankar Ojha in his new edition of the Prachina-lakhamdia, 186, n.