Epigraphia Indica Vol 15

SR No.: 032569
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Sten Konow, F W Thomas
Publisher: Archaeological Survey of India
Publication Year: 1919
Total Pages: 478
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 23 MB

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364
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA.
[VOL. XV.
by Buddhabhadra, between 398 and 421, then by Sikshanandn, between 695 and 699. The new text, as well as the accompanying letter, were entrusted to the monk Prajña, who was instructed to supply a translation. Prajña was a native of the country of Ki-pin, i.e., Kapiša. The Song kao seng choan devotes to him a short notice (ch, III; Tokyo, XXXV, 4, 80a, coll. 6-10); but we find a more extensive biography in a long memoir on the new translation inserted by Yuan-chao in his Catalogue of the New Translations made during the Period Cheng-yuan (Cheng yuan sin ting shet kiao mou lou, c, xvii; Tokyo, xxxviii, 7, 78, 8b). This catalogue is dated in the year 800 (year 16 of the period Cheng-yuan,' date given at the outset of the work, c. 1, p. la, col. 9). Yuan-chao is a contemporary of Prajña himself and his contingator. His catalogue was not included among the Chinese Tripitaka collections: it is preserved only in the Corean collection, whence it has passed into the Japanese edition. We learn from Yuan-chno that Prājña was born in Kapišā, on the western verge of the Indian world, had commenced his studies in northern India, had continued them in mid-India (madhya-dēša), that he had resided in Nålanda, visited the sacred places, had thus passed eighteen years in learning; afterwards he had settled in the monastery of the king of Wu-ch'a (Uda, Orissa), of Southern India' to study Yoga there. He had next moved to China, and made his debut there in 788 by a translation of the Mahāyāna-budhi)-Shat-paramita-sútra.
We should be glad to know whether Prūjña's journey to China after his stay in the monastery of the King of Orissa and the despatch of the Buddhist MS. autographed by the king are two directly connected occurrences; whether they express the continnity of a religious policy pursued by the Orissan king. The letter of presentation gives unfortunately nothing precise; the translation of it is preserved at the end of the text as translated by Prăjña, after the fortieth and last chapter of the Ta fang koang fou hoa yen king (Tokyo I, 6, 77b-78a), and also in the note of Yuan-chao concerning that translation (Tokyo, xxxviii, 7, 7a, col. 4599).
It is very probable that this king of Orissa "who does what is pure" is identical with the king Subhakara revealed by the inscription published by Mr. Banerji. I observe that the name of the translator Subhakara-simha, who came to China in 716 and died in 785, is translated by • the pure lion' (Giles 2177 +909 +4277). Song kao seng choan, (c. 11 inf.), an expression wherein she-tse is a translation of simha, and the word tsing pure' represents by itself the Sanskrit compound subha-kara. It is therefore very natural that Prajña should have chosen the double expression tsing tsing (Giles 3177+2188) pure-pure', to render śubha in the name Subhakara.
The Chinese testimony proves that for the name of the king we must read Subhakara and not Subhakara, as Mr. Banerji (or rather his editor, who was in fault-F. W.T.) has done. For the rest, the names of the ancestors whom he recorde, Kshēmamkara and Sivakara, prove that the princes of that dynasty formed their names with okara, and not akara, as last member.
No. 26.--A NOTE ON THE BEZWADA PILLAR INSCRIPTION OF YUDDHAMALLA.
By O. R. KRISHNAMACHARI, B.A., MADRAS. The translation of verse 4 of this inscription, giveu above, Vol. XV., p. 159, has to undergo, I think, some modifications. The correctiou of tratyaksha [th]bayannan=ichcha of the text (11. 26 and 27) into bratyakshamai (i.e., pratyakshamai) yunnan=ichcha (ibid., p. 158, foot-note 3) is unnecessary. The expression must be analysed as pratyakshanba yannan (=pratyakshanba