Epigraphia Indica Vol 24

SR No.: 032578
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Hirananda Shastri
Publisher: Archaeological Survey of India
Publication Year: 1937
Total Pages: 472
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 22 MB

Page 239

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EPIGRAPHIA INDICA.
[VOL. XXIV.
heroes" of the canonical list, and therefore probably also the five heroes of the Vrishnis' worshipFed in the temple at Mōrā, were Baladeva, Akrüra, Anādhṛshți, Sărapa, and Vidûratha."
In the following lines the stone-house (sailam griham), of course, cannot be anything else but the stone-temple (sailadevagri(ha)) mentioned before, and the archädeśam sailam pamcha must refer to the five images of the Vrishnis. I take archädeśa as a compound of archa 'adoration' and desa as used bere in the sense that in later literature is conveyed by the synonyms aspada, pada, sthana. The lengthening of the initial a before r followed by a consonant found in archa seems to be a peculiarity of the Mathura dialect; compare the frequent spelling ärhat, ärahat, ärahamta, ärahata in Mathura inscriptions of the Kushan period1 and artthasiddhaye, ärttheshu in the manuscript of the Buddhist dramas dating from the same time. That archā was used with special reference to the worship of images is shown by the fact that the word in course of time assumed the meaning image of a god'; cf. dirghanasiky-archa, tunganäsiky-archā, Mahabhashya 2,222,18; Mauryair-hiranyarthibhir-archaḥ prakalpitaḥ, ibid. 2,429,3; abhyam linge=rchitah Sambhur-archāyām bhavatā punaḥ quoted in the commentary on Mankha 138. In the Kosas archa is quoted among the words for image (pratima); Am. 2,10,36; Hal. 1,131, Hem Abh. 1463, An. 2,54; Vaij. 220,1. Grammatically archädeśām sailam pamcha is acc. plur. agreeing with jualataḥ. The spelling with the anuseara instead of n is not only quite common in the Central Asian manuscripts of the canon of the Sarvästivädins, but occurs also in the manuscript of the Buddhist dramas and in the manuscript of the Kalpanamanditikä written in early Gupta script".
Little as is left of the last two lines, the language of this portion of the inscription will strike the reader as being unusual in a donative record. An expression such as jvalata iva paramavapusha sounds like poetry. Now an examination of the two lines shows that both of them begin like a Bhujangavijrimbhita the scheme of which is -
0-0-00-- in the quarter. Even the doubtful word udadhasama dhara conforms to it in Cunningham's reading. That this was really the metre in which the two lines were composed can be shown also in a different way. The writing preserved in line 4 which consists of 19 aksharas fills about 111". A hemistich of 52 aksharas would fill about 2'7", and allowing 3" or 4" for the blank at the beginning and at the end of the line and between the two quarters of the hemistich, we arrive at a total length of 2' 10" or 2' 11" for the writing of one hemistich, which agrees exactly with Dr. Vogel's statement that the width of the slab is 2' 11". It is thus proved that the stanza was engraved in hemistiches. Our inscription is the earliest example of this mode of writing verses which prevailed in the ornamental inscriptions on pillars and slabs until about the middle of the fifth century A.D. and occasionally occurs still in later times. As far as I know, it is never found in copper plates, but it was practised 1 See Nos. 78; 102; 105; 110 of my List of Brahmi Inscriptions. Bruchstücke buddhistischer Dramen, p. 31. The lengthening bears an analogy to the lengthening of the initial a followed by nt in the Mathura inscriptions; see ämteväsi, amteväsini in Nos. 93; 99.
Loc. cit. p. 31: bhaga(va), and even érinvam (for érinvan) pushpā..
Bruchstücke der Kalpanamanditikā, p. 40; asmim hi, jivam hi, mamträn paramarshibhashitām ka-.
Cf. Möharault iron pillar inscription of Chandra (GI. No. 32); Allahabad pillar inscription of Samudragupta (GI. No. 1); Eran stone inscription of Samudragupta (GI. No. 2); Udayagiri cave inscription of the time of Chandragupta II. (GI. No. 6); Bilsad pillar inscription of the reign of Kumaragupta I. (GI. No. 10); Bihär pillar the verses partitioned off, while the well inscription dated in V. 589 (GI. No. 35) is written in continuous unes.