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

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EPIGRAPHIA INDICA.
[VOL. XXIV.
REMARKS.
For palæographical reasons the inscription must be assigned to the period before Kanishka. The fixing of an early date is also supported by the language which is pure Prakrit and further by the fact that the inscription records the setting up of an ayagapaṭṭa. In the Kushan times the dedication of ayagapattas seems to have gone out of fashion, there being no inscription in Kushan characters on any of the sculptured slabs unearthed at the Kankali Ţilā.
The two words Mathurakasa kālavāļasa, which, though partly restored, may be regarded as perfectly certain, are of special interest, because they give us a hint as to the meaning of the term Mäthuri kalavada used in the Mōra inscription, and at the same time confirm what I have said about the social position of the kalavala. The donor of the slab would hardly have called himself simply by his title, without adding his personal name, if he had not been an official of very high rank.
V.-Inscription on the pedestal of an image from Gapëshrā.
The inscription is on the pedestal of a standing figure of which only the feet remain. It is incised on the top of the pedestal between the feet. The stone was acquired by Pandit Radha Krishna from a Koli who is said to have obtained it from a Brahmin's house in the village of Ganeshra, three miles north-west of Mathura City. It is now in the Mathura Museum. The inscription was edited by Vogel, Cat. Arch. Mus. Mathura, p. 122, No. G42.
TEXT.
1 Maha[damḍa]na[yakasya]() yamasha
2 [heka][y]a() [v]is[v]a[saka]sya(3) Ulānāsya(") paṭimā
NOTES.
(1) Only the first two aksharas are well preserved, the rest of the word is more or less effaced. Vogel reads maha[hi]na[yanasya], but the reading given above is certain with the exception of the anusvära1. (2) This is Vogel's reading. The first akshara is possibly ya, though the a-stroke would be very short. The lower portion of the he and the ka and the subscript ya have disappeared through the breaking off of the stone. The he is doubtful, and instead of ka we may read na. (3) Vogel: [vi]sa[ya]sya. The lower portion of vi and the subscript va are mutilated. There may have been an a-sign attached to the śva, but it is doubtful. The third and fourth aksharas are almost completely effaced, but from the faint traces they can be read with certainty as saka. There seems to have been no i-sign on the top of the sa. (4) Vogel: Ulanasya. The a-sign of la is quite distinct.
TRANSLATION.
The image of the great general, the yamashaheka(?) (and) visvasaka Ulana.
REMARKS.
From the inscription it appears that the statue represented the great general Ulana, who, judging from his name, was certainly a Saka, Ulana being formed with the suffix -āna which is common in the Saka language. What is left of the statue, points into the same direction. The feet are shod with the same wadded boots that are worn by Kanishka in his well-known statue.
1 According to Mr. V. 8. Agrevala the word was correctly read by Days Ram Sahni in the Annual Report Northern Circle, 1921, p. 3, which is not accessible to me.