Epigraphia Indica Vol 28

SR No.: 032582
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Hirananda Shastri
Publisher: Archaeological Survey of India
Publication Year: 1949
Total Pages: 526
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 31 MB

Page 81

EPIGRAPHIA INDICA
Vol. XXVIII,
TEXT
1 Svasti Srī[ll*] Ko-Mā[ rãn)2 [ja]daiyarkk-iyān[du] 3 nāngām-attaikkredi[c! 4 oņbadām yan[du] 5 Daņu-ñāyarru-tTi[0]6 gat-kilamai perra [A]7 vitta mudal=āga I[dai; 8 yārrumangalat(tu)9 Tiru-Mayilrangat(tu] 10 Perumānadigaļuk[ku] 11 iravum pagalumm=i[ra]12 ndu nondāvilak[k=e]13 rippad-aga Kõ-Mārañ[ja]- 14 daiyar=ayina Pandya
15 adipati Varaguņa-ma[gā)16 [rā]jar A[n]danātu [Vēj17 län kaiyyil viļu(ta). 18 n[da] pop pādi:
No. 7-CURZON MUSEUM INSCRIPTION OF KANISHKA'S REIGN ; YEAR 23
(1 Plate) B. CH. CHHABRA, OOTACAMUND
This short but highly important record appears on the pedestal of a Bodhisattva image, now deposited in the Curzon Museum of Archaeology at Mathură. It has been briefly noticed in the Annual Report, Archaeological Survey of India, for 1920-21, p. 35. A pointed reference to this has subsequently been made by Prof. V. V. Mirashi, urging the desirability of its proper edition.
The inscription is not well preserved. Portions of it have apparently been destroyed. The writing is arranged as follows: the upper band of the pedestal contains one line uninterrupted; below that, in the centre, appears the tri-ratna symbol flanked by two human figures, apparently one male and one female ; behind each figure occurs a short line of inscription ; to the extreme left there is a figure of rampant lion; corresponding to this there must have been a similar figure on the extreme right also, which is now damaged; the last line of the inscription occurs on the lower band, right at the bottom; a portion of this line seems to have been obliterated. In this way the inscription occurs in four sections rather than in four regular lines.
The characters are Brāhmi of the usual Kushāņa type. The form of m in the very first word is noteworthy inasmuch as it is of the southern class. That in Masyagutasya is of the northern clase, which is more common in the Kushāna inscriptions, while m in [ma]härasya, which immediately precedes the word Masyagutasya, is not clear. In fact, it is doubtful whether it is m at all. The subscript y in the first word is of the tripartite kind, while elsewhere in the inscription it is throughout of the bipartite type. 1 The rest of the inscription is lost. . Abovo, Vol. XXVI, p. 295, n. 2.