Epigraphia Indica Vol 33

SR No.: 032587
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: D C Sircar
Publisher: Archaeological Survey of India
Publication Year: 1959
Total Pages: 514
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 29 MB

Page 349

248 EPIGRAPHIA INDICA
[Vol. XXXIII There are only three lines of writing covering an area about 134 inches in length and about 2 inches in height. The first line is slightly bigger than the second owing to the incision of the auspicious word sidhan in the left margin, while the third line is smaller than the second. Tbe letters, excepting conjuncts as well as ā, k and r and the letters with vowel-marks added to the top or the bottom, a, 6 less than half an inch in height. The characters are similar to those of the epigraphs incised during he reign of the Ikshvāku king Virapurushadatta and may be assigned on palaeographical grounds to a date about the middle of the third century A.D. Among the few points of palaeographical interest noticed in the record, mention may be made of the fact that the medial i is of the ordinary short type and not of the elongated ornamental form generally found in the Ikshvāku records. This was apparently due to the narrow space available for engraving the epigraph. In the passage Tambapanni-dipa-pasādakanam in line 1, the second n is of the usual type but the first one exhibits a somewhat earlier form. The language of the inscription is Prakrit and its orthography resembles that of the inscriptions of Virapurushadatta's time. The modification of the surd to the sonant is noticed in the word samghādā or sanghāda (sanghaļā or sanghāļa) in line 3. Medial i and n have been generally used in the record for medial i and n.
The inscription begins with the auspicious word sidham which is followed by the only sentence in which the record is written. The object of the epigraph is to record the installation of the pair of the Lord's (i.e. Buddha's) feet in the Vihāra or Buddhist monastery which has now been exposed by the excavations at Site V-6 at Nagarjunikonda. The language of the passage is vihāre bhagardto pada-samghādā nipati(hapito (line 3). The intended reading apparently being pāda-sanghādā nipatithapitā or päda-sanghādo nipatithapito. The expression used to indicate the feet of the lord is pāda-sanghādā or pāda-sanghāda which reminds us of Pali atthi-sanghāta, used in the sense of 'the joint (i.e. bone-coupling)' according to scholars. The word is the same as Sanskrit sanghātikā, meaning a pair, a couple'. Thus päda-sanghäța means 'the pair of feet' obviously referring to the representation of the feet near which the epigraph is incised. The participle nipatithapita has been used in the sense of patithapita (pratisthāpita, installed). The purpose behind the installation of the Lord's feet in the monastery is stated to have been the prayer (athanā, arthana) for the welfare and happiness of all beings (sava-satānam hita-sukh-athanaya). But the person responsible for the installation is not mentioned in the record.
The Vihara or monastery in which the Lord's feet were installed is stated to have belonged to certain Achariyas or Buddhist teachers who are endowed with a number of interesting epithets. These epithets are Theriya, Vibhaja-väda, Kasmira-Gandhara-Yarana-Vanavāsa-Tambapannidinapasādaka, Mahāvihåravāsin, Navanga-Sathu-sasana-atha-vyajana-vinichhaya-visarada and Ariyavanitsa-paveni-dhara. Among these epithets, the third stating that the said teachers converted to the Buddhist faith the peoples of Kasmira, Gandhāra, Yavana, Vanavāsa and Tämraparņi-dvipa is most interesting since it reminds us of the package .... tarāj-āchariyanan Kasmira-Gamdhāra-China-Chilata-Tosali-Avaramta-Varga-Vanatāsi-Yarana-Damila-Palura-Tantapannidipapasādakanan Theriyānań Tamba pamnakānam suparigahe Siripavale Vijayapuriya pura-disabhāge viháre Chula-Dhanmagiriyan Chetiya-gharam an-pata-santharaṁ sa-chetiyar sava-niyutan kāritam uvāsikāya Bolhisiriya occurring in another inscription from Nagarjunikonda. The passage states how an upāsika (female lay worshipper of the Buddha) named Bodhisri was responsible
1 Soe Childers' Pali Dictionary, s.v. sanghafo. The intended reading does not appear to be samghädani.
The word pasadaka means literally 'causing serenity or happiness' and figuratively converting to the Buddhist faith'. The Maharamsa unes the expression dipa-prasadako thero to indicate the monk who converted the Island (Ceylon)'. See Childers, op. cit., s.v.
• Vogel suggests the restoration bhadanta-raj-achariyanan here. But the intended reading appears to be Achantaraj-achariyanan occurring in a similar context, in another Nagarjunikonda inscription (Nagarjunikonda Souvenir, ed. Rama Rao, pp. 44-45) and probably meaning the teachers of the Achantarāja school'.
Above, Vol. XX, p. 22.