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 350

No. 46]
FOOTPRINT SLAB INSCRIPTION FROM NAGARJUNIKONDA
249
for the construction of a Chaitya-griha in the monastery on the Little Dharmagiri in the Sriparvata range to the east of the city of Vijayapuri for the acceptance of certain Acharyas or Buddhist teachers who are stated inter alia to have belonged to the Tämraparna or Tāmraparni country, i.e. Ceylon (Tamba pamnaka), and converted to the Buddhist faith the peoples of Kasmira, Gandhåra, China, Kirāta, Tosali, Aparānta, Vanga, Vanavāsī, Yavana, Damila, Palura and Tāmraparni-dvipa. Although the list of countries in the present epigraph contain only five out of the twelve names of the other inscription probably due to the shortage of space, the teachers mentioned in the two records may be the same. In that case, the Buddhist teachers referred to in our inscription were of Ceylonese origin.
The epithet theriyānam applied to achariyānam in both the inscriptions is interesting. The word theriya in the masculine plural used in the Mahāvansa has been taken to mean the fraternities of the Theravādins'.1 Vogel, who edited the other Nagarjunikonda inscription referred to above, derived the word theriya from thera, 'a monk, an elder'. According to him, theriya is primarily an adjective meaning 'belonging to the theras or monks' from which comes the substantive sense of 'a fraternity or community (of monks)', while N. Dutt commenting on Vogel's views was inclined to interpret the word theriyānan as 'of the nuns' and took all the epithets in the feminine gender. But the epithet Mahāvihāra-vāsinan (of those dwelling in the Mahāvibāra or Great Monastery) used in our record is in the masculine and shows that Dutt's interpretation is wrong. This Mahävihāra seems to be identical with the Buddhist monastery of that name mentioned in several other Nagarjunikonda inscriptions referring to 'the Mahācbaitya in the Mahāvihāra' and indicating the location of the monastery in the Nagarjunikonda valley. As it is difficult to believe that the Great Monastery at the Ikshvāku capital accommodated nuns, this fact also appears to go against Dutt's suggestion.
The epithet Vibhaja-vāda (Vibhajja-vāda) indicates that the teachers in question belonged to the Vibhajja-vāda school. Vibhajja-vāda is the doctrine of analysis or the religion of logic or reason and is identical with the Theravada or doctrine of the Elders, which was the original teaching of the Buddhist Church. Thus our inscription mentions the teachers both as Theriya (i.e. Thera-vādin) and as Vibhaja-vāda (i.e. Vibhajja-vādin).
The remaining two epithets refer to the learning of the Buddhist teachers. One of them says that they were experts in determining the meaning and implication of the nine-fold teachings of the Sāstri, i.e. the Buddha (naranga-Sathu-sasana-atha-vyajana-vinichhaya-visarada=nav-āngaSastri-fäsan-ārtha-vyanjana-vinischaya-vibārada). Pali Satthu-säsana (Sanskrit Sāstri-sāsana) is often used in literature to indicate Buddha-éāsana, i.e. the doctrine or teachings of the Buddha, one of the Lord's popular names being Satthā (Sanskrit Sāstri). The nine divisions of the Buddhist scripture are Sutta (sermons in prose), Geyya (sermons in prose and verse), Veyyākarana (explanation or commentary), Gatha (scriptures in stanzas), Udāna (pithy sayings), Itivuttaka (short speeches of the Buddha), Jātaka (stories of the Buddha's former births), Abbhuta-dhamma (stories of miracles)
1 Cf. Childers, op. cit., 8.v.
** Abovo, Vol. XX, pp. 23, 29. He took the Achariyas as different from the fraternities (of monks) of Tambapamhna (Ceylon)'.
Cf. IHQ, Vol. VII, pp. 633 ff.
Of. Above, Vol. XX, p. 19 (Ayaka pillar inscription B5, line 5), p. 22 (second apsidal templo inscription F. line 3); Vol. XXI, p. 66 (pillar inscription M 2, line 3). It is doubtful if the Mahävihāra-väsins mentioned in our noord can be regarded as a subsect of the Theravādin-Vibhajjavidin community (cf. MASI, No. 71, p. 36).
See P.T.S. Pāli Dictionary, s.v.