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 97

58
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA
[VOL. XXXIII
The full text of our inscription was therefore restored as: Pusadataye nagarikaye bhikhuniye Sakāye suchi (or thabho) dänam and translated as, "[A rail (or, pillar) which is the gift) of the [Buddhist] nun Pushyadattā, an inhabitant of the city."
It is now seen that there is no trace of any letter after the word bhikhuniye and the epigraph is therefore not fragmentary. Of course a layer of the stone has peeled off about the end of the line; but, even if it may be supposed that there were some letters in this damaged part, they could not have been more than two in number since there is no space for more. At best therefore the word dānam may have been engraved after bhikhuniye, although I feel that bhikhuniye is the last word of the record. Indeed Pusadataye nagarikaye bhikhuniye (i.e."[The gift of Pushyadatta, the nun of the city ") and Sakāye thabho dānam (i.e." The pillar (which is the gift of Sakı ") are two different records as read by Cunningham and do not make a single record as suggested by Barua and Sinha.
The word bhikshuni is found in the Barhut records in both the forms bhichhuni and bhikhuni.1
No. 2 The cross-bar bearing this inscription in one line bears the number Ac/2972. It is incised on the stone covering an area about 104 inches in length. Individual aksharas are about 16 inch in height. The inscription reads as follows:
[Na]garakhitasa chu mātu Chakamuchukaye dānam. It may be translated as: "[This pillar is] the gift of Nagarakshita and (his) mother Chakramochikā." But the word chu seems to suggest that the present epigraph was the second of a set of two inscriptions, the first recording a gift of Nāgarakshita, while the inscription under study only the gift of his mother. The gentleman and the lady mentioned in the record are not known from any other inscription from Barhut. A Buddhist monk of Pushkara, named Nāgarakshita, is, however, known from an inscription of about the same period ; but he appears to be different from the person of the same name mentiored in the record under study.
No. 3 The railing pillar on which this fragmentary inscription in one line is engraved bears the number Ac/2918. The writing covers a space measuring 54 inches in length with individual aksharas slightly less than an inch in height. The epigraph reads... girino bhanakasa bhātu, after which there are traces of an akshara which may be pa or ha. The word bhānaka indicates & reciter (of sacred texts]' and a number of such reciters are mentioned in the Barhut epigraphs. Our inscription apparently records the gift either of Ha (or Pa)................, the brother of a reciter whose name ended with the word giri, or of both the reciter and his brother.
This inscription reminds us of another Barhut epigraph which reads : Namdagirino bhānakasa Selapurakasa thabho dānan. “The pillar (which is] the gift of the reciter Nandagiri, an inhabitant of Sailapura". It is not unlikely that the same reciter named Nandagiri is mentioned in the record under study. A person named Nandagiri is known from another Barhut inscription;' but he was not a bhānaka.
1 Cf. Barus and Sinha, op. cit., p. 11, No. 19; pp. 17 f., No. 45 (1 and 3), etc.; and p. 12, No. 22; p. 13, No. 28; p. 18 (4); eto.
18. C. Kala, op. cit., p. 33, No. 19. . Laders' List, No. 607. .8. c. Kala, op. cit., pp. 21-22.
C. Barua and Sinha, op. cit., p. 8, No. 15; p. 11, No. 20; p. 13, No. 27; oto. • Ibid., p. 18, No. 41. * Ibid., p. 37, No. 13.