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No. 8.)
NASIK CAVE INSCRIPTIONS.
TRANSLATION. Success! (The gift) of Indrågnidatta, son of Dhammadova, the Yavana, a northerner from Dattåmitri. By him, inspired by true religion, this cave has been caused to be excavated in mount Tiraṇhu, and inside the cave a Chaityagriha and cisterns. This cave made for the sako of his father and mother has been, in order to honour all Buddhas, bestowed on the universal Sangha of monks, together with his son Dhammarakhita."
It is very fortunate indeed that a várttika on Panini (IV. 7, 104) has preserved the tradition of a word auttaráha, for which the etymology from uttara seems to indicate the meaning
northern.' The derivation of the word would, otherwise, have been the more puzzling because, as far as I know, analogous formations are wanting.
Bühler (AS. p. 38) and before him Bhandarkar have already conjectured that Dattåmitri would be an Indian adaptation of the Arachosian Demetrias, a name mentioned by Isidore of Kharax. The reading dharmatmand is sure. It may be an error of the engraver for mano; but I cannot find this very admissible in an inscription so carefully written. On the other hand, it would be surprising if the participle khánitan had to be construed with a genitive in the place of an instrumental. I prefer to take the first words as far as Idrágnidatasa as a complete clause, meaning a gift' or 'a cave of Indrågnidatta ... A new sentence would begin with dhanmatmaná, and, as has been intimated before (N. 10), this construction would imply that the donor had undertaken the work and made that grant under the impression of his recent conversion to Buddhism.
Chaityagriha means an oratory at the end of which a stúpa is erected as the object or the centre of cult. Compare for instance the Kuda inscriptions 13 and 20.
No. 19, Plate iii. (Ksh. 4). In Cave No. 18, on the fifth and sixth pillars of the right-hand row.
TEXT. 1 Rarimacha-Arahalayasa Chalisilaņakasa (1) duhutuya Mahahakusi2 r.. ya Bhatapálikaya (2) râyâmachasa Agiyatanakasabhamdákarika3 yasa bhâriyâya (3) Kapaņaņakamatuya chetiyagharam pavato 4 Tiranhuni nithapåpita.
REMARKS. (1) G.cha Lisila", but the comparison of the li of pálikedya in the following line seems to prove that we have to read li; AS. olisdlana'.- (2) Gorirayabha; AS. ori[y]yaya Bha', adding a note: the first letter may also be read ri; the second which looks like rá is certainly mutilated." It seems indeed impossible to doubt that the first traces visible on the left express an r. The vowel is entirely uncertain, but what precedes necessitates the reading ri or ri. Between r and ya I can discern nothing; at the utmost would the back of the estampage point to the vowel i before the y, the consonant remaining undetermined. However this may be, the space between the initial r and the ya seems too large to be conveniently filled up only by Bhagwanlal's rá. (3) G. oya Satáriyao.
TRANSLATION. "By Bhatapálika, [grand-daughter] of Mahhakusiri and daughter of the royal officer Arahalaya from Chalisilaņa, wife of the royal officer Agiyatanaka, of the treasure office, mother of Kapananaka, this Chaityagriha has been caused to be perfected on this mount Tiranhu."
To judge from many analogous cases, it does not seem that Chalisilanaka can be anything but an adjeotive pointing to the origin or residence of Arahalaya. I have no means of
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