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NO. 28.] SO-CALLED TAKHT-I-BAHI INSCRIPTION OF THE YEAR 103.
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Here M. Senart read pa .. aa, but M. Boyer was certainly right in reading par[t]vara. At first sight one is inclined to read parovara, which might be explained as a compound of para and Jvara. Ovara would have to be taken as identical with ovaraka, cell, which occurs in several Brāhmi inscriptions, Parovara might mean " the predominant cell". This explanation cannot, however, be upheld. An dvara for ovaraka does not occur in any other record, and even Ovaraka itself is never met with in Kharðshthi inscriptions. I think that M. Boyer is right in thinking that the apparent cross-bar of the first r of par[i]vara is accidental, and that there are traces of an i across the left extremity of the upper portion of the ukshara.
The word parivara, Sanskrit parivāra, occurs in many ancient records. M. Boyer took it together with the final sa of l. 3 and explained sa-parivara as an adjective characterizing göyana, the whole meaning "a cart together with a covering ". He is fully aware of the difficulty arising from the nature of the donation, which would hardly justify the engraving of an inscription. He thinks, however, that the object of the epigraph may have been to honour the prince mentioned in 1. 5 more than to record the gift. Or else, the cart may have been of great value, and the donation accordingly of especial merit. In this connexion, he draws attention to a passage in the Divyavadāna, where we read yana danan dadati riddhipadavipäkapratilabhasa ivartaniyam, he gives a cart, a gift leading to the acquisition of the result of the state of supernatural power. This explanation is very ingenious, but I fear that it is too ingenious, and if Dr. Thomas' reading boyanasa in 1.3 is accepted, we shall have to look out for another explanation.
The meaning "covering (of a carriage)" is well attested for the word parivara, but it is never met with in ancient inscriptions. In Brahmi inscriptions we find saparivara, 6.g., in the Nasik inscriptions Nos. 8 and 9, and in his edition of them M. Senart remarks: “It is, I think, too precise to translate sa parivara by 'with his family'. If such were his intention, the engraver would rather have used special names of kinship or some generic word, as jati, which occurs elsewhere. Parivara may, together with the family or even excluding it, apply to companions of the donor, fellow-workers or caste-partners." The original meaning of the word seems to be "covering ", "surrounding", and it actually has this meaning in some passages in classical literature, but more frequently it must be translated by some word meaning surroundings, train, suite. This meaning does not, however, seem to give any sense in oar inscription, and it may perhaps be of interest to samine other instances of its use in Kharoshthi records.
The oldest Kharðshthi inscription where it occurs is the Mathura Lion capital. We are there informed of the fact that the chief queen of the Mahakshatrapa Rajala puts up some relics of the Buddha, together with some of her relatives, the atēura and the horaka parivara. Here atëura corresponds to Sanskrit antahpura, the inner court, the female apartment of the palace and those who live in it. The horakas are the officials who are called horamurta in the Māņikiāla inscription, and horamurta is a "Saka" rendering of Sanskrit dänapati.. Now it should be remembered that parivmita is used in the Satapatha-Brahmana (8.6.1.20) and elsewhere to denote & place enclosed with walls and used for worship, and hora kaparivara might accordingly mean "the enclosed hall of the horakas" and further "the horaka-department", a meaning which would be very appropriate in our passage, where the word is used in connexion with antakpura, which has a similar sense.
The next time we find the word parivara in a Kharðshthi inscription is in the record under discussion. The follows the Suë Vihar copper-plate of the year 11, during the reign of Kanishka,
See Lüders, List of Brahmi Inscriptions, Index of Miscellaneous Terms, sub voce apavaraka'.
ed. Cowell and Neill, p. 482, 1. 20. • Ep. Ind., VIII, p. 77. • See Laders, J. R. 4. 8., 1900, pp. 650 ., 8. B. 4. W., 1912, pp. 421 f.
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