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EPIGRAPHIA INDICA.
(VOL. XXI.
with the place of that name occurring in the inscription fri-Somapurē sri-Dharmmapāladevamahāvihäre, etc., on certain terracotta sealingsl discovered by Mr. K. N. Dikshit in his excavations at Pähärpur in the Rajshahi District of Bengal. According to the evidence of these sealings, there was a monastery named after the Pāla king Dharmmapāla at Sõmapura which has been identified by Mr. Dikshit with Pähārpur. This place must have gained considerable repute as an important seat of Buddhism in Northern India during the Pāla period. A BodhGayā inscription mentions the mahā-vihāra or 'the Great Monastery of Sõmapura. In Tāranātha's History of Buddhism it is stated that king Dēvapāla, the son of Dharmmapala, built a Buddhist temple at Somapura'; and, according to the Pag-sam-ion-zang, the same king built the Great Monastery of Somapuri' after his conquest of Varēndri or North Bengal. It however appears probable from the information supplied by the Pähärpur sealings that the monastery owed its foundation to Dharmmapala, and not to his son. Further references to the monastery at Sömapura are found in the Tibetan translations of certain Buddhist Sanskrit works, e.g., the Dharmakayadipavidhi and the Madhyamakaratna pradipa. The latter was translated by the great scholar Dipankara Srījñana (11th century A.D.) with the help of Viryasimha and Jayaśīla at the Somapuri-vihāra. The cells renovated by Vípulasrimitra at Sõmapura must bave belonged to the great monastery consisting of some 177 cells, which have now been laid bere -at Pähārpur. Vangāla, which is probably East Bengal, is mentioned in the Tirumalai inscription of Rājēndrachēļa l' and in the Buddhist Sanskrit text Dākārnava."
TEXT. Metres v. 1, 2, 8, 10, 12, Särdūlavikridita ; v. 3, Mandākrāntā; v. 4, Sikhariņi; v. 5, Malini; vv. 6, 11, Vasantatilaka; v. 7, Indravajra; v. 9, Upajati; v. 13, Anushţubh.]
1 Omo namo Buddhāyall Astu svastyayanāya vaḥ sa bhagavān ri-Dharmma
chakraḥ kiyad=yan-nāma srutavān=Bhavõ= 'sthira-vapur=nirjivam=uttămyati tatra
Srighana-6āsan-amrita-rasaiḥ sarsichya % Bauddha padē tam dhěyād=apunarbhayam bhagavati Tārā jagat-tāriņi. [1]
Srimat-Somapurē vabhū]va Karupāórimitra-nāmı yatih karunyadguna
sampado 'hita-sukh-adhānād=api prāņi. mith, yo Vangāla-balair=upētya dahana-kshēpāj=jvalaty=ālayė, samlagnas
charan-aravinda-yugalē Buddhasya yāto divam ll [2] Tasy-achchhidra-vrata
parichitasy-ochita-braēra-kirttēh sishyőz'dhfishyaḥ sukrita-ghatit: buddhiman buddhimatsu Maitrifrir=ity=upari vidito mitra
vatio Mitra-nāms (stvasy-arthé svam=udayam=upaditsur=utsăhavan yab [3] Prašishyo=py=knvishyasraya
A. R., 4. 8 1., 1927-28, pp. 105-6. * Bloch, A. R., 4. 8. 1. 1908-9, p. 168; and Majamidar, Sahitya Parishat-Patrika, Caloutta, 1823 B. S. 71.
Ind. A n., Vol. IV, p. 366. Ed. Sarat Ch. Das, pp. 111 and 116. [it is possible that Dévapals built the monastery and named it after his father.-Bd.) A Cordier. Catalogue du Ponda Tibetas de la Bibliothèque Nationale, Part I. p. 186 and Part III, 299. * Ante, Vol. IX, p. 233. .H. P. Sestri, Descriptive Catalogi Sanakit Manuscripts in the Asiatic Society of Bengal, Vol. I, 2014,
P. 82.
Expressed by a symbol. u Read - - Mima
