Epigraphia Indica Vol 21

Author(s): Hirananda Shastri
Publisher: Archaeological Survey of India

Page 91

EPIGRAPHIA INDICA.
(VOL. XXI.
No. 12.-THE CLAY SEALS OF NALANDA.
BY HIRANANDA SASTRI. Some sixteen years ago the archæological exploration of the ancient site of Nālandā was taken up by our Department and it has been continued all these years. During this period very valuable seals or sealings have been found but they have not been fully described anywhere as yet. In the memoir which I am writing on Nalanda I intend to notice them in detail but as that will take some time to come out I propose to publish here a few of them as specimens. These relics of the past, minor though they might be called, are invaluable not only for the past history of Nalandā but of Northern India as well.
For the sake of convenience these seals or sealings—I shall call them seals--might be put under two main heads, namely, Religious or Ecclesiastical and Secular or Civil. Under the former head I would classify those seals which are either votive or are connected with some religious congregation, communities or monastic orders, and under the latter head I would put such of them as are personal, whether they belong to royalties, officials or private individuals or are related to offices, villages and village communities. The majority of these seals are votive and Buddhistic, a number of them only giving in Sanskrit or in Prakrit the well-known formula
ये धर्मा हेतुप्रभवा हेतुन्तेषां तथागतो यवदत् ।
agir fattu vaatet ARAT: which, we are told, Akvajit read to Sāriputra, and is usually interpreted as
Of those things conditions) which spring from a cause The cause has been told by Tathāgata ; And their suppression likewise
The Great Sramana has revealed.' This formula is found written usually in the northern script of about the eighth century (A.D.), and even later, not only on the seals or plaques but also on & number of images, stones and bricks, excavated at Nālandā. Some of these seals or plaques only give a Buddhist text, while others bear the figure of the Buddha, single or accompanied by the attendant Bodhisattvas, Maitrēya and Avalokitēsvara, with or without the above-mentioned creed formula. Some have a text or the representation of a stūpa or stūpas. Such seals or impressions were, evidently, meant for offerings, or for being taken as mementoes. Among the seals connected with Buddhistic Congregations or Sanghas, the majority belong to the Mahāvihāra of Nālandand give the legend :
श्रीनालन्दामहाविहारोयार्य भिक्षुसङ्काम्य, meaning
Of the Community of the Venerable Monks in the Mahāvihāra of fri-Nälanda.' The symbol they bear is practically the same as the one connected with the Preaching of the Law' ( kaa) by the Buddha. They are mostly circular in shape and the device, which occurs in the upper field above a line of dotted ornament, consists of the Wheel of the Law flanked by two gazelles, recumbent, with heads upraised, looking towards the Wheel This device is a copy of the insignia of the monastery at the "Deer Park" where the Buddha first turned the • Dharmachakra' (=Wheel of Law). It is an appropriate symbol for both the places. At Sir nāth or the Deer Park the Great Teacher preached the First Sermon. At Nälandā many bhikshus were engaged in expounding or preaching the 'Law'. To forra an idea of what this devico je.
Kern, Indian Buddhism, p. 25.