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No. 20.) KOSAM INSCRIPTION OF THE REIGN OF MAHARAJA VAISRAVANA. 147
however, should perhaps be regarded as a linguistic feature and not necessarily an orthographic irregularity. Separate signs are used to denote b and v, e.g. in Buddha in 11. 12 and 15, and the letter v following a superscript r is invariably doubled.
The purpose of the inscription is to record the establishment of an umbrella (i.e. a stone umbrella) in honour of the lord Buddha by the merchant Mägha, son of the merchant Surpaya (Sūrpāya)"and grandson of the merchant Sorathaka (i.e., one who hailed from Surāshtra'), an inhabitant of $uktimati. The donor is described as a frävaka, i.e. a lay hearer. The umbrella was installed within a temple called Pūryvasiddhāyatana in Badarikārāma. The small pillar on which the record is engraved probably represents the staff of the umbrella which is missing. The inscription refers itself to the reign of the Mahārāja Vaigravana and is daten in the year 107, the first day of the 7th fortnight of the summer. The year is expressed in words as well as in symbols.
Mahārāja Vaigravana, obviously one of the rulers of Kausāmbi, is known from this inscrip tion for the first time. The year 107, when he was reigning, is referable, judging from the palæography of the inscription, to the Kalachuri era of 248 A.D. and is thus equivalent to 355-56 A.D. I am unable to identify Suktimatii which was probably in the neighbourhood of Kaubāmbi. Badarikārāma, where the umbrella was dedicater, is mentioned in the introductory portion of the Tittira-Jätaka as a locality situated in the vicinity of Kausāmbi. The first epigraphical reference to this locality occurs in the present inscription. Another ärāma adjoining Kausāmbs was the Ghoshitārāma which is well known from Buddhist literature, being the place where the Buddha spent some time during his sojourn in the Vatsa country.
TEXT.
1 (Ma]b[@]s[á]jasyabri-Vaigrava[pasya)" 2 sarhvatsarē sapt-ottara-sati3 [mē]" 100 7 gri(grī)shma-pakshē sapta4 më 7 divasē prathamē. [1] 5 etāya puruvaya Sukti6 mati-va(va)stavyagya negama7 sya Sorathakasya naptā ne[ga]8 masya? Surpāya-putro vani(ni)ja9 kah aviruddha-śr[ä]vako Măghah 10 Pūrvvasiddh-[A]yatanē Badari11 k[a]r[a]mo bhagavató(tab) Pitāma
1 [Suktimate or Suktisähvaya is mentioned in the Mahabharata as the Chədi capital-Bee Sörensen, Index to the Names in the Mahabharata, eto., p. 221. In PAli literature this city is mentioned as Sotthivati-nagarasee Chetiya-jataka (No. 422).--Ed.)
Fausboll, Jataka Text, Vol. III, p. 64: Kosambiyan nisadya Badarikardme. [Also mentioned in the Tipallatihamiga-játaka (Text, Vol. I, p. 160) and Sanyutla-nikaya (ed. P. T. 8.), pt. iii, p. 126.-Ed.]
There are only traces of the upper portion of the letter ma on the stone. This portion is damaged: only traces of the letter pa and a part of the subscript y are visible. "The lett portion of the last letter is damaged. Umually one should expect here the numeral 1 after prathame. If it originally existed it hoe pooled off.
For the reading of the first two letters I am indebted to Dr. N. P. Chakravarti. • Tho namo porhape represents Sarpaya of uncertain meaning.
