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EPIGRAPHIA INDICA.
[VOL. XXVI.
traces of the letters rājho after the word sa-gottasya. Then follows space for two, or possibly three letters, which is now practically blank; but thereafter we can discern faint traces of the letters pa and tta. It would therefore appear that after giving the götra of the sacrificing king, the record had proceeded to give his parentage. His father was also a king and had a name of two or three letters. The restoration here suggested leaves no space for the letter sya coming after putra; probably that letter had been dropped. It is also possible that it may have been destroyed when the pillar was broken into two.
The concluding portion of the record reads, yūpa-sattakam) punnaval. I do not know the extent of the damage to the yūpa subsequent to this portion; it however appears very probable that the record ended with the words punnava[rdhakoan) bhavatu), expressing the hope that the sacrificial performance may increase the merit of the performer. The reference to the group of seven yūpas may show that the king had performed seven sacrifices; they were very probably the seven Soma sacrifices, technically known as Sapta-Soma-samstha. The sacrifices included in this group were Agnish Oma, Atyagnishtoma, Ukthya, Shoda sin, Vājapēya, Atirātra and A ptöryāma. The Allahabad Municipal Museum yüpa commemorates the performance of these very sacrifices.
The inscription clearly refers to a group of seven yūpas. The yüpa of the record B does not belong to this group, as it commemorates a sacrifice performed 51 years later. It is therefore not unlikely that a diligent search in the locality may lead to the discovery of more sacrificial pillars.
TEXT. Siddham Kritēhi 200 80 4 Chaittra-sukla-pakshasya pam(ă)chadasi [1*] Sohartta sagõttasya' [rājño')...p[u]tt[ra]sya (räjño')..varddhanasya yüpa-sattakāko puņņa".-va[rddhakam bhavatu *]
TRANSLATION, Be it auspicious! The full-moon day of the month of) Chaitra of the year 284 by the Krita (reckoning). May this group of seven sacrificial pillars of king ....varddhana, son of king..... of Sobartpi götra, [increase] the merit (of the sacrificer)!
[See below n. 10.-Ed.) • Katyayana-Srauta-Sutra, X, 9, 27. [But see below n. 10.-Ed.] · Edited from an ink-impression. . The stop nu is indicated by a small letter ma written below the line. • The full-stop is indicated by the rather unusual device of two dots, written like a visarga.
* Read Sohartri. The medial mätra for o looks to some extent like the medial i matra; but since the Götra pravaranibandhakadamba gives Sohartri as the name of the götra, we must read the first letter as a rather irregular so.
The reading appears to be correotly Söharttri-sagottranya. The curl representing the medial si in the syllable riti is partly discernible, and so is also the sign for the subscript r in the letter tira. Besides, otherwise the lengthening of the right-hand stroke of the second t in the syllables concerned is unaccountable.-B. C. C.1
• There are faint traces of these letters. 1. Read saptakam. [The reading appears to be yapo sa[trako, the sign of the medial o in po resembling that in að of Snartiyi. The wrong visargs sandhi betrays the Prakrit influence. The reading of the second syllable is doubtful, inasmuch as it cannot be ascertained whether it is tra or correctly ttri though it seems to be the former. In any case, the subscript is pretty clear. We may correct the reading as yāpaḥ saftrika), meaning
the pillar connected with a snorifice'. The particular sacrifice is, however, not specified. According to this reading, thus, there is no mention of seven yüpas.-B. C. C.)
11 Read punya. [I see traces of a subscript ya below the second ; thus the reading is punnya, and according to my interpretation, we may restore this portion as punnyart vardalhatan or purngar varddhatu as is commonly found in similar inscriptions.-B. C. C.)
