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No. 13.]
GURZALA BRAHMI INSCRIPTION.
123
TEXT, 1 Kritēhi 300 30 5 Jasha'(Jyështha)suddhasya path(i)chadasī[l*) Bhritta(Bhatta).............. Ttitavanafu(Tritavanēshu ?)
2 [Garga ?][t]r[i]ra(ra)tra 5 yajñaljñā) ishta(shțā) savvasta(savatsā) ilē)va vāgā (gavo) dakshinya(på) dátā(datta) 90.• Vashtaḥ(Vishņuh) priyatām dharmmo vardhdha(tām*].
TRANSLATION The 15th day of the bright fortnight of the month) of Jyēshtha of the year 335 by the Ksita (reckoning). Five (Garga) Trirätra sacrifices were performed by Bhatta......in Trita forests (). 90 cows, which were accompanied by their) calves, were given as dakshina.
May (god) Vishnu be pleased! May Dharma increase !
No. 13.-GURZALA BRAHMI INSCRIPTION.
BY PROP. K. A. NILAKANTA SASTRI, UNIVERSITY OF MADRAS.
The inscription edited below is found engraved on a grey marble slab set up behind the Travellers' Bungalow,' about two furlongs to the north of it, at Gurzäla in the Palnad taluk of the Guntur District. There are on the spot several similar slabs which are uninscribed and which must be the relics of some ancient structure that has now disappeared. An impression of the inscription was placed in my hands some time ago by Dr. M. Rama Rao, but I found subsequently from Rao Bahadur C. R. Krishnamacharlu, Superintendent for Epigraphy, that he had secured a much better impression of the record, and it is from this impression which he has kindly placed at my disposal that I edit the record which is listed as No. 335 of the Epigraphical Collection of Madras in the An. Rep. on S. I. Epi. for the year 1936-37, and discussed in paragraph 10 of Part II.
The slab containing the inscription measures 5' x19" ;8 in its centre is carved a pillar with apparently a bulbous base and a double bulbous capital; the shaft of the pillar shows a slight tapering, being 3' wide at the bottom, and less than 21 at the top, its height being about 2. The capital comprises two oviform members, each 3" high, the upper one being broader (54") than the lower (43") at its horizontal axis. This capital is surmounted by an abacus 3" high above which stand three cones alongside of one another, looking like the battlement of a fortress. Our inscription comprises three lines, two incised to the proper right, and the third to the left of the carved pillar, all lines running from the capital of the pillar to its base.
1 Edited from an ink-impression,
* Both below ja and sha, there appear to be some depressions, which appear like traces of subscript letters, now peeled off. They may however be also due to the stone not being well dressed.
• Faint traces of the subscript ya can be traced in the impression. • The subscript ta is partly broken. * The letter looks like tri, but it is read as nya on the analogy of the Badvă records. See introduction.
• After the numeral 90, there is a symbol here, similar to that occurring on the Badva ripa inscription A.
It is understood that the slab has since been removed to the Taluk office compound, Gurzala. . This measurement is furnished by Dr. Rama Rao.
