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No. 15)
MORE LIGHT ON GHUMLI PLATES; GUPTA SAMVAT 513
caves, but this has been hewn away to make room for a small low chavaranga or Saiva altar." From this it is apparent that from the architectural point of view also it was originally a chaitya hall which was later transformed into a Saiva shrine and this inscription establishes beyond doubt that it was the chaitya hall of this Buddhist establishment.
TEXT
1 Sidha | theräņam bhayata -Sihāņa steāsiņiya 2 pavaiti[k]"ya Ghapa[rā]ya bālikā: Saghāya Budha(dha)3 a cha chetiya-gharo deya-dhams māta-pita udisa saha (cha) sa4 vehi bhikhā(khu)-kulehi sahi cha achari[ye]hi bhata-vireyehi' sa5 mapito
TRANSLATION
Success. The meritorious gift of a chaitya hall is made by Budha and Saghă (Samghā) (who was) the daughter of the nun Ghaparā, a female disciple of the elder (thera) Bhadanta Siha for the sake of parents together with all communities of the bhikshus and the teachers.
No. 15-MORE LIGHT ON GHUMLI PLATES ; GUPTA SAMVAT 513
B. CH. CHHABRA, OOTACAMUND Early in 1936, twelve copper plates were unearthed near Ghumli in the Nawanagar State of the United States of Saurashtra. They constitute six separate charters of certain Saindhava rulers. The charters have been edited by Dr. A. S. Altekar. They are indicated as A, B, C, D, E and F. In this note, we are concerned with the charter A. It is a grant of the time of Agguka II. dated in the Gupta) year 513. The last line of this document contains the following recapitulatory verse: Sri-Jayaszno mahyam gråmam=adād=Dhanka-tirtha-namānam [ *]
Gulamayikā-grāma-das-ansa(6-amsa)-sahitam=atibhaktir=Udag-ayanë || This is followed by the date Sarva 500 10 3. The information briefly conveyed by the couplet is the main theme of the charter, set out in detail in lines 27-33. It may be observed that, in the verse, the king Jäska is mentioned under the Sanskrit or Sanskritised form of his name, and that Gulamika is spelt as Gulamayikā for the sake of the metre.
The point at issue, however, is that the verse has been considered by the learned editor to be an interpolation. Moreover, the interpolation is supposed to be the work of the donee himself. That this can hardly be the case is shown below.
"Fergusson and Burgess, The Cave temples of India, pp. 246-7.
. It seems that one wrong letter was engraved after y which was effaced and the letter I was then chiselled in the next space.
[The reading of this syllable is definitely ra.-Ed.)
• It may at first appear that Saghaya Budhaa cha may mean" to the Buddha and the saingha"; but there is ono diffioulty for which this interpretation cannot be accepted. There is no dative in Prakrita and the sense of dative is conveyed by possessive in this language. The reading should, therefore, have been saghasa Budhasa cha if it had meant " to the Buddha and the samgha ".
* The meaning of the word bhata vireyehi is not clear.
• From the context it appears possible that both Saghā and Budha were the daughters of Ghapari; but as the form balikda which precedes Saghaya is singular, I have taken only Sagha to be the daughter of Ghapark.
Above, Vol. XXVI, pp. 197 ff., and plate.
