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No. 31]
MATHURA IMAGE INSCRIPTION OF VASUDEVA
28 trayam 3 [*] Chhimpaka-Kolika-Padakäräpäth yath-änurüpa-karmmapaḥ janapada-mūlyād rajakule=rdh-ädänam(nam |) Lōhakara-Rathakara-Näpita-Kumbhakara-prabhṛitinām värikēņa vishți-karaṇīya | yē ch-anyē
181
29 [pū]rvva-valamānak-āchārās tē-pi maya samanujñātāḥ [*] yatō-nya-rājabhir-api asmadvamajair-anyair-vvä samanyam-a-chandr-ark-arnṇava-graha-nakshatra-kshiti-sthiti-sama
kālīnam putra-pautr-anvayam yaśaḥ
30 kirtti-phalam-abhivamchhadbhir-idam-asmat-pradatt-anugraha-sthiti-patram(tram) anumōdaniyam pratipälaniyah ch-ti dütakö-tra sandhi-vigrah-adhikaran-adhikrita-Bhadjakaḥ [*]Sath 600 40 9 Śrāvapa-su 5 [*]
31 'va-hastaḥ éri-Vishnushëpasya -
32 Svasti [*] Da'rpapurat-sāmant-Avantiä-kušali [sa]rvvān=ēv=ātmīyān-anyāṁś-cha yathasambadhyamanakan-bōdhayaty-astu võ viditam yatha may-aisham
33 vanig-grimasys Löhätaks-grämě prafti]vasato y-yath(ya)m-aparilikhitä sthiti-vyavasthä ári-Vishnubhatena datta sa may-apy-anumatá [*] yata
34 esham-uparilikhita-sthiti-patra-vyavasthaya prativasata[m] sva-panyēna ch-ātmānam varttayatām pa(na) kēnachit-paripanthanā kāry=ēti [*] Sam 300 50 7 Kārttika-ba 7 [[*]
No. 31-MATHURA IMAGE INSCRIPTION OF VASUDEVA
(1.Plate)
D. C. SIRCAR, OOTACAMUND
Recently I had an opportunity of examining a few impressions of an inscription in five lines incised on the base of a stone image of the Buddhà now preserved in the Archaeological Museum at Mathura as Exhibit No. 2907. The image was discovered at Palikhra which is a well-known ancient site about 4 miles from Mathura. A short note on the epigraph, with a transcript of the first three lines of writing but without any facsimile, was published in the Proceedings of the Indian History Congress, Hyderabad, 1941, pp. 163-64. The author of the note, however, could not read the last two lines of the record and his partial transcript is also not free from errors.
The inscription is fragmentary, some letters at the commencement of all the five lines being broken away and lost. The preservation of lines 1-3 of the extant part of the writing is fairly satisfactory, although, even in this part of the record, a few aksharas are damaged or unsatisfactorily preserved. The upper part of some letters in line 4 is broken away while, in line 5, some aksharas are partially preserved and some altogether lost.
The characters of the inscription are Brahmi as found in the epigraphs of the Kushāņa age. The language is an admixture of Sanskrit and Prakrit. As regards orthography, the record resembles most other Brahmi inscriptions of the Kushanas. It is dated in the year 64 or 67 apparently of the Kanishka era which is usually identified with the Saka-kala of 78 A. D. The date of the inscription therefore falls in 142 or 145 A.D.
The first line of the inscription gives details of the date and mentions the monarch during whose reign it was engraved. This is the most important part of the record. The line begins
1 The following aksharas are below the concluding portion of line 30 and actually stand at the end of line 32. The mark looking like the tail of da may be due to a break in the original.
Read aitasya. Lines 32-33 are shorter owing to the space covered by line 31.
The Age of Imperial Unity (The History and Culture of the Indian People, Vol. II), pp. 144 F.
