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No. 31] MATHURA IMAGE INSCRIPTION OF VASUDEVA
183 proposed satvānam (Sanskrit sattvānām), may have been punyam, religious merit', although it would imply a rather poetio arrangement of words in this section. It should, however, be noticed that the lost word in the sixth case-ending plural at the beginning of line 3 makes the arrangement of words equally poetic if pūjārtha is read with satvānam sarvasha yatr-opanāna. Moreover it would make yatra in the above passage in line 2 quite meaningless. We therefore propose to fill up the lacunae in lines 2-3 as follows: (punya satvā]nań sarvasha yatr=opanāna pūjārtha (sarvaBuddhalna parigrahasya*) achariyana Mahāsaghis kanan). In Sanskrit, the passage would be: punyaṁ sattvānāṁ sarveshāın yatr=otpannānāṁ pūjārtham sarva-Buddhānāṁ parigrahāya achāryānāṁ Mahasanghikānām. The concluding lines of the inscription, as will be seen below, speak of the pious work of a person, which, according to lines 2-3 as read by us, was intended for the acceptance of the teachers of the Mahāsānghika community', which was done with a view to honouring all the Buddhas', and 'for which the merit was intended to go to all the creatures born [up till then]'. The use of yatra with reference to a pious deed cannot be regarded as improbable in view of the use of atra in a similar context in such epigraphic passages 28 ya chatra punya tar Dova putrasya Shāhisya Huvishkasya (Sanskrit yat cha atra punyan tat Devaputrasya Shāhēh Huvishkasya).
Line 4 begins with : nasya pratama sagaha. The upper part of the letters is broken away. We are inclined to suggest : nisya pratimā sagiha. There is little doubt that nisya is the concluding part of a word like Sakyamunisya (Sanskrit Sakyamuneh), which may or may not have been preceded by the word bhagavato (Sanskrit bhagavatah). The passage thus refers to an image of the Säkyamuni (i.e. Buddha). The word sagihā seems to stand for Sanskrit sa-griha. The passage [Sakyamu]nisya pratimă sa-giha (Sanskrit Sakyamuneh pratimă sa-grihā) would mean : ! an image of the Sakyamuni (Buddha) together with a shrine (for it]'. The person responsible for the setting up of the image of the Buddha therefore also constructed a griha or shrino for installing it therein. The following word mātā-pitrena stands for Sanskrit mätā-pitribhyan [saha] and shows that the person responsible for the construction of the Buddha image and the shrino did the work with the help and goodwill of his parents. It may also be suggested that the word intended is mātā-pitrīnām to be read with the following words in the sixth case-ending. The reading of the next word, which is in the sixth case-ending plural, is doubtful; but it seems to be on & par with the word 'kufubikanam in the next line (line 5). The doubtful word may be abhasitanam (Sanskrit abhäshitänäm) indicating persons who are referred to in the following words but are not specifically mentioned. It may possibly also indicate a locality where the family of the person responsible for the image and the shrine resided.
Line 5, which begins and ends with traces of some damaged aksharas, reads : K[u][u]bikānan Guhasene[na] (Sanskrit kutumbikānāṁ Guhasenena) which was apparently followed by a word like pratithapita (Sanskrit pratishthäpitā). The image of the Buhdha was therefore installed in the shrine mentioned in line 4 by Guhasena who belonged to a family of kufumbikas, probably agriculturist householders.
TEXT
1 ............ trasya Vāsudevasya Sa[m] 60 [4 or 7] Varsh[a]-mäse dviti 2 divasi
1 Ibid., p. 146. * Ibid., pp. 132, 148, eto. . From estampages. . Apparently Devaputrasya which may have been prooeded by a symbol followed by Mahirajasya. . This is a contraction of Sanskrit dvittye. Sanskrit ; divase. The number following this word seems to be lost at the beginning of the next line.
