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No. 25-SIRPUR INSCRIPTION OF THE TIME OF BALARJUNA
(1 Plate)
MORESHWAR G. DIKSHIT, RAIPUR
The accompanying inscription, published here for the first time, was found on the 2nd January 1955, in the course of excavations conducted by me, under the auspices of the University of Saugar, at Sirpur in the Raipur District of Madhya Pradesh. The stone bearing the inscription was found lying upside down on the floor in the northern verandah of the monastery at a depth of 8 feet below the surface. The stone is a yellowish variety of soft sandstone, measuring about 14 inches broad, 8 inches high and about 3 inches thick. From the chisel marks at its back, it appears to have been fixed up high on the wall near which it was found. The slab was very heavily laden with moisture at the time of its discovery and it was with repeated hot sand-baths that it could be restored to its original hardness.
The inscription consists of 14 lines of writing, each line containing about 32 letters of nearly one half inch in heihgt. The characters are early Nagari current in the 7th or 8th century A.D. and are incised neatly and beautifully and also deeply, particularly in the upper part of the letters. The writing is generally in a good state of preservation except at the upper left and lower right corners and at the beginning of lines 11-14. A few scratches also appear on the surface evidently resulting from its fall from the original position in the wall.
The inscription is in Sanskrit verse throughout except the concluding sentence occurring in line 14. The sign for v is invariably used for b. As regards orthography, it may be noted that s, and sh are clearly distinguished. Of lexical interest are the two words vyañjana (lines 8-9) and sētikā (line 8).1
The inscription opens with a stanza in praise of the lotus-feet of the Sugata (i.e. Buddha). The next few verses record the construction of a monastery (vihara) by a Bhikshu named Anandaprabha during the reign of Balarjuna, as well as of the establishment of a sattra (feeding house) for the monks residing in the monastery, for the upkeep of which a white-rice field was given. The field is stated to have been purchased from the Samgha and given together with the supplementary crops grown in it. The monks were to enjoy it in succession till the sun shines in the sky."
The eulogy (prasasti) was composed by the illustrious Sumangala, son of Taradatta, and the inscription was incised by one Prabhakara.
The importance of the inscription lies in the fact that it enables us to fix the date of the Vihara in which it was found; for king Bälärjuna mentioned in it could be no other than the homonymous king Mahasivagupta alias Balarjuna of the Pandava dynasty, who is known from several inscriptions and whose reign-period is generally assigned to c. 590-650 A.D. or about the first quarter of the 7th century A.D. This king, though Saivite by religion, gave liberal patronage to Buddhism,
1 The word sētikā occurs in the Anjañeri grant (A) .f Prithivichandra Bhogasakti (above, Vol. XXV, p. 232) and in the unpublished Surang Mound (Sirpur) inscription. [The word vyan jana meaning 'condinent' is of common occurrence while setika is found in several epigraphic and literary records in the sense of a measure. See below note 2.-Ed.]
[The author has totally misunderstood the meaning of the inscription. What has been read by him as satram is clearly saktam, although the reading intended may be sattram. But even then the object of the inscription is not what has been understood by Dr. Dikshit. The anvaya of verses 4-5 (yugmaks) would stand as follows: sa sanghatab milyena vihara-kujiṁ vyañjan-āméēna sahitam sita-tandulo-sētikām cha kritva taya [-setikaya] yavat Vivasvän nabhas-talalom alankurute [tavat] anudinam samastaih yatibhib pratyěkam-atmaparipiti-vasena tad-vyanjan-amba-sahitam bhöjyam karayitva sattram chakre. The stanzas mean to say that Anandaprabha started a free-feeding establishment for the yalis or monks of the local monastery and that, for this purpose, he purchased from the Sangha a hut within the monastic establishment as well as a selika (equal to four palas or two handfuls) of white rice with an adequate quantity of vyanjana (condiment) for each of the monks per day. For sētiku, see above, Vol. XXV, p. 235, note 3; Vol. XXX, p. 177. Apparently Anandaprabha paid a suitable amount of money to the monks who undertook the responsibility of securing the quantity of rice and condiments required for the purpose.-Ed.].
For his insoriptions at Sirpur, see Hiralal, Inscriptions in O. P. and Berar (2nd edn.), Nos. 173 and 184. For the Lakshman temple inscription of his mother Visață, see above, Vol. XI, pp. 184 ff.
Bulletin of the Deccan College Research Institute, Vol. VIII, p. 55.
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