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No. 47-NOTES ON SENAKAPAT INSCRIPTION
No. 1
V. V. MIRASHI, NAGPUR
(Received on 22.11.1957)
Drs. M. G. Dikshit and D. C. Sircar have edited the Senakapāt inscription of the time of Sivagupta Bālarjuna in this journal, Vol. XXXI, pp. 31 ff. This inscription records the construction of a Siva temple and some grants of land in favour of the god installed therein and some Saiva ascetics connected therewith, by Durgarakshita, son of Devarakshita, who was a minister of the Panduvamál king Nannaraja, the great-grandfather of Sivagupta Balärjuna. In the course of the description of Devarakshita there occurs a stanza (verse 7) which the editors have read as follows:
Yo Vindhya-dharddhi(r-ddha)rateam Vara[da]-tata-parikatā(ta) cha saṁprāpya | ashpripadnika Yatööhäṇḍāgār-äkhyagā khyātish(tim) !!
The editors have taken this verse to mean that Devarakshita obtained (apparently from king Nannaraja) the governorship of the Vindhyan territory (Vindhya-dhur-dharatva) as far as the banks of the river Varada (Varada-tata-parihata) and that he became well-known as Yasöbhändägära (literally, a store-house of fame').1
The editors' reading and interpretation of this verse are open to several objections. I have in my possession two excellent impressions of this record which Dr. M. G. Dikshit placed at my disposal when he consulted me about the reading and interpretation of this verse. On referrring to them I find that the reading Varada-tata-parihatām(tam) adopted by the editors is very doubt ful. Varada is indeed fairly clear, but the next two aksharas are indistinct, the second being mutilated in the crack which has divided the stone into two parts. Still, in view of the mention of the Varada, it is not unlikely that the following two aksharas were intended to be tata (or rather, kata).* The next four aksharas, however, are certainly not parihatam. The first has a clear curve at the top of its vertical and must be read as pha. The second akshara can hardly be read as ri. It is clearly li; see the form of la in °ōtpalad in line 1. The reading is, therefore, Varadā-taļa(or, rather kata)-phalihatam. This, however, does not yield a good sense. The writer or the engraver has evidently committed some mistake here as in some other places in this record. Perhaps, the intended reading is Varada-tata-phanihatam cha samprapya. Dikshit and Sircar, who read Varadatata-parihatām, had to change it into Varada-taṭa-parihatam to make it qualify Vindhya-dhürdharatvam. But the use of cha after this word clearly shows that Devarakshita had not one, but two attainments, which made him well-known as Yaso-bhāṇḍ-āgāra (a store-house of fame). Besides, mere appointment to the Vindhya region, even though it may have extended to the banks of the Varada, would not make a man a store-house of fame. I think, therefore, that the inten ded reading of this verse is as follows:
Yo Vindhya-durdharatvam Varada-tata-phanihatam cha saṁprāpya | sashpräptain-iha Yasöökäṇḍägär-äkkyayd khydtím |
1 Above, Vol. XXXI, p. 32.
Cf. Bennāka ja mentioned in the Tirodi plates (above, Vol. XXII, p. 172).
[See below, p. 255.-Ed.]
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