________________
210
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA
[VOL. XXXIV
Line 1 refers to a kula-putra, 'one born in a noble family', as the resident of a locality, the name of which is not fully preserved. Some Nagarjunikonda inscriptions, discovered at Site No. 113 and published below, appear to suggest the restoration of the geographical name as Magalia rana.
Lines 2-3 give the name of the kula-putra as Dhamasamaka (Dharmasarmaka) and of the family to which he belonged as the Rajamisri kulaka (kula) belonging to the Maraba clan (Marabana Rajamisiri-kalakasa-Sanskrit Marabāņām Rājamiśrī-kulakasya). Lines 3-4 mention Sisaba as the son of the said kula-putra and as a soldier of a contingent led by Peramaḍi. The name of the general reminds us of that of Permadi borne by Chalukya Vikramaditya VI and others. Line 5 states that the chhāyā-stambha or the memorial pillar in question was raised in memory of Sisaba who had been paḍi(di)ta (Sanskrit patita), 'killed [in a battle].' It will be seen that, while Inscription No. I was raised to commemorate the death of a number of soldiers (cf. plural number in bhadana-Sankrit bhaṭānām), Inscription No. II commemorates that of a single soldier.
The third inscription, many sections of which are broken away and lost, shows traces of 8 lines of writing which reads as follows:
1
2
3
5
6
7
8
•
III
.
[cha] tethika[na] .
na kā
lasa cha Bhadaphula Sathapa Sa[ma]gandaka-vathava-Ki bhumjitavasa akhaya-nivikā datā gāma-pa
ham [Ka]koluram Nelachava[sam]
ya cha Apara[ma] . . .
sa cha [akhaya]-niv[i] d[i]nari-māsaka[nam] divaḍham satam [bha] supayatath [1] esa cha akhaya-nivi ku[li]ka-pamukhāyah.
atatheya chi... yam [hi]...
.
Line 1 of the inscription contains the word tethikanam (Sanskrit tairthikānām), the meaning of which has been discussed by us in connection with the Manchikallu inscription of the Pallava king Simhavarman (first half of the fourth century A.D.). Line 2 mentions certain persons whose names appear to be Bhadaphula and Sathapa and another who was an inhabitant of a locality called Samagandaka, while the word gama in the passage gama-pa...... at the end of line 3, used with reference to an akshaya-nivikä or permanent endowment, seems to suggest that the following line (line 4) mentions some villages, two of which were probably Kakolara and Nelächavasa. Since several localities appear to have been mentioned in this context, the partially preserved expression gama-pa may possibly be restored as gama-pamchakam, meaning a group of five villages forming the permanent endowment mentioned in line 3. The passage akhaya-nivika data (Sanskrit akshaya-nivika datta) shows that this section of the inscription was meant to record the creation of a permanent endowment in favour of one of the religious establishments at Nagarjunikonda. The community of Buddhist monks that was benefited by the said endowment seems to be mentioned in line 5 of the inscription, wherein we can read apara[ma]... suggesting the mention of the Buddhist sect called Aparamahāvinaseliya. The
1 Vol. XXXV, pp. 15-16
This is a Dravidian personal name derived from Tamil Perumanadi. See above, Vol. XXX, p. 93. Above, Vol. XXXII, p. 88.
