Epigraphia Indica Vol 34

Author(s): D C Sircar
Publisher: Archaeological Survey of India

Page 45

EPIGRAPHIA INDICA
(VOL. XXXIV
11 dattah Cil* 12 ári-Ka[m]kaphala[h*) Kamkachandras-cha bho 2 (?)*
2. Inscription of the time of Rudapurisadata, Yoar 11 This epigraph is engraved on a pillar which is reported to have been discovered at Site No. 13 and is now proserved in the Nägarjunikonda Museum. The pillar bears a sculpture executed in bas-relief above the inscription. The sculpture which is somewhat defaced seems to depict lady seated on a high stool with an attending lady standing nearby. The seated lady's feet aro resting on a small pedestal and there is a small seated female figure by the side of the stool.
The Indian Archaeology-- A Review, 1955-56, p. 24, states," On the chayakhambha is carved the scene of Prajapati Gotami, the foster-mother of Buddha, holding Buddha (as child) in a scarf. Below it was an inscription which acquaints us with the word chayakhambha in a manner that brings out the idea that it is a reon pitulative pillar or an epitaph. Besides recording a complete genealogy of the Ikshvaku kings (Chantamula, Virapurushadatta, Ehavala Chantamula and Rudrapurushadatta) who bear the Kshatrapa tendentious title svami, it established the relationship of a great Ikshvaku queen (Mahadevi) in whose memory one Srivarman of the Brihatphalayana gotra raised the epitaph (chayakhamba)." At p. 23 of the same work, we are told, “The inscriptions discovered in the course of excavation gave the name of a new king of the Ikshvaku dynasty, viz. Rudrapurushadatta, besides king Srivarman of the Brihatphalayana gotra." Unfortunately the statements are not all quite accurate.
The inscription consists of 9 lines of writing. The characters are the same as in the other epigraphs edited above. The form of initial i in line 5 is interesting as the left and upper curved strokes have been joined together. The form of medial u in kü in line 5 is interesting as the length is indicated by a curved stroke attached to the right arm of k in ku from above. The form of the letter din line 1 is slightly different from that of the same letter in line 5. The language of the record is Prakrit. As regards orthography, the words ekkāra for Sanskrit ekādasa and pattiya for Sanskrit patnyāl are interesting. Reduplication of consonants, not usually noticed in early Prakrit inscriptions, is exhibited by the record under study as well as by some other epigraphs of Ehavala Chantamula's time.
The inscription is dated on the eighth day of the first fortnight of the spring season in the 11th regnal year of Mahārāja Rudapurisadata and records the erection of the chhāyākhanbha (chhāyā-stambha) of the deceased queen Vammabhatā (Varmabhatā), evidently the pillar on which the record under study is engraved. The expression chhāyā-stambha means a stambha or pillar adorned with a chhāyā or image. The use of the word chhaya in this sense is known from records like the Srikūrmam inscription of 1353 A.D., according to which the Ganga king Bhānu III dedicated to the god in the Srikürmam temple a chhāyā each of his father Narasimha III and his step-mother Gangāmbika. The images in this case are stated to have each held perpetual lamps in their hands. Such lamps in the hands of images are called chhaya-dipa in epigraphs like
The following passage is engraved in slightly later characters below the beginning of the second half of the prerious line.
* The contraction bho seems to stand for a word like bhogikaw or bhojakau. The first part of the two personal names may possibly be käka also. The form of the akshara read pha in the first name is not regular for the period and may be also regarded as an irrogularly shaped på.
* 4. R. Ep., 1956-57, No. B 26. • Indian Archaeology Review, 1955-56, p. 24 and Plate XXIX A.
Cf. abovo, Vol. XXI, p. 62. .The data is given both in words and figures. It may really be the date of the queen's death. * AJI, Vol. V, No. 1206.