Indian Antiquary Vol 19

Author(s): John Faithfull Fleet, Richard Carnac Temple
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 85

MARCH, 1890.)
INSCRIPTION ON AN IMAGE OF BUDDHA.
77
AN INSCRIPTION IN A BUDDHISTIC VARIETY OF NAIL-HEADED
CHARACTERS.
BY CECIL BENDALL, M.A. THE present inscription is on the pedestal of a brass image of Buddha, which belongs to
1 Mr. James Robinson, C.E., of Gaya, the chief town of the Gaya District, Bengal Presi. dency, and which seems to have been obtained somewhere in that neighbourhood. It has been incidentally noticed by Mr. Fleet, in his Gupta Inscriptions (Corp. Inscr. Indic. Vol. III.), p. 19, note 1; but it is now considered in full for the first time, from Mr. Fleet's ink-impression, and from the lithograph prepared from it.
Mr. Fleet's account of the image &c., is as follows:- "The image is about 6" high, of which measure about 1'' are occupied by the pedestal or seat. It represents Buddha, squatting on the pedestal or seat, with his legs crossed and the soles of his feet turned upwards. His left hand rests in his lap, with the palm upwards; his right arm hangs down, with the hand resting on the right knee. His head either is covered with a close-fitting beaded skullcap, or else has the hair done op in beaded knobs; and the long ends of the hair are wound up into a top-knot on the centre of the head. In the centre of the forehead, just over the root of the nose, there is a silver dot, or the head of a pin. And from the ears there hang long pendants. A band or ribbon hangs over the left shoulder and under the right arm. The right side of the body is naked; but the left side shews a cloth at the back, with one of the ends of it lying over the left shoulder. The legs seem to be unclothed. The pedestal or seat is triangular, about 4" broad by 2" from front to back, with the angles rounded off. It is hollow. And the inscription is on the bottom side of a plate which forms the bottom of the pedestal, and which, not having been cast as an actual part of the pedestal itself, slides out at the right side of the pedestal where the beaded rim of it has been broken away. Following the shape of the pedestal, this plate is triangular, about 4" by 24", with the angles rounded off. Differing from the image and pedestal, which are of brass, the inscribed plate seems to be of copper. The writing is in a state of perfect preservation, except for some lines or furrows, - caused apparently by the plate having rubbed against some hard substance, - which rather spoil the first akshara in lines 1 and 2. The weight of the image and pedestal is about 1 lb. 12 oz., and of the inscribed plate, about 2 oz.; total, 1 lb. 14 oz." The inscription is as follows : -
TEXT.1 1 Sri-Dharmmavarada-hêtu 11 Sri-Brahmapaatra-Samgha-pra2 vÂls(?) Sri Rajâksha(!)-Yakshapala tatputra Ahavama3 llasya dêyadharmmô=yam II
TRANSLATION, For the sake of Dharmavarada. This is the votive gift of the scion of the Brahmapаutra congregation, Rajáksha (P), Yakshapala his son, Ahavamalla (or, son of Yakshapalita).
In the first two examples of this form of character to which I called attention soon after my discovery of them, a leading feature was a small triangular point at the head of most of the vertical strokes of consonants. Hence I named the character 'arrow-headed,' or 'point
1 From the ink-impression and lithograph.
1 hétu, used at the end of compounds, as an indeclinable and equivalent to artham, ocours in PAli, but is not quoted in Sanskrit.
I am not confident o this roading, as the side-stroke for r is somewhat strange in this position and the sign that I take for v is indistinot, but perhaps scion of the Sangha' is an allowable expression,
• Or perhaps, Yakshapalita-putra.