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Acoust, 1892.]
BHARAUT INSCRIPTIONS.
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BHARAUT INSCRIPTIONS.
BY E. HULTZSCH, Ph.D.; BANGALORE. THE remains of the Buddhist Stupa of Bharaut were discovered in 1873 by General
1 Sir A. Cunningham, who very judiciously saved most of them from destruction by removal to the Indian Museum, Calcutta. His richly illustrated monograph The Shipa of Bharhut (London, 1879) contains eye-copies and tentative transcripts and translations of the Bharaut inscriptions, both of those which are now at Calcutta, and of those which remain in situ. Part of the Calcutta inscriptions have been minutely treated by Dr. Hoernle. With the kind permission of Dr. Anderson, Superintendent of the Indian Museum, I prepared mechanical copies of all those at Calcutta in 1885 and published them with German translations. The importance which the Bharaut inscriptions undoubtedly possess on account of their antiquity, now induees me to republish my German paper, with some additions and corrections, in English, and thus to make it more generally accessible.
The age of the Bharaut inscriptions is approximately fixed by the inscription No. 1, which records that the East gateway of the Stûpa was built "during the reign of the Sungas,” ise., in the second or first century B. C., by Vätsiputra Dhanabhati. From the manner in which he refers to the Suigas, it may be concluded that this king was one of their tributaries. One of those inscriptions which have not been removed to Calcattat contains the name " of princo Vadhapala (i. e., Vyadhapala ?) the son of king Dlanabhäti." At the beginning of another fragment, one is tempted to conjecture tisa instead of kasa, the reading of General Cunningham's eve-copy, 5 and to translate : -“The gift of Nagarakhita (i. e., Någarakshitâ) the wifo of king
Dhanabhû]ti." A gift by some later Dhanabhûti is recorded in a Mathura inscription, which has been removed to Aligadh.
With the exception of No. 1, the Bharaut inscriptions do not contain any historical information. They are simply labels which record the names of the donors of the pillars (stamoha) or rails (suchi) on which they are engraved, or explain the subjects which some of the reliefs represent. The following towns from which some of the donors hailed, are incidentally mentioned :- Bhôgavardhana, Bhôjaknţa, Bi[m]bik[A]na[n]dikata, Kåkandi, Karahakata. Kubjatinduka (?), Mayûragiri, N[an]d[i]nagara, Påtalipatra, Parika, Sirishapadra, Sthavirakūta and Vaidiša. The epithets Chikulaniya or Chekulana, Chudathilika and Dabhinika appear to be likewise derived from names of localities, the Sansksit originals of which are, however, doubtful. In General Canningham's eye-copies of those inscriptions which were not removed to Calcutta, occur : - Karahakata (Plate lv. No. 96), Moragiri (No. 95), Nasika (No. 87) and Vedisa (No. 100, and Plate lvi. No. 1); also Bhojakataka, 'a resident of Bhôjakata' (Plate lvi. No. 46), Kosabeyeka, 'a female resident of Kausâmbi' (Plate liv. No. 53), and Selapuraka, 'a resident of Sailapura' (Plate lv. No. 91). Among these geographical names, Kaunambi, Nasika, Pataliputra and Vaidika are the modern Kósam, Näsik, Patna and Bêsnagar.
Of the Buddhist scenes which are represented in the sculptures and referred to in the inscriptions, part are still obscure, and part have been successfully identified by General Cunningham. The most interesting among these representations are the Jatakas, or supposed previous births of the founder of the Buddhist creod. As will be seen from the subjoined table, & considerable namber of them have been traced by the Rev. Subhûti, Professor Rhys Davids, and myself, in the Pali collection of Jatakas, for the publication of which we are indebted to the scholarship of Professor Fausboll.
1 As stated by Dr. Fleet, ante, Vol. XIV. p. 188, note 1, this appears to be the correct spelling of the name. General Cunningham uses the form Bharhut.
1 ante, Vol. X. pp. 118 ff. and 255 ff. Vol. XI. pp. 25 ff. : Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morg. Ges. Vol. XL. pp. 58 #f. Stúpa of Bharhut, Plate lvi. No. 54.
Ibid. No. 67. • Ibid. Plato liii. No, 4, and Arch. Survey of India, Vol. III, Plate xvi. No. 21.
