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कहाऊँ स्तम्भ एवं क्षेत्रीय पुरातत्व की खोज
the square base there is a niche holding a naked standing figure, with very long arms reaching to his knees. Behind, there is a large snake folded in horizontal coils, one above the other, and with its seven heads forming a canopy over the idol. Two small figures, male and female, are kneeling at the feet, and looking up to the idol with offerings in their hands.
On the three northern faces of the octagonal portion of the pillar, there is an inscription of 12 lines in the Gupta characters of the Allahabad Pillar'. There is a good copy of this inscription in Buchannan', and another and better copy in Prinsep's Journal”. In the translation given by james Prinsep, the date was read as being 133 years after the decease of Skanda Gupta, instead of in the year 133, after the death of Skanda. The true number of the year is 141, as pointed out by Professor Fitz Edward Hall, but the epoch or era in which the years are reckoned is doubtful. Professor Hall, on the authority of Bậpu Deva Sâstri, the learned Astronomer of the Banâras College prefers the era of Vikramaditya, but I am inclined to adopt that of Sake; and this era, I believe, is also preferred by Mr. Thomas. The difference between the two is 135 years. If dated in the Vikrama era, the pillar must have been erected in 141-57 = 84 A.D.; but if dated in the Sake era, the period of its erection will be 141+78=219 AD. The latter date, I think, accords best with the now generally admitted epoch of the overthrow of the Gupta Dynasty in A.D. 319.
The purport of the inscription, as translated by Prinsep, is simply to record the dedication of five images of Indra by one Madra, who calls himself "the constant and friendly patron of Brahmans, Gurus, and yatis," or "Brahmans, religious teachers, and sages", or Ascetics who have subdued their passions. In the present day the term Yati is, I believe, applied
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