Indian Antiquary Vol 12

SR No.: 032504
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Jas Burgess
Publisher: Swati Publications
Publication Year: 1984
Total Pages: 390
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 18 MB

Page 39

FEBRUARY, 1883.)
TWO KSHATRAPA INSCRIPTIONS.
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which has very clearly to, affords no ground for such a correction; and as the record is not in Sanskrit but in Gatha, there is no need for it. This line, indeed, is particularly full of marks of the Gath. Thus tiran presents an instance of the Gath â characteristic of confusing the cases, the accusative being used for the locative tíre. Another instance occars, lower down, where we have the accusative varsha-ratun "in the rainy season", for the locative varshárato (Skr. varshartau). In the Mahávastu and Lalita Vistara there are numerous examples of this confusion, those of substituting the accusative for the locative being particularly frequent." Again the two words chatusáld and avasadha, the Sanskrit forms of which would be chatuhsálá (as given in Prof. Bhandarkar's Note 4) and avasatha, are spelt in Prakritising fashion". In the ancient Prakrit, as mentioned in one of Chanda's special rules, the aspirates were occasionally softened." Both Dr. Stevenson and Prof. Bhandarkar read dvasatha, but in defiance of the original which unmistakably has dvasudha.
The meaning of the first portion of this line is clear; but I am inclined to agree with Prof. Bühler, that only one kind of building is intended by the whole compound chatusálávasadhapratisraya." The second portion has puzzled Prof. Bhandarkar, whose interpretation seems to have been adopted by Prof. Bühler. They divide the passage, from Ibá to karena into three separate words, Ibá-Parádá-Damana-TápiKarabend-Dhanukd and nává and punyatarakarena, taking nává as the instrumental singular of the Sanskrit word nau, and Dáhanukd as an error for Dáhanukánáin. Their difficulty, however, only arose from the persuasion that the record was in Sanskrit: If we remember that it is in Gâthâ, all difficulty disappears. Návált is simply the Prakrit-Pali equivalent, of the Sans krit word nau, the whole, nává-punyatarakurena, forming one compound; and 'Ddhanuka is the accusative plural used for the locative Dahanukásu, after the Gatha fashion, of which
other instances have been already noticed. The meaning of the word punya is somewhat obscure. Dr. Stevenson translates the phrase punyatarakarena, "he placed, charitable ferry-boats," and Prof. Bhandarkar similarly, "he charitably enabled men to cross." Prof. Bühler translates it somewhat differently," he established, for the sake of religious merit, ferries." I take punya to be used here in the same sense "sacred," as before in punyatirthe, lit. "maker of a sacred ferry of boats." The ferry-boats are called sacred, because they were set apart for a special sacred purpose, viz., to carry pilgrims across. The act of providing them was, of course, an act of religious merit, but no more so than the other acts specified in this record. The words etásán cha nadindin ubhato tirai Prof. Bhandarkar has omitted to translate; perhaps by a mere oversight, for there is no difficulty whatsoever in them. He translates sabhd-prapá-karena by "he constructed Dharmaśâlas and endowed places for the distribution of water;" construing it as a dvandva-compound. So also Prof. Bühler, who translates : "he has erected resthouses (for travellers) and places for the (gratuitous) distribution of water." But the compound may be explained much more simply as a common tatparusha, meaning "watering-places for the assemblies," i.e., for those assembled to cross over the rivers by the ferry-boats which Ushavadáta had provided. Of these "wateringplaces" he had naturally provided one on each side of the river, for the use of all those who wished to cross from either bank.
The third line opens with a very long and complicated sentence, in which we have clearly three distinct sets of names, with distinct grammatical references. Ramatirthe stands in immediate relation to charaka, "wandering to Råmatirtha"; Nánangola stands in immediate relation to Ndligera, "cocoanut trees in Nânagola"; and Punditakávada, Govardhana, Suvarnamukha, Sorpáraga stand in relation to parshabhyah," the congregations in those four places." The meaning of the whole is, that Ushavadata
11. E.g., Mahdv., p. 26, 1. 14, avichin ; ibid., p. 220, 1. 9, dharanins; Lal. Vist., p. 869, 1.1, Rajagriham: ibid., P. 467, 1. 14, mansari.
1 PAli chatusdia, Prakrit chaus111; like chatuvagga, Skr. chaturvarga. Prof. Bühler, in his notes, also mentions both Sanskrit forms, by way of emendations.
18 See my edition of Chanda's Grammar of the Ancient Prakrit, the Prikrita Lakshanam, III, ii, and my notes on the Bharhut Stupa Inscriptions, Part I, No. 5. (Ind.
Ant. vol. X, p. 119). Thus we have Madhurd for Mathurd, nadho fornitho, Maghadeva for Makhadeva.
14 See Childers' Dictionary. The word oocurs in the aco. sing. niuans, in the Gath of the Lalita Vistara, p. 264, line 6. It also occurs in the Jaina PrAkrit, see Weber, Bhagawati, p. 419. Prof. Bhandarkar's difficulty about the singular number of ndyd, of course, disappears under this view of the text; for ndod, being a mere stem in a compound, can have either a singular or plural meaning, according to circumstances.