Epigraphia Indica Vol 21

SR No.: 032575
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Hirananda Shastri
Publisher: Archaeological Survey of India
Publication Year: 1931
Total Pages: 398
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 18 MB

Page 126

No. 16.)
NALANDA INSCRIPTION OF VIPULASRIMITRA.
No. 16.-NALANDA INSCRIPTION OF VIPULASRIMITRA.
By N. G. MAJUMDAR, M.A., INDIAN MUSEUM, CALCUTTA. The stone bearing this inscription, which is now in the Museum at Nalanda in the Patna District, was recovered in two fragments from the latest stratum of Monastery No. VII at Nalanda in the course of excavations carried on there in 1928-29 and 1929-30. I edit the inscription from the original stone and from a set of excellent estampages kindly furnished by Maulvi Muhammad Hamid Kuraishi, B.A., Officiating Superintendent, Archeological Survey, Central Circle. For & number of suggestions I am indebted to Dr. N. P. Chakravarti, M.A., Ph.D., Assistant Superintendent for Epigraphy at Ootacamund.
The writing, which is very neatly executed, covers a space of about 197" by 84" and consists of 15 lines. The average size of letters is f". The characters are a form of Nagari that was current in North-eastern India towards the end of the Pāla period. The only point that calls for notice is the way in which the superscript is indicated, namely by a short slanting stroke attached below the mātrā, which, in many cases, is difficult to recognize. Palæographically the inscription should be placed between the Gayā inscriptions of the time of Nayapāla (cir. 1030 A.D.) and the Bodh-Gayā inscription of Jayachchandra (cir. 1183 A.D.). The record to which it bears the greatest resemblance is the Govindapur inscription of the poet Gangadhara in the Indian Museum, dated in Saka year 1059, i.e., 1137 A.D.: The inscription, although not dated, may, therefore, be assigned to the first half of the twelfth century A.D.
The language is Sanskrit. With the exception of the phrase Om namo Buddhāya at the beginning, the text is in verse throughout. There are thirteen stanzas in all, composed in a variety of metres.
The inscription calls itself a prasasti (1. 15), recording the benefactions of a Buddhist ascetio named Vipulasrimitra. It opens with an obeisance to the Buddha which is followed by & hymn (V. 1) addressed to the divine Dharmachakra and Tärā. Then it tells us of an ascetio named Karuņāśrīmitra of Somapura, who went to heaven when his house was set on fire by an army of Vangāla (V.2). His disciple was Maitrisrimitra (V.3).whose disciple again was Asökasrimitra (V. 4) and Asökasrimitra's (disciple) was Vipulasrimitra (V.5). Vipulasrimitra made an offering of a casket (mañjusha) at a temple of the god Khasarppaņa, for the Prajñāpāramitā manuscript and four images at its alms-houses on the occasion of a festival (V. 6), carried out repairs to the monastery of Pitāmaha (i.e. Buddha) at Choyandaka, and installed an image of Jina Dipankara (i.e. Dipankara Buddha) at Harshapura (V. 7). At Somapura, he built a temple of Tārā, with an attached court and a tank, effected the reconstruction of cells (V. 8), and, evidently at the same place again, presented a gold ornament for the embellishment of a Buddha image (V. 9). Lastly, he erected a monastery which he made over to the Mitras (V. 10), that is the line of ascetics to which he himself belonged. Where this monastery was erected is not stated; but there is no doubt that it was at Naland, and identical with the building in whose debris the inscription has been discovered. In Verse 13 the eulogy is stated to have been manifested by Kanakari and Vasishtha, the former being apparently the composer and the latter the writer or engraver.
Of the geographical terms mentioned in the record, Chöyandaka and Harshapura are not known from any other sources and for the present remain unidentified. Somapura is identical
1 Mem. A. 8. B., Vol. V, No. 3, Pls. XXV and XXVI. ? Ibid., PL, XXXII and Indian Historical Quarterly. Vol. V (1929), p. 18. . Ante, Vol. II, p. 330.