Epigraphia Indica Vol 24

SR No.: 032578
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Hirananda Shastri
Publisher: Archaeological Survey of India
Publication Year: 1937
Total Pages: 472
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 22 MB

Page 248

No. 27.] SEVEN BRAHMI INSCRIPTIONS FROM MATHURA AND ITS VICINITY. 205
in use already before the time of the Kushans, and this is confirmed by its occurrence in the inscriptions on the first Stupa at Sanchi. No. 340 of Bühler's collection reads! Vedisa Datasa kalavadasa dänam. There is a second copy (No. 339) which differs only in the writing of the first word: Vedasa Datasa kalavadasa dinam. A third inscription (No. 195) was read by Bühler Datakalivatasa dänam. Bühler identified this inscription with Cunningham's No. 172 which Cunningham himself, in accordance with his facsimile, transcribed Datakulavadasa dānam. There can be little doubt that here, also the true reading is Datakalavadasa. The word is found once more in the Vakala inscription, No. 971 of my List: Kodasa kalavadasa. Kalavada and kalavada are apparently only defective spellings of kalavada, and I therefore feel sure that also in the Mōra inscription kalavada is meant for kālavādā. Additional proof is furnished by the next inscription.
IV. Inscription on a sculptured stone-slab from Mathurā.
The inscription is engraved on a beautifully sculptured slab found in the Kankali Ta at Mathura and now preserved in the Lucknow Provincial Museum. The slab is figured in V. A. Smith's Jain Stupa at Mathurd (ASI. New Imp. Ser. Vol. XX), Plate VIII. The inscription was edited by Bühler, Ep. Ind., Vol. II, p. 200, No. 8, together with a photolithograph from which it appears that the inscription has suffered a good deal since the time when the impression used by Bühler was taken. Judging from the impressions before me it seems that in the second half of the inscription the lower portion of the letters has now almost entirely disappeared. My reading of the text therefore depends to a certain extent on the reproduction in the Epigraphia Indica, Vol. II.
TEXT.
nano arahato(1) Mähävirasa() Mathuraka....lavalas) [sa].. bhayaye(").. vara khitiye yagapato.
NOTES.
(1) There is a cut to the left of the ra which makes it look like na. (2) Bühler: mahavirasa, but the sign of length is attached in the same way as in the ma of the following word. (3) Bühler: Mathuraka... lavadasa, which agrees with the photolithograph in the Ep. Ind., whereas in the impression before me lava is almost illegible and the last sa is strangely distorted. The akshara read da by Bühler shows a distinct hook to the right in the impression and is therefore more probably la. The two words can safely be restored as Mathurakasa kalavalasa. (4) This is Bühler's reading and it is evidently correct, although the letters are far less distinct now in the impressions than in the photolithograph. Restore saha bhayaye. (5) Bühler: . . . . va itaye, where i seems to be a misprint for i. The last four aksharas may be called certain. Instead of ra the reading to would be possible according to the impressions, but the photolithograph shows a plain va. The name is probably to be restored as Sivarakhitaye. (6) Bühler's reading, although enclosed in brackets, is quite distinct in the photolithograph and there can be no doubt that it is correct, but the last three aksharas are illegible in the impressions.
TRANSLATION.
Adoration to the Arhat Mahavira! The tablet of homage (is the gift) of the kalavāļa of Mathura together with his wife Sivarakhita (Sivarakshita).
1 Ep. Ind., Vol. II, p. 366ff.
Bhilsa Topes, p. 258.