No. 4 (D) Ghaíòasàla Prakrit inscription.

J. Ph. Vogel - EI.XXVII, No. 4 (D)
(JV) At the request of Dr. B. Ch. Chhabra, I am editing five Prakrit inscriptions which he copied on the 1st January 1945 at Ghaíòasàla, a small village in the Kistna District, 13 miles west of Masulipatam. He kindly supplied me with excellent estampages of these inscriptions. According to the information which I received from Dr. Chhabra, Ghaíòasàla is a Buddhist site, containing ruined stópas, and other remains, but not yet properly explored. It has already yielded some inscriptions of a much later date[Annual report on South Indian Epigraphy, for 1917, Nos. 846-53; for 1925, No. 523]. The villagers of Ghaíòasàla are said to have been secretly trading in the antiquities of the place and, according to the information gathered by Dr. Chhabra, cart-loads of marble sculptures found on the spot have been removed. It need hardly be, emphasised that such practices are extremely detrimental to the interests of archeology. Much useful evidence is irreparably lost in the diggings by irresponsible persons, and the dispersion of sculptured and inscribed stones belonging to the same building or to the same site must unavoidably hinder their study. It is therefore devoutly to be wished that the Archeological Department will soon take the necessary measures for the preservation and systematic exploration of this Buddhist site.
The five inscriptions ([It may be recorded here that the credit of the discovery goes to my friend, Sri K. Sankaran, the then District Health Officer of the Kistna District. Once, in the course of his official tour, he happened to visit Ghaíòasàla and stay at the choultry where he chanced to see the sculptured and inscribed marble pillar, lying to the compound. Of the inscription (B below), he sent me a paper rubbing, the best he could prepare himself with the help of some powdered charcoal and other improvised means. This prompted me to survey the site and my visit was rewarded with the discovery of four additional inscriptions. - B. Ch. Chhabra.]) here edited are of some historical interest, although they contain no dates, nor names of kings or dynasties. In the first place, they confirm the prevalence and flourishing state of Buddhism in the delta of the Kðøíà river during the first centuries of the Christian era, testified by the famous sanctuaries of Amaràvatè, Jaggayyapåòa and Nàgàrjunikoíäa. The inscribed relic-caskets of Bhaòòiprîlu belong to a considerably earlier date, approximately 200 B.C. according to Buhler.
Moreover, the Ghaíòasàla inscriptions supply some valuable data for the ancient geography of South India. Two of them (A and B), incised in remarkably decorative writing on sculptured pillars, mention as their donor a gahapati Bu[d]dhisiri who was a resident of Kaíòakasîla. A votive inscription from Amaràvatè, deciphered by Dr. Hultzsch[Jas. Burgess, The Buddhist Stupas of Amaravati and Jaggayyapeta (A.S.S.I., Vol. I), p. 106, pl. LXI, No. 54. Luders, List of Brahmi Inscriptions, No. 1303], refers to an upàsaka U[t]tara who hailed from the same locality. The place-name occurs also in a long inscription incised on the floor of an apsidal temple (chetiyaghara) at Nàgàrjunikoíäa. Among the pious foundations due to the upàsikà Bîdhisiri, this record mentions Kaìòakasîlå mahàchåtiyasa puvadàrå såla-maìäavî[Above, Vol. XX, p. 22, text l. 3], 'at Kaíòakasîla a stone pavilion at the eastern gate of the Great Chåtiya (Skt. chaitya)'. When editing the Nàgàrjunikoíäa inscriptions, I have pointed out that Kaíòakasîla must be identical with 'the emporium Kantakossyla', which Ptolemy (VII, l, 15) mentions immediately after the mouths of the Maisîlos, i.e., the Kðøíà river.[Above, Vol. XX, p. 9, and Vol. XXI, p. 68 where my initial reading Kaìòakasåla was corrected into Kamòakasîla. In the Amaràvatè inscription referred to above, the vowel-mark of the fourth syllable is distinct.]
The vowel-marks in this inscription are indistinct. Utaradataya should possibly be restored to Utara-duhutaya 'the daughter of U[t]tara'. Cf. duhutàya, duhutuya, sa-duhutakasa in Amaràvatè inscriptions. The dvandva mittàmachcha (Skt. mitràmàtya) is usual in Pàli. In the Amaràvatè inscriptions we usually find sa-mita-nàti-baìdhava.

TEXT.

1 Sidhaì Paòanå pu . . . . . . . . . [Apa-]
2 rasåliyànaì ma . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
3 naì bhadaìta-Naìda cha . . . . . . . .
4 budhi upajhàyasa . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
5 vaìdhàya pavajiti[ka] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
6 kayaì ayaì cha . . . . . . . . . . . . .
_______________________
The inscribed fragment is now in the house of Sri Vemuri Venkayya ex-President of the local Panchàyat-Board.
The text is too fragmentary to allow of being translated. The term pavajitikà, meaning 'a female ascetic' occurs twice in a votive inscription from Amaràvatè published by Dr. Hultzsch (Burgess, op. cit., p. 90, Plate LX, No. 50).