1. Gónda (now Dwàrkànàth Temple, Jàmnagar) stone inscription. Mixed dialect.
1881 Buôhler, IA X, p. 157 f.; 1890 corr. by Buôhler, Sitzungsber. Wien. Ak. wiss. Phil. Hist. Cl. Vol. CXXII. No. XI, p. 46, note 2; 1890 note by Bh. Indraji, JRAS 1890, p. 650 f.; 1895 PSIK, p. 21 f., No. 3, and Plate XVII; 1896 corr. by Bh. Indraji, BG I, Part I, p. 42; 1899 corr. by Rapson, JRAS 1899, p. 375, note 2; 1908 note by Rapson, CCAD p. LXI, No. 39; Luders list No 963; R. Banerji and V. S. Sukthankar-EI, XVI, No. 17. |
Lu: -Records the digging of a tank (hrada ?) by the general (sånàpati)
Rudrabhóti, son of the general (sånàpati) Bàpaka, the Àbhèra, at the village
(gràma) of Rasîpadra. The inscription gives the following pedigree: ràjan
mahàkøatrapa svàmi-Chaøòana, his son ràjan køatrapa svàmi-Jayadàman, his son
ràjan mahàkøatrapa svàmi-Rudradàman, his son ràjan køatrapa svàmi-Rudrasèha
(Rudrasiìha). -ràjãî køatrapasya svàmi-Rudrasèhasya varøå triuttaraùatå 100 3 Vaiùàkhaùuddhapaìchamèdhanyatithau Rîhiíinakøatramuhórtå. |
(RB & VS): Gundà Inscription of the time of the Køatrapa Rudrasiìha:
the year 103. The inscription was first edited, with a translation, in 1881, by Georg Buhler in Ind. Ant., Vol. X, pp. 157 f., from an eye-copy and a transcript prepared by Pandit Vallabhàchàrya Haridatta of Kaòhiàvàd and submitted to Buhler by Major Watson for publication. Nine years later Buhler published some corrections in Sitzungsber. Wien. Akad. Wiss., Phil. Hist. Kl., Vol. CXXII, No. XI, p. 46, note 2, which publication was unfortunately not accessible to the writers of this article. The posthumous papers of Bhagvanlal Indraji edited by Rapson in the JRAS., (1890) contain a short note (pp. 650 f.) on this inscription. In 1895 the text and a translation of this epigraph were republished in the Collection of Prakrit and Sanskrit Inscriptions, Bhavnagar, pp. 21 f., No. 3 and Plate XVII. In 1896 appeared in the Bombay Gazetteer, Vol. 1, Part 1, p. 42, some corrections proposed by Bhagvanlal Indraji himself in his earlier readings and interpretation; Bapson, in JRAS., 1899, p. 375, also published some fresh corrections. The Catalogue of the Coins of the Andhra Dynasty, etc. (1908), of Rapson includes (p. lxi) a short note on this record, which gives reference to the literature on the subject and briefly summarizes the contents of the inscription. In 1912 Prof. Luders in his List of Bràhmè Inscriptions (Appendix to Epigraphia Indica, Vol. X, No. 963) gave a complete bibliography of the inscription, a reading of the date [it cannot be said whether from the published facsimile or directly from an impression of the stone), and a summary of its contents. And finally, in 1915, Prof. D. B. Bhandarkar published some corrections of previous readings and interpretations in Prog, Rep. Arch. Surv. of India, W. Circle, 1914-15, p. 67. The inscription was discovered in 1880 by Major Watson in an old unused well at Gundà in the Hàlàr District of North Kàòhiàvàä. It was subsequently removed to the temple of Dvàrakànàtha at Jàmnagar, where, apparently, it was kept until its transference to the Watson Museum of Antiquities at Ràjkîò. The epigraph contains five lines of well-engraved writing, covering a space of about 2 ft. 2 in. in width by about 9 1/2 in. in height. The writing is, on the whole, in an excellent state of preservation; some isolated syllables here and there are, however, seriously damaged. The average size of such letters as n, m, p, and b is about 5/8". The characters present an earlier form of the southern variety of the Gupta alphabet. The language of the inscription is a mixed dialect, and the whole is in prose. There can be little doubt that the era to which the year in this inscription is to be referred is the Ùaka era. Accordingly the inscription may be taken to be dated roughly in the year A.D. 181. It will be remembered that the evidence afforded by the dates and the legends on the coins of Rudrasiìha lead us to infer that he ruled first as Køatrapa in the year 102-3, then as Mahà-Køatrapa from 103 to 110, then again as Køatrapa from 110 to 112, and lastly as Mahà-Køatrapa from 113 to 118 (or 119). According to this scheme the present inscription must be taken to refer to the period when he was reigning as Køatrapa for the first time. The earliest date we have for his reign is the year 102 on a coin belonging to the Cunningham collection. The object of the inscription was to record the digging and constructing, at the village of Rasîpadra, of a well by the general (sånàpati) Rudrabhóti, son of the general (sånàpati) Bàpaka, the Àbhèra. The village of Rasîpadra, which is the only locality mentioned in this record, remains unidentified. |
TEXT.(RB & VS)
1 Siddha[ì] [||*] Rajãî maha-køatra[pas]ya svami-Chaøòana-prapautrasya ràjãî
køatrapasya svami-Jayadàma-pautrasya
2 (sya) ràj[ãî] maha-køatrapasya sv[à]mi-Rudradàma-putrasya ràjãî køatrapasya
svàmi-Rudra-
3 sèhasya [va]røå [tri]y-uttara-ùatå 100 3 Vaiùàkha-ùuddhå
paìcham[i]-dha[t]tya-tithau Rî[hi]íi-nakøa-
4 tra-muhórtt[å] Àbhèråía sånàpati-Bàpakasya putråía
sånàpati-Rudrabh[ó]tinà gràmå Rasî-
5 [pa]driyå và[pè] [kha]ni[tî] [baìddh]àpitaù=cha sarvva-satvànàì
hita-sukh-àrtham=iti [||*]
Remarks on the Transcript.(RB & VS)
__________________________________________________
From a set of estampages. Explanation of the abbreviations:-GB=Georg Buhler, Ind. Ant.,
Vol. X, p. 157; BI- Collection of Prakrit and Sanskrit Inscriptions, Bhavnagar, pp. 21 f.;
L-Luders, List of Bràhmè Inscriptions, No. 963; DRB=D. R. Bhandarkar, Prog. Rep. Arch.
Surv. of W. Circle, 1914-15, p. 67.
L. 1. GB and BI ràjãî mahà- and svàmi-; but in our estampage the sign of length can
be made out in none of these words.
L. 2. Over ma in maha, to its right, is to be noticed a slanting irregular depression, the
nature and significance of which is uncertain. L., GB dvy-uttara-ùatå sa 100 2, which is
clearly inadmissible; BI and L tri-uttara-ùatå, differing from our reading in the second
syllable, which is, however, unmistakably yu and not u; on the other hand, it is uncertain
whether the first syllable should be read as tri or tra. GB, BI and L -ùuddha for
ùuddhå; but our estampage shows the sign of å quite distinctly. The estampage does not
show any clear trace of the sign of the long è in paìchamè- as read by GB, BI and L.
The projection on the left of the sign of cha is abnormal. GB, BI and L -dhanya- ; but an
examination of the back of the estampage removes all doubt as to the correctness of our
reading of the second syllable. Most probably we have to correct dhattya to dhanya; the
former gives no sense. Mr. Banerji would read åttya regarding the latter as equivalent to
asyàm, or åtasyàm, and cognate with the Pkt. åtiya found in Kuøan inscriptions. GB
Ùravaía- for Rîhiíi-.
L. 5. GB padrå hradàrtthå, and BI padrå hradaõ; L accepts the sense, adding hrada in
brackets with a query. DRB speaks of Rasîpadriya and garta in giving the contents of the
inscription. The syllable và is quite clear in the estampage, especially on the back of
it; dà or dî, which are made quite differently, are out of the question; cf. dà in
-Jayadàma- in l.1, and -Rudradàma- in l. 2. The estampage will also show that the
reading hra for the first doubtful syllable is utterly impossible. The anusvàra in baì-
is well marked; but it is impossible to say with certainty whether we have to read
-ìndhà- or -ìddhà-; the latter seems to us more probable.