No. 21. Karle Buddhist cave inscription.
Prakrit. This inscription is badly mutilated, and what remains is half obliterated. If, nevertheless, I have attempted to translate the fragments, and believe that the readings and my rendering are tolerably certain, the circumstance which encourages me is that this document is very similar to the three Nāsik inscriptions, No, 14, No. 11A, and 11B, which also contain land grants made in favour of Bauddha mendicants. This resemblance permits us, also, to confidently assign our inscription to one of the two Andhra kings who caused the three Nāsik edicts to be incised, i.e., either to Gautamčputra Sātakaríi or to Vāsiøōhčputra Puëumāyi. (ASWI) |
Chaitya cave. On the 2nd and 3nd tiers of the frieze between the central and the right-hand door. (Sen.) |
1834 Stevenson, JBAS III, p. 498, Nos. C and D. with facsimile; 1837 Prinsep. JBAS VI, p. 1048, No. 7, and Plate LIII; 1847 Bird-Mitchell-Wilson, Hist. Res. p. 60, No. 23, and Plate XXXVII, 5-7; 1854 Stevenson-Brett, JBBRAS V, p. 154 f., Nos. 7, 5 and 6, and Plate, Nos. 7, 3 and 6; 1856 corr. by Stevenson, JBBRAS V, p. 427; 1881 ment. by Bhagvanlal Indraji-Burgess, ICTWI, p. 36, No. 19, and Plate; 1883 Buôhler, ASWI, IV. p. 112 f., No. 9.20, and Plate LIV; 1895 note by Pischel, Nachr. Goôtt. Ges. Wiss. Phil. Hist. Kl. 1895, p. 213 f.; 1896 corr. by Franke, ZDMG L, p. 597; 1901 corr. by Hultzsch, EI VI, p. 319, notes 1, 2, 3, 5, and 7; 1902 Senart, EI VII, p. 64 ff., No. 19, and Plate II; 1908 corr. by Rapson, Catalogue of the Coins of the Andhra Dynasty, etc. p. XLIX, No.9; Luders list No 1105; |
Lu: -Fragment. Order of . . . . to Pariguta (? Parigupta), the officer
(amacha) at Māmāäa, regarding the gift of the village (gāma) of Karajaka in the
Māmāla district (āhāra) on the northern road as monks' land (bhikhuhala) to the
mendicant (pavajita) friars (bhikhu) dwelling in the Vāluraka (Vālóraka) caves (låía)
for the support of the school (nikāya) of the Mahāsaghiyas (Mahāsāėghikas). The
plates were prepared by Sivakhaäaguta (Ųivaskandha-gupta). The second figure of the date
of the year is uncertain. -sava 10 [8] vā pa 4 diva 1. |
TEXT.
1. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [ānāpayati] māmā[le] amacha pa . ga . . masu etha
lenasa Valurakasa vāōhavāna
2. pavajitāna bhikhuna nikāyasa mahāsagh[i]yāna yapanaya etha māmālāhāre
utaramaga(ge) gāma(me) karajake[su] . . .
3. bhikhuhala dadama [|] etesa gāma(me) karajake[su] bhikhuhala-deya papahi [|] etasa
chasa
4. gāmasa karajakāna bhikhuhalaparihāra vitarāma a[pa]vesa . . . . . . . . . . .
pārihārika cha [|] etehi na parihārehi parihariha [|] ete chasa gām[e] karajake[su]
5. bhikhuhalaparihāre [cha] etha nibadho[lehi] aviyena ānata . . . . . . . . . . . . .
to vijayathasātāre dato ōhe raãā paōikā sava 1[4?]
6. vā pa 4 diva 1 sivakhadagutena kaōā [||]
Notes
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L. 1. Sen. has māmā[äe], par . gata . . masu, lenesa.
L. 2. Sen. has mahāsagh . yāna y . pan . ya etha; utare mage g . m . karajak .
L. 3. Sen. has [tu] after etesa, karajake, pāpehi
L.4 Read parihariėha.(ASWI); Sen. has apāvesa a . . . ; pariharah. et. chasa gāma
karajake.
L.5 Read vijayakhadhāvāre datāōhi.(ASWI); Sen. has nibadhāpehi, chhato
vijayaōhasatāre, and not read raãā;
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(ASWI) "[King] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . addresses [these] commands to . . . . .
. . the minister in [charge of] Māmāla . . . . we have given for the support of the
mendicant friars of the school of the Mahāsaghiyas [Mahāsaėghikas] who live here in the
Valuraka [Valóraka] cave, a bhikhuhala here in the village of Karajaka [which is
situated] in the northern division of the Āhāra [Zillā of] Māmāla. To them the gift
of a bhikhuhala in (? DNL Sen not read loc. in text) the village of Karajaka has been
granted. And we grant for this village of Karajaka the exemption [from taxes and
interference suitable] for a bhikhuhala [viz., that] it shall not be entered [by royal
officers] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . and be endowed with immunities [of all kinds].
By [granting] these immunities we exempt it [from interference by the revenue officers].
With respect to this village of Karajaka and with respect to this exemption a deed has
here been drawn up by . . . . . . . who received verbal orders [to that effect] . . . . .
. . . . and a written grant has been given by the king in his victorious camp on the first
day of the first fortnight of the rainy season in the year 1[4?] [which has been] prepared
by Sivakhadaguta [Ųivaskandhagupta]."
Notes to translation (ASWI)
_____________________
1. [Mahāsaėghikas] - One of the most ancient divisions of the Bauddhas (conf.
Mahāvaėso, v. 4; Ind. Ant., vol. IX, pp. 300, 301; Vassilief, Bouddisme, p. 225).(ASWI)
2. Bhikhuhala - Literally, "a mendicant-plough;" the precise technical meaning
of this term is unknown to me, but as the village is also allowed the immunities
(parihāra) usually granted for dharmadāna land, it would seem that the royal share of
the produce was made over to the Bauddha mendicants.(ASWI) Sen. - 'monk's land'
3þ This is probably identical with the Karajika which, according to No. 13,
Ðiøabhadatta, the son-in-law of Nahapāna, gave to the community at Valóraka. If this
be so, we have in this grant one ot the effects of the destruction of the Køaharāta
dynasty, of which Gautamčputra boasts in Nasik No. 16.(ASWI)
4. The term āhāra, as we know from the Valabhč grants, corresponds exactly to the
modern "Zillā or Collectorate." The name Māmāla is evidently the ancient form
of the modern Māvaë (Māul); the change of medial ma to va is common in Marāōhč.
Māvaë being still the name of the tract along the Sahyādri or Ghāō range, fully
corresponds with the position of the ancient Māmāla. We have thus another proof that the
lapse of two thousand years has not changed much in the geographical names of Western
India and its territorial divisions.(ASWI)