Dedication of a stone image of the Buddha taming Nālāgiri, Mahendrapāla, year 4

Editors: Rajat Sanyal, Arlo Griffiths.

Identifier: DHARMA_INSBengalDed00110.

Hand description:

Standard Pāla-period Siddhamātr̥kā.

Language: Sanskrit.

Repository: Bengal Dedication Inscriptions (tfb-bengalded-epigraphy).

Version: 2025-05-09 14:45 (5f23e1c), last modified 2025-05-06 11:17 (259254e).

⟨Zone A: Around the Buddha⟩ ⟨A1⟩

I. Āryā

ye dharmmā hetuprabhavā hetuṁ teṣā(ṁ) tathāgato hy avad{t}at

teṣāṁ ca yo niro¿v?⟨dh⟩a ¿Ai?⟨E⟩vaṁvādī mahāśramaṇaḥ ||

⟨Zone B: Below the Buddha's feet⟩ ⟨B1⟩ @ śrī-mah¿i?⟨e⟩ndra⟨⟨pā⟩⟩ladeva-rājya-samva¡cch!⟨ts⟩ar¿a?⟨e⟩ caturtthe mā⟨B2⟩rggaśira-śukla-pratipādāyāṁ bhikṣu-dharmmamitra⟨B3⟩-māt¿ā?⟨r̥⟩-gautamī-puṁ ⟨B4⟩ devadharmmo ⟨’⟩yaṁ prati[pā]⟨B5⟩ditam iti

Apparatus

⟨1⟩ caturtthe ⬦ catu⟨r⟩tthe Chanda • Check presence of repha.

⟨3⟩ gautamī- ⬦ gautam¿ā?⟨yāḥ⟩ Chanda. — ⟨3⟩ puṁ ⬦ [puṇyārttham] Chanda • Chanda does not indicate what he actually read but notes: “Restored by Pandit B. B. Bidyabinod”. The square brackets in his reading thus seem to signify expansion of abbreviation.

Translation

(A1) The states arisen from a cause, their cause the Tathāgata proclaims, as well as their cessation: This is the teaching of the Great Ascetic.

(B1–B5) In the fourth year of the reign of Śrī Mahendrapāladeva, on the first day of the waxing fortnight of the month of Mārgaśīrṣa, this pious gift was executed for the religious merit of Gautamī, the mother of the monk Dharmamitra.

Commentary

The first two lines of the text are laid out below the lotus base of the image, and the text is continued on the unprepared part of the pedestal to the top right of the first two lines.

Bibliography

First edited by R. P. Chanda in ARASI 1923–24. This digital edition (2025) by Rajat Sanyal from published documentation, with assistance from Arlo Griffiths.

Primary

[Chanda] ARASI 1923–24. Annual Report of the Archaeological Survey of India 1923-24. Edited by John Marshall. Calcutta: Government of India Central Publication Branch, 1926. Pages 100–101, plate XXXVI (b).

Secondary

Bhandarkar, Devadatta Ramakrishna. 1927–1936. A list of the inscriptions of northern India in Brahmi and its derivative scripts, from about 200 A. C.: Appendix to Epigraphia Indica and record of the Archaeological Survey of India, volumes XIX to XXIII. Calcutta: Archaeological Survey of India. [URL]. Page 228, item 1642.

Sanyal, Rajat. 2009. “Dedicatory inscriptions of the time of Mahendrapāla: a fresh appraisal.” In: Prajñādhara: Essays on Asian art history, epigraphy and culture in honour of Gouriswar Bhattacharya. Edited by Gerd J. R. Mevissen and Arundhati Banerji. New Delhi: Kaveri Books, pp. 302–318. Page 305, item 2.

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<p>The first two lines of the text are laid out below the lotus base of the image, and the text is continued on the unprepared part of the pedestal to the top right of the first two lines.</p>

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<p>First edited by R. P. Chanda in <bibl><ptr target="bib:ARASI1923-1924_01"/></bibl>. This digital edition (2025) by Rajat Sanyal from published documentation, with assistance from Arlo Griffiths.</p>

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