# EIAD 2. Āyāka pillar from Rentala — reign of Vāsiṭṭhīputta
Siri-Cāntamūla, year 5

Arlo Griffiths and Vincent Tournier

Authors of digital edition: Arlo Griffiths, Vincent Tournier

Identifier: DHARMA_INSEIAD00002

Repository: Early Āndhradeśa (tfb-eiad-epigraphy)

File path: texts/xml/DHARMA_INSEIAD00002.xml

Language: Middle Indo-Aryan [Southern Brāhmī (unspecified)]

Commit: 2026-09-22 13:22 (151ff65), last modified 2026-09-21 18:13
(3db1cff)

## Palaeographic description

Lettering typical of the 3rd century CE.

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## Edition

⟨1⟩ sidha(m·) ⁓ namo bhaga(vato) (raṁño) (vase)[ṭhi]⟨2⟩-[putasa]
(siri-caṁ)tam(u)lasa v[i]ja(ya)⟨3⟩-(saṁ)vacharaṁ pa(cama)ṁ (5)
vās[ā]ṇa[ṁ] pa(khaṁ) ⟨4⟩ padhama(ṁ) (1) diva(saṁ) [pa]dha(ma)ṁ (1)
nakare gaṁ⟨5⟩(ji)kaṭ(e) vathavasa vanijaka⟨sa⟩ saṁ(gh)[i]⟨6⟩(la)sa
bhariya⟨ya⟩ ca vaṇijakiṇiya haṁ⟨7⟩ghaya pu(t)[e]ṇa vaṇijakena
cu(la-dha)[ṁ]⟨8⟩[ma]siri(na) (sa)bhariyakena sadhutuke⟨9⟩na
sasuṁh(ā)-vivāhe(na) samita-nat(u)ke(na) ⟨10⟩ [sa]ha ca bhatuhi Apaṇo
Āyu-vadha(n)[i]⟨11⟩(kaṁ) (vija)ya-vejayikaṁ ca game tuva[1×] ⟨12⟩
[2+][1×]tura-maṁḍale Upedagiri-vadha⟨13⟩[māne] [bha](ga)vato budhasa
saṁghasa ⟨14⟩ [3+][ma]ḍave selamay(o) (Āya)⟨15⟩ka-khaṁbho karito ti ⁓

## Apparatus

⟨1⟩ (vase)[ṭhi]⟨2⟩-[putasa] ⬦ vase[…] S • Sankaranarayanan makes clear
in his n. 7 that “the damaged letters are obviously ṭhiputasa”.

⟨4⟩ [pa]dha(ma)ṁ (1) ⬦ padhamaṁ (1) | S • Sankaranarayanan reads numeral
and punctuation sign, but what little remains points to a single sign 1.
— ⟨4⟩ gaṁ⟨5⟩(ji)kaṭ(e) ⬦ ga(ṁ)jikuṭe S • It would also be possible to
read gaṁ(jā)kaṭ(e).

⟨7⟩ pu(t)[e]ṇa ⬦ putana S. — ⟨7⟩ cu(la-dha)[ṁ]⟨8⟩[ma]siri(na) ⬦
cuṭi(dhāra)sirīṇa S • Sankaranarayanan adds a note: “Read siriṇā”. Our
restitution is based on occurrences of the name Dhaṁmasiri in EIAD 105,
ll. 4 and 6, and numerous occurrences of names preceded by cula-
throughout the corpus.

⟨8⟩ (sa)bhariyakena ⬦ sabhariyakeṇa S.

⟨9⟩ sasuṁh(ā)-vivāhe(na) ⬦ sa(suṁ)ha-vīvahena S • Sankaranarayanan adds
a note on suṁ: “This letter, originally written as ā, is corrected into
su”. We do not think that this scenario imposes itself. The previous
editor also suggests correcting to -nivahena. We suggest instead, if our
reading vivāhena is correct, to interpret it as corresponding to
Sanskrit vivāhyena.

⟨10⟩ [sa]ha ca bhatuhi ⬦ (sa)pacacatuṁhi S. — ⟨10⟩
Āyu-vadha(n)[i]⟨11⟩(kaṁ) ⬦ Āyuvadha⟨11⟩[1+]kaṁ S • Sankaranarayanan had
already suggested in a note: “The lost letter may be restored as ni”.

⟨11⟩ tuva[1×] ⟨12⟩ [2+][1×]tura-maṁḍale ⬦ tuva(re) [2+]
v(i)h(ā)ra-ma(ṁ)ḍale S.

⟨12⟩ -vadha⟨13⟩[māne] [bha](ga)vato ⬦ -vadha[2+]gavato S •
Sankaranarayanan makes clear in his n. 2 that “The three letters which
are lost here are obviously māne Bha”.

⟨14⟩ selamay(o) ⬦ selāmay(o) S. — ⟨14⟩ (Āya)⟨15⟩ka-khaṁbho ⬦
Āya⟨15⟩[5+]-khabho S • Sankaranarayan rightly notes: “The broken portion
of the pillar here must have been big enough to accommodate five
letters. But as the usual expression is āyaka-khabha or -skaṁbha, only
one letter viz. ka appears to have been lost. Thus the last line …
appears to have been engraved in the middle.”

## Translation by Griffiths & Tournier 2017

⟨1–4⟩ Success! Homage to the Bhagavant! Fifth — 5th — victorious year of
King Vāsiṭṭhīputta Siri-Cāntamūla, first — 1st — fortnight of the rainy
season, first — 1st — day.

⟨5–15⟩ The merchant Little Dhaṁmasiri — son of the merchant Saṅghila,
resident of the town Gañjikūṭa, and his wife, the merchant-wife Haṅghā —
together with his wife, daughter(s), daughter(s)-in-law and
son(s)-in-law, friends and relatives, and together with his brothers
caused to be made in the village Tuvara […] in the district of […] in
the vadhamāna of Upedagiri (Skt. Upendragiri) at the pavilion […] of the
community of the Bhagavant Buddha a stone āyāka pillar, in order to
increase his own lifespan and leading to victory after victory.

## Commentary

⟨2–3⟩ For other instances of the term vijayasaṁvacharaṁ (Sanskrit
vijayasaṁvatsara), whose meaning is disputed, see EIAD 30, l. 3 (with
note); 56, l. 2; 159, l. 14; 187, l. 29; 188, l. 31.

⟨12⟩ The name of the maṇḍala ending in -tura is reminiscent of the
village name toḍatura in EIAD 31, 32 and 33.

## Bibliography

First edited by Sankaranarayanan 1967–1968. Re-edited and translated by
Arlo Griffiths & Vincent Tournier, with contributions by Stefan Baums
and Ingo Strauch, making use of photos of the ASI estampage, and
published in 2017 on the experimental site Griffiths & Tournier 2017.
The XML source code from Griffiths & Tournier 2025 was adapted for
DHARMA by Arlo Griffiths & Vincent Tournier in 2025.

### Primary

[S] Sankaranarayanan, S. 1967–1968. “Rentala pillar inscription of
Siri-Chantamula I, year 5.” EI 37, pp. 29–32.

[EIAD] Griffiths, Arlo & Vincent Tournier. 2017. “Early inscriptions of
Āndhradeśa.” [URL].

### Secondary

ARIE 1936–37. Annual report on South Indian epigraphy for the year
ending 31st March 1937. Edited by C. R. Krishnamacharlu. Delhi: Manager
of Publications, 1940. Page 62, appendix B, item 349.[1]

Srinivasan, P. R. & S. Sankaranarayanan. 1979. Inscriptions of the
Ikshvāku period. Epigraphical Series 14. Hyderabad: Govt. of Andhra
Pradesh. Item 1.

Raghunath, K. 2001. The Ikṣvākus of Vijayapuri: A study of the
Nagarjunakonda inscriptions. Delhi: Eastern Book Linkers. Page 69, item
2.

[1] At first sight it seems that 1936-37: B.352 gives either part of the
right side of line 1 of the same inscription, but in reality it must
represent another pillar inscription that would have overlapped with the
text of EIAD 2 whose ASI estampage must have been collected on the same
occasion.