Āyaka pillar from site 1 at Nagarjunakonda — reign of Siri-Vīrapurisadatta, year 6

Editors: Arlo Griffiths, Vincent Tournier.

Identifier: DHARMA_INSEIAD00012.

Hand description:

Language: Middle Indo-Aryan.

Repository: Early Andhra (tfb-eiad-epigraphy).

Version: (a154659), last modified (77e39b7).

Edition

⟨1⟩ sidhaṁ namo bhagavato devarājasakatasa saṁmasaṁbudhasa dhātuvaraparig(a)hitasa ⟨2⟩ mahācetīyamhi mahārajasa virūpakhapatimahāsenāparigahītasa Agihāta⟨3⟩Agiṭhomavājapeyāsamedhayājisa hiraṁṇakoṭigosatasahasahalasata⟨4⟩sahasapadāyisa savathesu Apatihatasaṁkapasa vāsiṭhīputasa Ikhākusa ⟨5⟩ siricāṁtamūlasa sodarā⟨ya⟩ bhaginiya haṁmas⟨i⟩riya bālikā mahārajasa ⟨6⟩ māḍharīputasa sirivirapurisadatasa bhayā mahādevi chaṭhisiri Apano ⟨7⟩ mātaraṁ haṁmasiriṇikaṁ parināmetuna Atānaṁ ca nivāṇasaṁpatisaṁpādake Imaṁ bhaṁkhaṁ ⟨8⟩ patiṭhapitaṁ mahārājasa sirivirapurisadatasa sava 6 vāpa 6 d⟨i⟩va 10

Apparatus

⟨1⟩ dhātuvaraparigahitasa ⬦ dhātuvaraparigaṁhitasa Vogel 1929–1930.

⟨2⟩ mahācetīyamhi ⬦ mahādetiyaṁhi Vogel 1929–1930 • Vogel emends to mahācetiyaṁhi. — ⟨2⟩ -mahāsenā- ⬦ -mahāsena- Vogel 1929–1930. — ⟨2⟩ Agihāta- • Emend Agihota-.

⟨5⟩ sodarā⟨ya⟩ bhaginiya ⬦ sodarābhaginiya Vogel 1929–1930 • The emendation is supported by EIAD 5, l. 5 sodaraya bhaginiya. — ⟨5⟩ haṁmas⟨i⟩riya • We suspect the engraver started writing a si, but stopped after the first short horizontal stroke.

⟨7⟩ Atānaṁ ⬦ Atanaṁ Vogel 1929–1930 • It is perhaps not necessary to emend Atano, as proposed by Vogel in his n. 6, because Atānaṁ can be a gen. pl. form and confusion of number is not unusual. The parallel passage in EIAD 5, l. 7, which mentions the same mother Hammasirī, here has Atane. — ⟨7⟩ bhaṁkhaṁ • Emend khaṁbhaṁ, as proposed by Vogel in his n. 7.

⟨8⟩ d⟨i⟩va ⬦ dāva Vogel 1929–1930 • The first akṣara is clearly da. Vogel emends to diva.

Translation

(1) Success! Homage to the Bhagavant, worshipped by the king(s) of the gods, the Perfect Buddha who is ensconced in the excellent relic [or: element (i.e., nirvāṇadhātu)]!

(2–8) At the Great Shrine, the Great Queen Chaṭṭhisirī — child of Hammasirī, uterine sister of Great King Vāsiṭṭhīputta Siri-Cāntamūla the Ikṣvāku, favored by Mahāsena who has Virūpākṣa as his lord, sacrificer of the Agnihotra, the Agniṣṭoma, the Vājapeya and the Aśvamedha, giver of tens of millions of (pieces of) gold, hundreds of thousands of cows and hundreds of thousands of plows (of land), whose will is unimpeded in all matters; wife of Great King Māṭharīputta Siri-Vīrapurisadatta — having dedicated (the merit) to her mother Hammasiriṇṇikā and for achieving the fortune of nirvāṇa for herself, established this pillar.

(8) In the 6th year of Great King Siri-Vīrapurisadatta, in the 6th fortnight of the rainy season, on the 10th day.

Commentary

(8) 1

Bibliography

First described and edited by Vogel 1929–1930, pp. 14, 20 (C4). Re-edited here from the Leiden estampage and after autopsy of the stone.

Secondary

Srinivasan, P. R. and S. Sankaranarayanan. 1979. Inscriptions of the Ikshvāku period. Epigraphical Series 14. Hyderabad: Govt. of Andhra Pradesh. Page no. 15.

Tsukamoto Keishō 塚本啓祥. 1996. インド仏教碑銘の研究 I, Text, Note, 和訳 Indo Bukkyō himei no kenkyū I: Text, Note, Wayaku [A comprehensive study of the Indian Buddhist inscriptions, Part I: Text, Notes and Japanese Translation]. Kyōto-shi 京都市: Heirakuji Shoten 平楽寺書店. Page no. Naga 15.

Raghunath, K. 2001. The Ikṣvākus of Vijayapuri: A study of the Nagarjunakonda inscriptions. Delhi: Eastern Book Linkers. Pages 87–8 (no. 9).

Notes

  1. 1. Note use of title mahārāja for Siri-Vīrapurisadatta here; elsewhere, he is rājā.