Pillar from vihāra of site 1 at Nagarjunakonda — reign of Siri-Vīrapurisadatta, year 15

Editors: Arlo Griffiths, Vincent Tournier.

Identifier: DHARMA_INSEIAD00021.

Hand description:

Language: Middle Indo-Aryan.

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

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

Edition

⟨1⟩ At(i)ch(i)[ta] [m] [anāgatavaṭamāna](k)[.] [1+][1×][2+][2×][1+] ⟨2⟩ [A]pano ca Ubhayalokahitasukhanivāṇathanāya ⟨3⟩ mahāvihāre mahācet(i)yapādam(ū)le ghavajitānaṁ ⟨4⟩ [nā]⟨Fragment lost⟩nādesasamanāgatānaṁ mahābhikhusaṁghasa se(la)[3+] ⟨5⟩ [raṁño] ⟨Fragment left⟩sirivirapurisadatasa vasasatāya sava 105⟨Fragment lost⟩[pa] ⟨6⟩ [Aparama]⟨Fragment left⟩hāvinaseliyānaṁ parigahe sacātu(sāla) ⟨7⟩ [4+](pa)tithapita ti

Apparatus

⟨1⟩ At(i)ch(i)[ta][m] [anāgatavaṭamāna](k)[.]Atichi[tam-anāgata-vaṭamānake] Vogel 1931–1932

⟨2⟩ [A]pano ⬦ Apano Vogel 1931–1932

⟨3⟩ mahācet(i)yapādam(ū)le ⬦ mahācetiyapādamule Vogel 1931–1932 • — ⟨3⟩ ghavajitānaṁ ⬦ pavajitānaṁ Vogel 1931–1932 • Vogel’s reading is a silent emendation; emend accordingly.

⟨4⟩ se(la)[3+]pa[rigahe] Vogel 1931–1932 • The akṣara read as pa by Vogel, while ambiguous in the estampage, is rather clearly a se on the stone itself. This solves the problem of the repetition of parigahe in the inscription. 6. The reading may be restored se(la)[maṁṭava], by comparison with EIAD 28, l. 2, or se(la)[maṁḍavo], on the basis of EIAD 20, l. 3.

⟨5⟩ vasasatāya sava ⬦ vasasanāya saṁva Vogel 1931–1932.

⟨7⟩ (pa)tithapita ti ⬦ [pa]tithapita[ṁ]ti Vogel 1931–1932

Translation

... past, future and present members ... for the sake of well-being and happiness in both worlds and nirvāṇa for herself, in the Great Monastery, at the base of the Great Shrine, ... a stone (pavillion) ... for great community of monks (consisting) of renunciants who come from various countries, in the 15th year of King Siri-Vīrapurisadatta — may he live one hundred years! —, in the ... fortnight of the rainy season ..., in the possession of the Aparamahāvinaseliyas, together with a quadrangular compound ... established ...

Commentary

(5) vasasatāya1

(6) cātu(sāla)2

Bibliography

First described and edited by Vogel 1931–1932, p. 66 (M3); re-edited here from the published estampage and after autopsy of the stone.

Secondary

Sarkar, H. [1971] 1969–1970. “A note on some fragmentary inscriptions from Nagarjunakonda.” EI 38, pp. 175–178. Page 175 (iv).

Srinivasan, P. R. and S. Sankaranarayanan. 1979. Inscriptions of the Ikshvāku period. Epigraphical Series 14. Hyderabad: Govt. of Andhra Pradesh. Page no. 19.

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 21.

Raghunath, K. 2001. The Ikṣvākus of Vijayapuri: A study of the Nagarjunakonda inscriptions. Delhi: Eastern Book Linkers. Page 106 (no. 12).

Notes

  1. 1. See Sircar [1966] 1963–1964, p. 1. This word occurs also in EIAD 30 and 242. One might at first be tempted to translate “may he reign one hundred years!”, but 160, l. 2 vāsasatāyuka speaks for the interpretation preferred here.
  2. 2. This word seems to denote a building with rows of cells on all sides. For a ground plan indicating the referent of this gift, see Sarkar 1960, p. pl. LXVIII.