# EIAD 21. Pillar from vihāra of site 1 at Nagarjunakonda — reign of
Siri-Vīrapurisadatta, year 15

Arlo Griffiths and Vincent Tournier

Authors of digital edition: Arlo Griffiths, Vincent Tournier

Identifier: DHARMA_INSEIAD00021

Repository: Early Āndhradeśa (tfb-eiad-epigraphy)

File path: texts/xml/DHARMA_INSEIAD00021.xml

Language: Middle Indo-Aryan [Script (unspecified)]

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

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## 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 105vā ⟨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⟩ vasasatāya[1]

⟨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. & 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).

[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] 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.