# EIAD 40. Pillar from monastic hall of site 1 at Nagarjunakonda — reign
of Siri-Vīrapurisadatta

Arlo Griffiths and Vincent Tournier

Authors of digital edition: Arlo Griffiths, Vincent Tournier

Identifier: DHARMA_INSEIAD00040

Repository: Early Āndhradeśa (tfb-eiad-epigraphy)

File path: texts/xml/DHARMA_INSEIAD00040.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⟩ mahārājasa _Asamedhayājisa ⟨2⟩ Anekahiraṁṇakoṭipadāyisa
_siricaṁtamulasa ⟨3⟩ sahodarā bhagini _mahāsenāpatisa ⟨4⟩ mahātalavarasa
_vasiṭhīputasa _pūk(ī)yānaṁ ⟨5⟩ kaṁdasirisa _bhari(yā) mahātalavari
cāṁtisiri ⟨6⟩ [A]pano jāmātukasa _raṁño _māṭharipu⟨ta⟩sa Ikhā(ku)[naṁ]
⟨7⟩ [sir](i)virapurisadatasa _Āyuvadhanīke _veja(y)i[ke] ⟨8⟩ [3+]ca
Ubhayalokahitasukhani(v)[āṇathanāya] ⟨9⟩ […][.]i […]

## Apparatus

⟨2⟩ -mulasa ⬦ -mūlasa Vogel 1931–1932.

⟨4⟩ mahātalavarasa vasiṭhī- ⬦ mahātalavaravasiṭhī- Vogel 1931–1932. —
⟨4⟩ pūk(ī)yānaṁ ⬦ pūkiyānaṁ Vogel 1931–1932.

⟨5⟩ -sirisa ⬦ -sirīsa Vogel 1931–1932 • The appearance of a long ī on
the estampage used by Vogel was probably due to the crack in the stone.

⟨6⟩ [A]pano ⬦ [A]paṇo Vogel 1931–1932.

⟨7⟩ [sir](i)vira- ⬦ [siri]vira- Vogel 1931–1932. — ⟨7⟩ -vadhanīke ⬦
-vadhanike Vogel 1931–1932 • Constraint of space above the nī may have
caused the engraver to choose a peculiar moon-shape form for his ī.
There is another case of such an ad hoc shape in ni in l. 8.

⟨8⟩ [3+] ⬦ [Apaṇo] Vogel 1931–1932 • There is no objective reason for
favoring Vogel’s restitution of this particular form/spelling of the
personal pronoun here, since other instances in the corpus could be
invoked to support restoring Atano or Apano.

⟨9⟩ [.]i • This line is not recorded by Vogel 1931–1932. In the light of
parallel passages for the formula -nivāṇathanāya Imaṁ selakhaṁbhaṁ
patiṭhapitaṁ ti, we expect the isolated vowel i here to have been part
of the word patiṭhapitaṁ.

## Translation

Cāntisirī — uterine sister of Great King Siri-Cāntamūla, sacrificer of
the Aśvamedha, giver of many times tens of millions of (pieces of) gold;
wife of the Great Talavara Vāsiṭṭhīputta Kandasiri of the Pūkīyas,
Great-Talavara-wife — in order to increase the lifespan and leading to
victory after victory of her son-in-law, King Māṭharīputta
Siri-Vīrapurisadatta of the Ikṣvākus ... and (for the sake of her own)
well-being and happiness in both worlds and nirvāṇa ...

## Bibliography

First described and edited by Vogel 1931–1932, pp. 65–6 (M1). Re-edited
here 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 (i).

Srinivasan, P. R. & S. Sankaranarayanan. 1979. Inscriptions of the
Ikshvāku period. Epigraphical Series 14. Hyderabad: Govt. of Andhra
Pradesh. Page no. 30.

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 19.

Raghunath, K. 2001. The Ikṣvākus of Vijayapuri: A study of the
Nagarjunakonda inscriptions. Delhi: Eastern Book Linkers. Pages 126–7
(no. 3).