Octagonal pillar from Alluru — reign of Siri-Ehavalacāntamūla, year 8

Editors: Arlo Griffiths, Vincent Tournier.

Identifier: DHARMA_INSEIAD00049.

Hand description:

Language: Middle Indo-Aryan.

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

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

Edition

⟨1⟩ sipaṁm· hal(ū)r(a)vathave[na] gāmike(na) ⟨2⟩ veṇhusiri(ṇo) A(pano) [bha]yāya caṁdāya ⟨3⟩ balakasa naṁ(d)i(s)[i](r)[i] [.]ī [1×]jakhasiriya ⟨4⟩ nāgasiriya [2×](vaḷa) [1×]sasa ca nīga⟨5⟩mitasaṁbadhibaṁ(dhavajana)[sa] [I]m(e)na puṁñopa⟨6⟩cayasaṁpadāne(n)[.] [.](i) [1×][U](bha)[ya]lokasaṁtāraṇo ⟨7⟩ (dha)ṁmamay(o) se(lakhaṁbho) [s](i)[kha]ra⟨ṁ⟩ge patithā⟨8⟩pito raṁño [Ikh](ā)[ku](na)[sir](i)Ehavalacaṁ⟨9⟩tamūlasa saṁvachara (8)gipa 5diva 10 ⟨10⟩ Ācariyānaṁ (puvana)ga(sela)sikhara(ṁ)gavā(s)i⟨11⟩naṁ vāsicaṁdanaka(pā)[naṁ] [3×][ka]ratalaparima⟨12⟩jakānaṁ A(r)[i]ya(sa)ṁgha(sa) [3×]

Apparatus

⟨1⟩ sipaṁm· • Emend sidham·, as suggested by Srinivasan [1985] 1971–1972⟨1⟩ halūrāvathavena ⬦ halūravaṭhavena Srinivasan [1985] 1971–1972.

⟨2⟩ veṇhusiri(ṇo) Srinivasan [1985] 1971–1972 • The vocalic marker -o is unclear, as there does seem to be a horizontal mark to the left of the akṣara. Understand veṇhusiriṇā.

⟨3⟩ naṁ(d)i(s)[i](r)[i][.]ī [1×]balakasa naṁ … Srinivasan [1985] 1971–1972.

⟨4⟩ [2×](vaḷa)[1×] Srinivasan [1985] 1971–1972.

⟨4–5⟩ sa ca nīgamita- ⬦ sacatīgamita- Srinivasan [1985] 1971–1972.

⟨5⟩ -badhibaṁ(dhavajana)[sa] -badhi baṁ(dhava)ja [1×] sa Srinivasan [1985] 1971–1972. — ⟨5⟩ [I]m(e)na ⬦ [1×] ma(ta) Srinivasan [1985] 1971–1972. — ⟨5⟩ puṁñopacaya- ⬦ puṁjñopacaya- Srinivasan [1985] 1971–1972.

⟨6⟩ saṁpadāne(n)[.]saṁpadāne … Srinivasan [1985] 1971–1972. — ⟨6⟩ [U](bha)[ya]lokasaṁtāraṇo ⬦ … lokasaṁtāraṇ(o) Srinivasan [1985] 1971–1972.

⟨7⟩ [s](i)[kha]ra⟨ṁ⟩ge ⬦ … rage Srinivasan [1985] 1971–1972 • But cf. l. 10.

⟨7–8⟩ patithāpito ⬦ patiṭhapito Srinivasan [1985] 1971–1972.

⟨8⟩ [Ikh](ā)[ku](na)ṁ raṁño ⬦ (Ikhākunaṁ) raṁjño Srinivasan [1985] 1971–1972.

⟨10–11⟩ (puvana)ga(sela)sikhara(ṁ)gavā(s)inaṁ ⬦ [Avanāga]selasikharavāsinaṁ Srinivasan [1985] 1971–1972.

⟨11⟩ vāsicaṁdanaka(pā)[naṁ]vāsicaṁdanaka… Srinivasan [1985] 1971–1972. — ⟨11⟩ [3×][ka]ratalaparimajakānaṁ ⬦ ... [ka]ratalaparimajakānaṁ Srinivasan [1985] 1971–1972 • It is tempting to reconstruct here [Ākāsaka](rata)laparim(ā)jakānaṁ, by analogy with the compound ākāśapāṇitalasamacitta immediately preceding the compound vāsīcandanakalpa in the formula cited in the commentary.

⟨12⟩ A(r)[i]ya(sa)ṁgha(sa)Aṁriyasaṁgha[sa pujñāye] Srinivasan [1985] 1971–1972.

Translation

(1–8) Success! The village headman (grāmika) Veṇhusiri (Viṣṇuśrī), resident of Halūra, as the gift (producing an) accumulation of merit for his wife Candā, his son Nandisiri, ... Jakhasiri (Yakṣaśrī), Nāgasiri ... and his own friends, kinsmen, relatives, and people, established in Sikharaṅga a stone pillar, made of the Dharma, which carries across in both worlds.

(8–12) In the 8th year of King Siri-Ehavalacāntamūla of the Ikṣvākus, in the 5th fortnight of summer, on the 10th day... for the noble community of the teachers residing on the flank of the summit of the mountain [named] Eastern Mountain (i.e., the Puvaseliyas), who are (calm) as the sandalwood tree (in the presence of) an axe, and who are able to touch (the element of space?) with the palm of their hands.

Commentary

(7) (dha)ṁmamayo1

(10–11) (puvana)ga(sela)sikhara(ṁ)gavā(s)inaṁ2

(11) vāsicaṁdanaka(pā)[naṁ]3

(11–12) [3×][ka]ratalaparimajakānaṁ4

Bibliography

First described and edited by Srinivasan [1985] 1971–1972. Re-edited here from our photos of the ASI estampage.

Secondary

No name. 1887–. Annual report on Indian epigraphy. Madras; Calcutta; New Delhi: Government of Madras; Archaeological Survey of India. Pages 1976–77: 5, no. B.13.

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. Allu 2.

Raghunath, K. 2001. The Ikṣvākus of Vijayapuri: A study of the Nagarjunakonda inscriptions. Delhi: Eastern Book Linkers. Page 140 (no. 32).

Notes

  1. 1. Maybe this implies, in concrete terms, that this pillar had a dharmacakra on top.
  2. 2. Since śailaśikhara seems to be a fixed combination, occurring in several Sanskrit texts, we are inclined to see in puvanagaselasikharaṁgavāsin“residing on the flank of the summit of the mountain (sela) [named] Eastern Mountain (naga)” a somewhat poetic variant of the normal expression which is puvaseliya. Cf. from the same site EIAD 200, l. 17: Ayirāna pūvaseliyāna nigāyasa.
  3. 3. The epithet vāsīcandanakalpa- commonly occurs in formulae describing the dispassionate state of Arhants, especially in (Mūla-)Sarvāstivādin sources. Cf. BHSD, s.v. On the meaning of this compound, also occurring in Jaina sources, see Bloomfield 1920, pp. 341–3; Norman 1960, pp. 269–71. The former suggests translating “he for whom the (cooling) sandal is not different from a (painful) sword”, the latter “like the sandalwood tree (in the presence of) the axe”. Both interpretations are supported with textual parallels, but we are inclined to follow here Norman’s interpretation. On the use and interpretation of the simile in Pramāṇa works, see Eltschinger and Ratié 2013, p. 265 and n. 332.
  4. 4. The compound ākāśapāṇitalasamacitta, occurring with vāsīcandanakalpa- in (Mūla-)Sarvāstivādin sources, is freely rendered by Bloomfield 1920, p. 342 as “he for whom the plainest reality is no better than the most ethereal substance”. The compound attested in the present inscription must be formed on pari-mr̥j, meaning ‘to touch, to reach out to; to rub’ (cf. e.g. BHSD, s.v. parimārjaka), which is quite different from samacitta. The compound brings to mind descriptions of realised Arhants, endowed with r̥ddhi, who are able to touch (pari-mr̥j) the sun and the moon (cf. Lamotte 1944–1980, pp. vol. IV: 1809–14). But it remains unclear whether the present compound pointed to the mastery of this abhijñā by the recipients of the gift.