Pillar from Nagarjunakonda

Editors: Arlo Griffiths, Vincent Tournier.

Identifier: DHARMA_INSEIAD00084.

Hand description:

Language: Sanskrit.

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

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

Edition

⟨1⟩ [12+] (vama) [4+] ⟨2⟩ [2+] [1×] [1+] [1×] (ś)uddhācāravr̥ttasya Akkhaṇḍācchidr[āśaba]⟨3⟩lākalmāṣaśīlasya hetvarthaśabdaśāstrakr̥tapa[ri]⟨4⟩śramasya Āgamavinayopadeśaprakaraṇācaryya(ma)⟨5⟩tadharasya vr̥ttaśrutamativāg(v)aiśāradyaguṇopapaṁ⟨6⟩nasya dharmmakathikapañca(ma)s[ya] viniścaya⟨7⟩kathikaviśiṣṭasya sa[ddharmmacakravibhū]ṣitaddhva⟨8⟩jasam(u)c[chra](ya) [12+]

Apparatus

⟨1⟩ (vama).......la Ramachandran 1953 • Or read (dha)[r](ma)?

⟨2⟩ [1×][1+][1×]gasya Ramachandran 1953.

⟨2–3⟩ Akkhaṇḍācchidr[āśaba]lā- ⬦ Akuṇṭhācchidrā(ma)lā- Ramachandran 1953 • The spelling Akkhaṇḍa is also attested in Pali as a variant of Akhaṇḍa (cf. CPD, s.v.). Our reconstruction, including the word aśabala instead of amala, is supported by the frequent occurrence of this along with the three other adjectives to qualify śīla in Pali and Sanskrit texts. See, for instance, Dīgha-Nikāya III 227; Mahāvastu (ed. Senart 1882–1897) I 337; Samādhirājasūtra (ed. Vaidya) 103-104.

⟨4⟩ -ācaryya(ma)ta- • We expect -ācāryya- but the present reading may be interpreted as a Middle-Indicism; the compound ācariyamata/ācāryamata is attested in Buddhist sources in Pali/Sanskrit language.

⟨5–6⟩ -guṇopapaṁnasya • Understand -guṇopapannasya. An akṣara seems to have been voluntarily removed at the beginning of line 6 before na.

⟨6⟩ -pañca(ma)s[ya]p[r]avī[ṇa]sya Ramachandran 1953.

⟨7–8⟩ sa[ddharmmacakravibhū]ṣitaddhvajasam(u)c[chra](ya)- ⬦ maṁ[tra].....pītaddhvajasamr̥ddha sa Ramachandran 1953 • Our reconstruction of the last part of the compound is, for instance, supported by the fact that compounds in dhvaja + ud√śri are extremely common in Buddhist literature. The restoration [vibhū]ṣitadhvaja is supported by the fact that in the Gaṇḍavyūha a Buddha bears the name of Lakṣaṇavibhūṣitadhvajacandra. Cf. see BHSD, s.v. The idea of restoring saddharmmacakra- is informed by stanzas 1 and 2 of EIAD 104. At the end, one should probably restore -sam(u)c[chra](ya)[sya].

Translation

... of ... whose life is characterized by pure conduct; whose morality is faultless, free from defects, stainless and spotless; who has exerted himself in the sciences of logic, polity, and grammar; who preserves the Āgamas, the Vinaya, the Upadeśas, the Prakaraṇas and the opinions of [past] teachers; who is endowed with the (four) virtues of confidence in behavior, learning, thinking, and speech; who is the fifth (?) Dharma expounder; the distinguished expounder of exegesis; by whom (?) has been raised (this) banner adorned with a wheel of the excellent Dharma ...

Commentary

(5–6) 1

(6) 2

(9) 3

Bibliography

First described and edited by Ramachandran 1946–1947, then re-edited by the same author in Ramachandran 1953, p. 28; our edition is based on the latter. 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 1945–46: no. B.159.

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 70.

Raghunath, K. 2001. The Ikṣvākus of Vijayapuri: A study of the Nagarjunakonda inscriptions. Delhi: Eastern Book Linkers. Pages 186–7 (no. 65).

Notes

  1. 1. The list of four vaiśāradyas occurring here compares best to the four confidences attained by the bodhisattvas before their Awakening, mentioned twice in the first Avalokitasūtra of the Mahāvastu (ed. Senart 1882–1897) II 261.5-6, 262.6-7. According to Senart’s edition, this consists of kāya-, vācā-, citta-, and pr̥thu-. As noticed by Senart 1882–1897, p. vol. II: 545, the last element is difficult to understand and possibly corrupt. The reading pr̥thu- is supported in both passages by the oldest manuscript Sa (Yuyama 2001, pp. vol. I: fol. 197b2, 198a3) but in the second instance it is the result of a scribal emendation. This fact confirms that there is a problem in the textual transmission. Senart suggests we should understand pr̥thag-, but as noticed by Edgerton (BHSD s.v.) this is not very helpful. One may speculate that the Avalokitasūtra formerly read pr̥cchā-. In any case, the first three vaiśāradyas of the list match the nos. 1, 3 and 4 of the inscription’s list. For other lists of four vaiśāradyas mastered by bodhisattvas, see Lamotte 1944–1980, pp. vol. III: 1606–7, 1613; Pagel 2007, pp. 155–56, 160.
  2. 2. While the syllable ma is here supplied, almost no other reading than -pañcamasya is imaginable. The meaning of ‘fifth’ is unclear, and one wonders if one of the rare meanings of pañca must here be reckoned with. Such a meaning is discussed by Bhattacharya 1991, p. 60, where the equivalence pañcatā = viśālatva is presented. If so, one could translate ‘eminent Dharma expounder’.
  3. 3. Ramachandran thinks there is a ninth line in this inscription, at whose beginning he would read an akṣara ya. But no such line is visible on the estampage.