Pillar from Amaravati

Editors: Arlo Griffiths, Vincent Tournier.

Identifier: DHARMA_INSEIAD00272.

Hand description:

Lettering typical of the 1st century CE.

Language: Middle Indo-Aryan.

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

Version: 2025-05-06 06:25 (a154659), last modified 2025-05-06 06:25 (a154659).

⟨1⟩ muṇaka(la) [2×] kumu [1×]puta ⟨2⟩ rakasa vāni(ya)sa kaṇha(sa) ⟨3⟩ putasa (vāni?)ya[1×]budhi[1×] ⟨4⟩ sa-bhari(ya)[1×] sa(puta)kasa sa⟨5⟩dhutukasa sanatukasa sa-nati⟨6⟩mitabadhavasa deyadhama ⟨7⟩ mahacediya-dakhinayake ⟨8⟩ divatha(bha)

Apparatus

⟨1⟩ (vāni?)ye[1×]budhi[1×] ⬦ (vani)ya-budhisa T.

⟨4⟩ sa-bhari(ya)[1×] sa(puta)kasa ⬦ sabhariyakaputakasa T.

Translation by Arlo Griffiths and Vincent Tournier

The lamp pillar at the southern āyāka of the Great Shrine is the pious gift of ....

Bibliography

Provisionally deciphered and interpreted by Alexander Cunningham (1873) based on the Mackenzie facsimile first published by James Prinsep (1837). This interpretation corrected on several points through without integral new reading by Heinrich Lüders (1912). Lüders’ summary represented as a text edition in Tsukamoto Keishō 塚本啓祥 1996. This digital edition by Arlo Griffiths & Vincent Tournier combines what seem to be the most credible readings from previous scholars in the light of the published reproductions of the Mackenzie facsimile.

Primary

[H] Cunningham, Alexander. 1873. “Appendix E.” In: Tree and serpent worship: or, Illustrations of mythology and art in India in the first and fourth centuries after Christ, from the sculptures of the Buddhist topes at Sanchi and Amravati. 2nd edition. By James Fergusson. London: India museum, W.H. Allen and co., publishers to the India office, pp. 260–262. [URL]. Page 261, plate XCIX, item IX.

[T] 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. Volume I, item Amar 20.

Secondary

Prinsep, James. 1837. “Facsimiles of Ancient Inscriptions, lithographed by James Prinsep, Sec. As. Soc. &c.” JASB 6, pp. 88–97, 218–223, 278–288, 663–682, 777–786, 869–887. [URL]. Pages 218–219, plate X.

Cunningham, Alexander. 1854. The Bhilsa Topes; or, Buddhist Monuments of Central India: comprising A Brief Historical Sketch of the Rise, Progress, and Decline of Buddhism; with an account of the Opening and Examination of the Various Groups of Topes around Bhilsa. London; Bombay: Smith, Elder and Co.; Smith, Taylor and Co. [URL]. Plate IX (3).

Lüders, Heinrich. 1912. A list of Brahmi inscriptions from the earliest times to about A.D. 400 with the exception of those of Asoka. Appendix to Epigraphia Indica and record of the Archæological Survey of India 10. Calcutta: Superintendent Government Printing. [URL]. Page 142, item 1214.

Francis, N. J. 2016. A source book of the early Buddhist inscriptions of Amarāvatī. Golden jubilee series. Shimla: Indian Institute of Advanced Study. Page 164, item 254.

Tournier, Vincent. 2020. “Buddhist lineages along the Southern Routes: On two nikāyas active at Kanaganahalli under the Sātavāhanas.” In: Archaeologies of the Written: Indian, Tibetan, and Buddhist Studies in Honour of Cristina Scherrer-Schaub. Edited by Vincent Eltschinger, Vincent Tournier and Marta Sernesi. Series Minor 89. Naples: Università degli Studi di Napoli “L’Orientale”, pp. 859–912. [URL]. Pages 867–868, note 26.

Display Options Word Wrap Line Numbers Comments Processing Instructions

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3272 FALSE Amar 20 pillar 8

MIA Amaravati unknown

Cunningham 1873: 261 (IX), pl. XCIX.

Prinsep 1837: 218–9, pl. X. — Cunningham 1854: pl. IX (3). — Lüders 1912a: 142 (1214). — Francis 2016: 164 (254). — Tournier 2020a: 867–8, n. 26.

Cunningham, Prinsep 1837. — Fergusson 1868/1873.

Prinsep image at https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/37179459

Found at south gate. The text calls the artefact a divathabha, or Lamp Pillar.

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<lb n="2"/>rakasa vāni<unclear>ya</unclear>sa kaṇha<unclear>sa</unclear>

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<lb n="4"/>sa-bhari<unclear>ya</unclear><gap reason="illegible" unit="character" quantity="1"/> sa<unclear>puta</unclear>kasa sa<lb n="5" break="no"/>dhutukasa sanatukasa sa-nati<lb n="6" break="no"/>mitabadhavasa deyadhama

<lb n="7"/>mahacediya-dakhinayake

<lb n="8"/>divatha<unclear>bha</unclear>

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<rdg source="bib:Tsukamoto1996_01"><unclear>vani</unclear>ya-budhisa</rdg>

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<lem>sa-bhari<unclear>ya</unclear><gap reason="illegible" unit="character" quantity="1"/> sa<unclear>puta</unclear>kasa</lem>

<rdg source="bib:Tsukamoto1996_01">sabhariyakaputakasa</rdg>

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<p>The lamp pillar at the southern <foreign>āyāka</foreign> of the Great Shrine is the pious gift of ....</p>

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Lüders Gift of a pillar for lamps (divatha[bha]) at the southern entrance (àyaka) to the Great Chaitya (mahàchådiya) by the merchant (? vàniya ?) Budhi (Buddhi), son of the merchant (vàniya) Kaṇha , . . . . . together with his wife, his sons, his daughters, his grandsons,

his relatives, friends and connections. There is no mentioning of mahàràja Yaãasiri Sàdakaíi.

Cunningham 1873: 261 (IX), pl. XCIX. — Prinsep 1837: 218–9, pl. X. — Cunningham 1854: pl. IX (3). — Lüders 1912a: 142 (1214). — Francis 2016: 164 (254). — Tournier 2020a: 867–8, n. 26.

Cunningham, Prinsep 1837. — Fergusson 1868/1873. —Prinsep image at https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/37179459

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