# Kanheri Cave 3 Left Buddha Statue Inscription

Kelsey Martini and Vincent Tournier

Authors of digital edition: Kelsey Martini, Vincent Tournier

Contributor: Kelsey Martini

Identifier: DHARMA_INSKanheri00007

Repository: Early Western Deccan (tfb-earlywesterndeccan-epigraphy)

File path: xml/DHARMA_INSKanheri00007.xml

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

Commit: 2026-09-17 08:03 (159f390), last modified 2026-09-17 05:29
(3d6ac09)

------------------------------------------------------------------------

## Edition

⟨1⟩ buddhasya bhagavataś
śāsanānukā□ritraipiṭakopāddhyaya⟨2⟩bhadantadharmmavatsa□śiṣyasya
śākyabhikṣor buddhaghoṣasya ⟨3⟩ mahāgandha□kuṭīvārikasya
bhagavatpratimeyaṁ deyadharmmaṁ

## Apparatus

⟨2⟩ śākyabhikṣor ⬦ bhikṣor B&B • The reading is clear.

⟨3⟩ deyadharmmaṁ ⬦ deyadharmmaḥ B&B; deyadharmmaḥ G • There is only one
dot on the eye-copy, estampage, and images.

## Translation

This image of the Bhagavant is the pious gift of the śākyabhikṣu
Buddhaghoṣa, the guardian of the great perfumed chamber and the pupil of
the reverend Dharmmavatsa, [his] instructor, an expert in the Three
Piṭakas, who acts in accordance with the Teaching of the Bhagavant, the
Buddha.

## Bibliography

### Primary

[B&B] Burgess, James & Georg Bühler. 1883. Report on the Elura cave
temples and the Brahmanical and Jaina caves in Western India: Completing
the results of the fifth, sixth, and seventh seasons’ operations of the
Archaeological survey, 1877–78, 1878–79, 1879–80. Vol. 5. Archaeological
Survey of Western India. London: Trübner & Co. Page 77, item 6.

[G] Gokhale, Shobhana. 1991. Kanheri inscriptions. Pune: Deccan College
Post Graduate and Research Institute. Page 52, item 7.

### Secondary

Naik, A. V. 1948. “Inscriptions of the Deccan: an epigraphical survey
(Circa 300 B.C.-1300 A.D.)” BDCRI 9 (1/2), pp. 1–160. [URL]. Pages
20–22, 26, 48, 52.

Lamotte, Etienne. 1958. Histoire du bouddhisme indien: des origines à
l’ère Śaka. Bibliothèque du Muséon 43. Louvain: Université catholique de
Louvain, Institut Orientaliste. Page 569.

Hettiarachchy, Jayadevanandasara. 1973. “Buddhism in the Northern Deccan
under the Śātavāhana Rulers (c. 30 B.C. - 225 A.D.)” Doctoral Thesis,
University of London. London. Page 114.

Damsteegt, Theo. 1978. Epigraphical Hybrid Sanskrit: Its rise, spread,
characteristics and relationship to Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit. Orientalia
Rheno-Traiectina 23. Leiden: Brill. Pages 256, 315 n. 204.

Silk, Jonathan A. 2008. Managing monks: Administrators and
administrative roles in Indian buddhist monasticism. Oxford: Oxford
University Press. Page 121.

Brancaccio, Pia. 2022. “Views from the Black Mountain: The Rock-Cut
Mahāvihāra at Kānheri/Kr̥ṣṇagiri in Konkan.” In: On the Regional
Development of Early Medieval Buddhist Monasteries in South Asia. RINDAS
Series of Working Papers 3, edited by Nicolas Mirrissey, Akira Shimada
and Abhishek Amar Singh. Kyoto: RINDAS Ryokoku University, pp. 73–88.
Page 76.