Bilsad Stone Pillar Inscription of the time of Kumāragupta I: Primary (north column)

Author of digital edition: Dániel Balogh (daba).

Language: Sanskrit (san) [Southern Brāhmī (unspecified) (brāhmī_southern_unspecified)].

Repository: SIDDHAM (siddham).

Identifier: DHARMA_INSSiddham00019.

File path: XML-Provisional/DHARMA_INSSiddham00019.xml.

Version: 2026-09-16 10:40 (3083d2d), last modified 2026-09-16 09:24 (c200993).

Edition

⟨1⟩ […] [sarvva-rājocchettuḥ pr̥thivyām apratirathasya catur-udadh]i-[salil]ā(sv)ādita-yaśaso
⟨2⟩ [dhanaḍa-varuṇendrāntaka-samasya kr̥tānta-paraśoḥ nyāyāgatāneka-go-hi]ra[ṇ]ya-koṭi-(pra)dasya cirotsannāśvamedhāharttuḥ
⟨3⟩ [mahārāja-śrī-gupta-prapauttrasya mahārāja-śrī-ghaṭotkaca-pauttrasya ma]h(ā)r(ā)jādhirāja-śrī-candragupta-puttrasya
⟨4⟩ licchavi-dauhi[ttrasya mahādevyāṁ kumāradevyām utpannasya mahārā](j)ādhirāja-śrī-samudragupta-puttrasya
⟨5⟩ mahādevyāṁ dattad(ev)yā(m utpannasya) [svayam apratirathasya parama]-(bhāgavata)sya mahārājādhirāja-śrī-candragupta-puttrasya
⟨6⟩ mahā(de)vyāṁ dhruvadevyām utpannasya mahārājādhirāja-śrī-kumāraguptasyābhivarddhamāna-vijaya-rājya-saṁvatsare ṣaṇ-ṇavate
⟨7⟩ [a](syā)¿(n)? (di)vasa-pūrvvāyāṁ bhagavatas trailokya-tejas-saṁbhāra-saṁ(bhr̥)tādbhuta-mūrtter brahmaṇya-devasya
⟨8⟩ [****]-(n)ivāsinaḥ svāmi-mahāsenasyāyatane smin kārtta-yugācāra-saddharmma-vartmānuyāyinā|
⟨9⟩ [.](āta) [************] [pa]rṣadā mānitena dhruvaśarmmaṇā karmma mahat ¿kr̥tedaM?(|)
⟨10⟩ (kr̥tvā) [–] (ā)bhirāmāṁ muni(-vasati) [⏑–] svargga-sopāna-r(ū)pām kaubera-cchanda-bimbāṁ sphaṭika-maṇi-dalābhāsa-gaurāṁ pratolī(M|)
⟨11⟩ prāsādā(grābhi)rūpaṁ gu(ṇa-va)ra-bhavanaṁ (dharmma-sa)ttraṁ (ya)thāvaT pu(ṇ)yeṣv evābhirāmaṁ vrajati śubha-matis tāta-śarmmā dhruvo stu|
⟨12⟩ [.](ā)[.](ī) [–] sya [⏑–] śubhāmr̥ta-vara-prakhyāta-labdhā bhuvi [.](ā)[.](e) bhaktir ahīna-sa¿tv?a-samatā kas taṁ na saṁpūjayeT|
⟨13⟩ yenāpūrvva-vibhūti-sañcaya-cayaiḥ [.]ai [.]i [.][⏑] [––⏑⏓] ḥ tenāyaṁ dhruva(śa)rmmaṇā sthira-varas (st)aṁbh-oc(chr)ayaḥ kāritaḥ|

Bibliography

First noticed (with transliteration and eye copy) in Cunningham 1880, pp. 17–21. Edited in Fleet 1888. Correction proposed in Agrawal1940:59.

Originally encoded for Siddham in the project Beyond Boundaries (Grant Agreement No. 609823) by Dániel Balogh (2019, № IN00019). Encoding updated to DHARMA conventions by Dániel Balogh.

Secondary

Fleet, John Faithfull. 1888. Inscriptions of the early Gupta kings and their successors. First edition. Vol. 3. Corpus Inscriptionum Indicarum. Calcutta: Superintendent of Government Printing. Item 10.

Bhandarkar, Devadatta Ramakrishna, Bahadur Chand Chhabra & Govind Swamirao Gai. 1981. Inscriptions of the early Gupta kings. Corpus inscriptionum indicarum 3, revised edition. New Delhi: Archaeological survey of India. Item 16.

Bhandarkar, Devadatta Ramakrishna. 1927–1936. A list of the inscriptions of northern India in Brahmi and its derivative scripts, from about 200 A. C.: Appendix to Epigraphia Indica and record of the Archaeological Survey of India, volumes XIX to XXIII. Calcutta: Archaeological Survey of India. [URL]. Item 1263.

Sircar, Dines Chandra. 1965. Select inscriptions bearing on Indian history and civilization. Volume I: from the sixth century B.C. to the sixth century A.D. 2nd edition revised and enlarged. Calcutta: University of Calcutta. Book III, item 15.

Agrawala, Prithvi Kumar. 1983. Imperial Gupta Epigraphs (गुप्ताधिराजलेखमण्डल). Ancient Indian Epigraphical Sources (प्रत्नाभिलेखसंहिता) 10, pt. 1 / 2. Varanasi: Books Asia, Distributed by Prithvi Prakashan. Item 16.

Goyal, Śrīrām. 1993. गुप्तकालीन अभिलेख/Guptakālīna Abhilekha (Inscriptions of the Gupta Age). Jodhpur: Kusumanjali Prakashan. Items 131-137.

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<change who="part:daba" when="2020-08-04" status="draft">Initial import: harmonising file structure with DHARMA inscription template v02. Text and comments as inherited from the Siddham archive of January 2019, unless otherwise indicated (by a name and date in the comment). Comments are offered "as is" and do not represent a thoroughly considered or researched opinion.</change>

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<p><lb n="1"/><gap reason="illegible" extent="unknown" unit="character"/> <supplied reason="lost">sarvva-rājocchettuḥ pr̥thivyām apratirathasya catur-udadh</supplied>i-<supplied reason="lost">salil</supplied>ā<unclear>sv</unclear>ādita-yaśaso

<lb n="2"/><supplied reason="lost">dhanaḍa-varuṇendrāntaka-samasya kr̥tānta-paraśoḥ nyāyāgatāneka-go-hi</supplied>ra<supplied reason="lost">ṇ</supplied>ya-koṭi-<unclear>pra</unclear>dasya cirotsannāśvamedhāharttuḥ

<lb n="3"/><supplied reason="lost">mahārāja-śrī-gupta-prapauttrasya mahārāja-śrī-ghaṭotkaca-pauttrasya ma</supplied>h<unclear>ā</unclear>r<unclear>ā</unclear>jādhirāja-śrī-candragupta-puttrasya

<lb n="4"/>licchavi-dauhi<supplied reason="lost">ttrasya mahādevyāṁ kumāradevyām utpannasya mahārā</supplied><unclear>j</unclear>ādhirāja-śrī-samudragupta-puttrasya

<lb n="5"/>mahādevyāṁ dattad<unclear>ev</unclear>yā<unclear>m utpannasya</unclear> <supplied reason="lost">svayam apratirathasya parama</supplied>-<unclear>bhāgavata</unclear>sya mahārājādhirāja-śrī-candragupta-puttrasya

<lb n="6"/>mahā<unclear>de</unclear>vyāṁ dhruvadevyām utpannasya mahārājādhirāja-śrī-kumāraguptasyābhivarddhamāna-vijaya-rājya-saṁvatsare ṣaṇ-ṇavate

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<p><lb n="7"/><supplied reason="lost">a</supplied><unclear>syā</unclear><sic><unclear>n</unclear></sic> <unclear>di</unclear>vasa-pūrvvāyāṁ bhagavatas trailokya-tejas-saṁbhāra-saṁ<unclear>bhr̥</unclear>tādbhuta-mūrtter brahmaṇya-devasya<!--

Bhandarkar supplies a for asyām, but I can't even see if there is a character there. We could equally well assume the a was dropped in sandhi (compare āyatane smin in l8). Cunningham's eye copy, though, shows an a there; also, it reads asyā divasa, so if correct, we should read (syāṁ di) instead of (syān di).

--><!--

Fleet's original reading was saṁtatādbhuta. Bhandarkar prints sam(bhr̥)tādbhuta, with m instead of anusvāra. This seems to be a typo; otherwise, I think bhr̥ is slightly more likely than ta. #Agrawal_1940:59 suggests saṁbhūta, and so does Agrawal_1986:28. I think saṁbhr̥ta is again better.

--><lb n="8"/><gap reason="illegible" precision="low" quantity="4" unit="character"/>-<unclear>n</unclear>ivāsinaḥ svāmi-mahāsenasyāyatane smin kārtta-yugācāra-saddharmma-vartmānuyāyinā|<!--

Bhandarkar prints a daṇḍa at the end of l8. There is a horizontal, slightly down-slanted stroke after nā which may be more than a random scratch in the stone. There is another uncalled-for daṇḍa at the end of l9, and thereafter, daṇḍas mark the ends of half-stanzas. Cunningham has no daṇḍa here, but does show a horizontal, curved stroke at the end of l9 and subsequent loci.

--><!--

These daṇḍas suggest that l8-9 may have been intended as verse too, but I can't make out any regularity in its metre, either syllabic or moraic. (The words dhruvaśarmmaṇā karmma mahat kr̥tedam match one line of a metre called kamalā, but we'd need to read parṣadi mānitena to get part of the same pattern in the previous line, and the inscription is definitely dā. Also, there is probably no room in this line to fit 4 lines of 12 syllables each.)

--><lb n="9"/><seg type="component" subtype="consonant"><gap reason="illegible" quantity="1" unit="component"/></seg><unclear>āta</unclear> <gap reason="illegible" precision="low" quantity="12" unit="character"/> <supplied reason="lost">pa</supplied>rṣadā mānitena dhruvaśarmmaṇā karmma mahat <choice><sic>kr̥tedaM</sic><corr>kr̥tam idaM</corr></choice><unclear>|</unclear><!--

At the beginning of this line, Cunningham's eye copy reads vetaccha; it also shows "(sa) #?2# ri#aula" before parṣadā.

--><!--

This daṇḍa is indiscernible in the facsimile, along with the m, so I can't tell for sure if it's a subscript one.

--></p>

<l n="a"><lb n="10"/><unclear>kr̥tvā</unclear> <seg met="+"><gap reason="illegible" quantity="1" unit="character"/></seg> <unclear>ā</unclear>bhirāmāṁ muni<unclear>-vasati</unclear> <seg met="-+"><gap reason="illegible" quantity="2" unit="character"/></seg> svargga-sopāna-r<unclear>ū</unclear>pām<!--

Cunningham's eye copy reads śivābhirāmā (no anusvāra) at the first lacuna, which is unmetrical, but could perhaps be read as śaivābhirāmāṁ.

--><!--

For the second lacuna, Cunningham has munidamanidhitaṁ (printed as -dhitiam on page 19, but dhitaṁ in the eye copy. The character he transcribes as dha looks more like e (except for the I mātrā) and could be a number of other things in his eye copy.) My own conjecture would be munivasatim imāṁ, but the eye copy, if reliable to any degree, does not confirm this. (Sircar's conjecture is munivasatim iha).

--></l>

<l n="b">kaubera-cchanda-bimbāṁ sphaṭika-maṇi-dalābhāsa-gaurāṁ pratolī<unclear>M|</unclear><!--

Bhandarkar prints m at the end of this line; Cunningham's eye copy has anusvāra. Nothing after lī is discernible in the facsimile.

--></l>

<l n="c"><lb n="11"/>prāsādā<unclear>grābhi</unclear>rūpaṁ gu<unclear>ṇa-va</unclear>ra-bhavanaṁ <unclear>dharmma-sa</unclear>ttraṁ <unclear>ya</unclear>thāvaT<!--

Cunningham's eye copy has puṇya (followed by largely illegible traces) instead of guṇa. Unmetrical. Also, he shows a horizontal line above the halanta t, which may be part of the character, or it may be a punctuation mark as in line 13 - maybe the text has punctuation marks after every quarter, not just after half-verses?

--></l>

<l n="d">pu<unclear>ṇ</unclear>yeṣv evābhirāmaṁ vrajati śubha-matis tāta-śarmmā dhruvo stu|<!--

The punctuation sign is a downcurving horizontal dash that may be crossed by a vertical line or squiggle.

--></l>

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<l n="a"><lb n="12"/><seg type="component" subtype="consonant"><gap reason="illegible" quantity="1" unit="component"/></seg><unclear>ā</unclear><seg type="component" subtype="consonant"><gap reason="illegible" quantity="1" unit="component"/></seg><unclear>ī</unclear> <seg met="+"><gap reason="illegible" quantity="1" unit="character"/></seg> sya <seg met="-+"><gap reason="illegible" quantity="2" unit="character"/></seg> śubhāmr̥ta-vara-prakhyāta-labdhā bhuvi</l><!--

Bhandarkar prints the ā and ī at the beginning as clear, but I can't even make out if he sees those on the first and second characters or somewhere else. Cunningham has vyātīr#asya #2# gasa yatavara for the beginning of the line. On the basis of his eye copy, I'm pretty confident that the correct reading is khyātir yasya.

-->

<l n="b"><seg type="component" subtype="consonant"><gap reason="illegible" quantity="1" unit="component"/></seg><unclear>ā</unclear><seg type="component" subtype="consonant"><gap reason="illegible" quantity="1" unit="component"/></seg><unclear>e</unclear> bhaktir ahīna-sa<sic>tv</sic>a-samatā kas taṁ na saṁpūjayeT|<!--

Here Cunningham has #1# #eda bhaktir in his eye copy and prints #2# do bhaktir in his transcript.

--><!--

The punctuation sign is indiscernible in the facsimile, along with anything else after saṁpū.

--></l>

<l n="c"><lb n="13"/>yenāpūrvva-vibhūti-sañcaya-cayaiḥ <seg type="component" subtype="consonant"><gap reason="illegible" quantity="1" unit="component"/></seg>ai <seg type="component" subtype="consonant"><gap reason="illegible" quantity="1" unit="component"/></seg>i <seg type="aksara"><seg type="component" subtype="conjunct"><gap reason="illegible" quantity="1" unit="component"/></seg><seg type="component" subtype="vowel" met="-"><gap reason="illegible" quantity="1" unit="component"/></seg></seg> <seg met="++-="><gap reason="illegible" quantity="5" unit="character"/></seg> ḥ<!--

Here I'm using # also to show that the i before the lacuna must be followed by two or more consonants.

--><!--

For the damaged part, Cunningham has jedika #4# vaḥ| with a clear punctuation mark (downcurving dash).

--></l>

<l n="d">tenāyaṁ dhruva<unclear>śa</unclear>rmmaṇā sthira-varas <unclear>st</unclear>aṁbh-oc<unclear>chr</unclear>ayaḥ kāritaḥ|<!--

The punctuation sign is indiscernible in the facsimile, along with most of the line.

--></l>

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<p>First noticed (with transliteration and eye copy) in <bibl><ptr target="bib:Cunningham1880_02"/><citedRange>17-21</citedRange></bibl>. Edited in <bibl><ptr target="bib:Fleet1888_01"/></bibl>. Correction proposed in Agrawal1940:59.</p>

<p>Originally encoded for Siddham in the project Beyond Boundaries (Grant Agreement No. 609823) by Dániel Balogh (<bibl rend="omitname"><ptr target="bib:Balogh2019_03"/><citedRange unit="item">IN00019</citedRange></bibl>). Encoding updated to DHARMA conventions by Dániel Balogh.</p>

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