Bihar Sharif Pillar Inscription 2

Alternative title: Bihar Stone Pillar Inscription of Skandagupta.

Author of digital edition: Dániel Balogh (daba).

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

Repository: SIDDHAM (siddham).

Identifier: DHARMA_INSSiddham00048.

File path: XML-Provisional/DHARMA_INSSiddham00048.xml.

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

Edition

⟨1⟩ […] [sarvva-rāj-ocche]ttuḥ p¿ri?thivyām apratirathasya
⟨2⟩ [catur-udadhi-salilāsvādita-yaśaso dhanada-varuṇe]ndr-āntaka-samasya kr̥tānta-
⟨3⟩ -[paraśoḥ nyāyāgatāneka-go-hiraṇya-koṭi-pradasya ciro]tsannāśvamedhāharttuḥ
⟨4⟩ [mahārāja-śrī-gupta-prapauttrasya mahārāja-śrī-ghaṭo]tkaca-pauttrasya mahārājā-
⟨5⟩ [dhirāja-śrī-candragupta-puttrasya licchavi-dauhittrasya ma]hā-devyāṁ kumāradevyām utpannasya
⟨6⟩ [mahārājādhirāja-śrī-samudraguptasya puttra]s tat-parigr̥hīto mahādevyāṁ
⟨7⟩ [dattadevyām utpannaḥ svayam apratirathaḥ para]ma-bhāgavato mahārājā-
⟨8⟩ [dhirāja-śrī-candraguptas tasya puttras tat-pādānuddhyā]to mahādevyāṁ dhruvadevyām
⟨9⟩ [utpannaḥ parama-bhāgavato mahārājādhirāja-śrī-kumāraguptas tasya] puttras tat-pādānuddhyātaḥ
⟨10⟩ [mahādevyām anantadevyām utpannaḥ parama-bhāgavato mahārājādhirāja-śrī-](pu?)(ru)guptaḥ
⟨11⟩ [tasya puttras tat-pādānudhyāto mahādevyāṁ candradevyām utpannaḥ] parama-bhāgavato
⟨12⟩ [mahārājādhirāja-śrī-budhaguptaḥ] […] [vai]ṣayikājapuraka-(sā)(mai?)
⟨13⟩ […] grā [**] ka [*] [a](k)ṣaya-nīvī grāma-kṣettraṁ
⟨14⟩ […] kr̥ [*] [.]uparika-kumārāmātya--
⟨15⟩ […] ṅgikula(ḥ?) vaṇi⟨ja⟩ka-pāditārika
⟨16⟩ […] [ā]grahārika-śaulkika-gaulmikāsanyāṁ (śra?)
⟨17⟩ […] vās[i]kādīn asmat-prasādopajīvinaḥ
⟨18⟩ [samājñāpayāmi] […] varmmaṇā vijñāpito smi mama pitāmahena
⟨19⟩ […] name bhaṭṭa-guhilasvāminā bhadrā(r)yyakā
⟨20⟩ […] m[.]g[.]p(r)ati [*] [.]ā[.]āgrokaya [**] nākaya

Bibliography

First reported in Ravenshaw 1839. Published (with reading and eye copy) in Mitra 1866. Discussed (with new eye copy) in Cunningham 1871, pp. 37–38. Edited in Fleet 1888. Corrections proposed in Majumdar 1944. Discussed in Goyal 1980.

Originally encoded for Siddham in the project Beyond Boundaries (Grant Agreement No. 609823) by Dániel Balogh (2019, № IN00048). 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 12.

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 41.

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 1548.

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 30.

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 38.

Goyal, Śrīrām. 1993. गुप्तकालीन अभिलेख/Guptakālīna Abhilekha (Inscriptions of the Gupta Age). Jodhpur: Kusumanjali Prakashan. Items 204-208.

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<title>Bihar Sharif Pillar Inscription 2</title>

<title type="alt">Bihar Stone Pillar Inscription of Skandagupta</title>

<forename>Dániel</forename>

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<funder>European Research Council (ERC), grant agreement no 809994</funder>

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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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Supplied text is adapted from IN00001 (Allahabad Pillar) and IN00036 (Bhitari Pillar).

--><lb n="1"/><gap reason="lost" extent="unknown" unit="character"/> <supplied reason="lost">sarvva-rāj-ocche</supplied>ttuḥ p<sic>ri</sic>thivyām apratirathasya <lb n="2"/><supplied reason="lost">catur-udadhi-salilāsvādita-yaśaso dhanada-varuṇe</supplied>ndr-āntaka-samasya kr̥tānta<lb n="3" break="no"/>-<supplied reason="lost">paraśoḥ nyāyāgatāneka-go-hiraṇya-koṭi-pradasya ciro</supplied>tsannāśvamedhāharttuḥ <lb n="4"/><supplied reason="lost">mahārāja-śrī-gupta-prapauttrasya mahārāja-śrī-ghaṭo</supplied>tkaca-pauttrasya mahārājā<lb n="5" break="no"/><supplied reason="lost">dhirāja-śrī-candragupta-puttrasya licchavi-dauhittrasya ma</supplied>hā-devyāṁ kumāradevyām utpannasya<lb n="6"/><supplied reason="lost">mahārājādhirāja-śrī-samudraguptasya puttra</supplied>s tat-parigr̥hīto mahādevyāṁ <lb n="7"/><supplied reason="lost">dattadevyām utpannaḥ svayam apratirathaḥ para</supplied>ma-bhāgavato mahārājā<lb n="8" break="no"/><supplied reason="lost">dhirāja-śrī-candraguptas tasya puttras tat-pādānuddhyā</supplied>to mahādevyāṁ dhruvadevyām <lb n="9"/><supplied reason="lost">utpannaḥ parama-bhāgavato mahārājādhirāja-śrī-kumāraguptas tasya</supplied> puttras tat-pādānuddhyātaḥ <lb n="10"/><supplied reason="lost">mahādevyām anantadevyām utpannaḥ parama-bhāgavato mahārājādhirāja-śrī-</supplied><unclear cert="low">pu</unclear><unclear>ru</unclear>guptaḥ <!--

Fleet read ndaguptaḥ, restoring Skandaguptaḥ. Majumdar says this is not ndaguptaḥ but ruguptaḥ, for Pūrugupta (read by Mitra as ptaragupta). His reconstruction of the line agrees otherwise with Bhandarkar. Agrawala follows Fleet in not including the name of his mother in the supplied portion (which Majumdar rightly criticises as too short), but goes with Majumdar in reading pūrugupta. If Pūrugupta's wife was indeed Candradevī (do we have any other confirmation for this?) then we should read his name here.

--><lb n="11"/><supplied reason="lost">tasya puttras tat-pādānudhyāto mahādevyāṁ candradevyām utpannaḥ</supplied> parama-bhāgavato <lb n="12"/><supplied reason="lost">mahārājādhirāja-śrī-budhaguptaḥ</supplied> <!--

Here, Bhandarkar conjectures Budhagupta. Sircar and Agrawala have Pūrugupta (again), Fleet has Skandagupta (again). If Narasiṁhagupta was the son of Pūrugupta and Candradevī (do we have confirmation?) then his name should be supplied here.

--> <gap reason="lost" extent="unknown" unit="character"/> <supplied reason="lost">vai</supplied>ṣayikājapuraka-<unclear>sā</unclear><unclear cert="low">mai</unclear><!--

Facsimiles in Bhandarkar and Agrawala end here.

--><lb n="13"/><gap reason="lost" extent="unknown" unit="character"/> grā <gap reason="lost" precision="low" quantity="2" unit="character"/> ka <gap reason="lost" precision="low" quantity="1" unit="character"/> <supplied reason="lost">a</supplied><unclear>k</unclear>ṣaya-nīvī grāma-kṣettraṁ

<lb n="14"/><gap reason="lost" extent="unknown" unit="character"/> kr̥ <gap reason="lost" precision="low" quantity="1" unit="character"/> <seg type="component" subtype="vowel"><gap reason="illegible" quantity="1" unit="component"/></seg>uparika-kumārāmātya-

<lb n="15" break="no"/><gap reason="lost" extent="unknown" unit="character"/> ṅgikula<unclear cert="low">ḥ</unclear> vaṇi<supplied reason="omitted">ja</supplied>ka-pāditārika<!--

In Bhandarkar's text the ja of vaṇijaka seems to be a conjectural reading, but in Cunningham's transcript (my only witness for this part of the inscription) ja is altogether absent, so I've marked it up as an addition. If Cunningham is correct about vaṇika, then I think this is more likely to be an erroneous form of vaṇik than vaṇijaka with an omission.

--><lb n="16"/><gap reason="lost" extent="unknown" unit="character"/> <supplied reason="lost">ā</supplied>grahārika-śaulkika-gaulmikāsanyāṁ <unclear cert="low">śra</unclear>

<lb n="17"/><gap reason="lost" extent="unknown" unit="character"/> vās<supplied reason="lost">i</supplied>kādīn asmat-prasādopajīvinaḥ<!--

Bhandarkar prints prāsād°. Must be a typo, all other editors print prasād° and Bhandarkar himself translates favour. Cunningham's copy also has pra.

--><lb n="18"/><supplied reason="lost">samājñāpayāmi</supplied> <gap reason="lost" extent="unknown" unit="character"/> varmmaṇā vijñāpito smi mama pitāmahena

<lb n="19"/><gap reason="lost" extent="unknown" unit="character"/> name bhaṭṭa-guhilasvāminā bhadrā<unclear>r</unclear>yyakā

<lb n="20"/><gap reason="lost" extent="unknown" unit="character"/> m<seg type="component" subtype="vowel"><gap reason="illegible" quantity="1" unit="component"/></seg>g<seg type="component" subtype="vowel"><gap reason="illegible" quantity="1" unit="component"/></seg>p<unclear>r</unclear>ati <gap reason="illegible" precision="low" quantity="1" unit="character"/> <seg type="component" subtype="consonant"><gap reason="illegible" quantity="1" unit="component"/></seg>ā<seg type="component" subtype="consonant"><gap reason="illegible" quantity="1" unit="component"/></seg>āgrokaya <gap reason="illegible" precision="low" quantity="2" unit="character"/> nākaya

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<p>First reported in <bibl><ptr target="bib:Ravenshaw1839_01"/></bibl>. Published (with reading and eye copy) in <bibl><ptr target="bib:Mitra1866_01"/></bibl>. Discussed (with new eye copy) in <bibl><ptr target="bib:Cunningham1871_01"/><citedRange>37-38</citedRange></bibl>. Edited in <bibl><ptr target="bib:Fleet1888_01"/></bibl>. Corrections proposed in <bibl><ptr target="bib:Majumdar1944_01"/></bibl>. Discussed in <bibl><ptr target="bib:Goyal1980_01"/></bibl>.</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">IN00048</citedRange></bibl>). Encoding updated to DHARMA conventions by Dániel Balogh.</p>

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