Memorial pillar from site 57 at Nagarjunakonda — reign of Siri-Vīrapurisadatta, year 2x

Editors: Anonymous editor.

Identifier: DHARMA_INSEIAD00034.

Hand description:

Language: Prakrit.

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

Version: (9fa90aa), last modified (35386f0).

Edition

⟨1⟩ [mahā]⟨Fragment left⟩(r)[āja](sa) °asamedhayā(j)⟨Fragment right⟩[isa] [°anekahi]⟨2⟩(ra)ṇak(o)⟨Fragment left⟩[igosatasahasahalasatasahasapa]⟨3⟩d(ā)yisa sirica(ṁ)tamu(la)⟨Fragment left⟩[sa] [6+] ⟨4⟩ vāsakanivaḍha(ka)sa k(a)mal[.] [1×]⟨Fragment left⟩[4+][to]⟨5⟩salakosalapaṭuma(gha)dhi(si)ra(sā) [saṁpaṭi]⟨6⟩chitasāsanasa va(radama) [.]i [1×](sa) [4+] ⟨7⟩ siripavatādhipatisa ba(hu)sa(mara) [2+] ⟨8⟩ (la)dhapatāpasa maṭhariputasa [sirivira]⟨9⟩purisadatasa savachara 20[5×] ⟨10⟩ divasa 7thap[i]tā pat[i]

Apparatus

⟨1⟩ [mahā]⟨Fragment left⟩(r)[āja](sa) Raghunath2001 • Reconstruction based on similar formula, occurring for instance in EIAD 40.

⟨1–3⟩ °anekahi(ra)ṇak(o)⟨Fragment left⟩[igosatasahasahalasatasahasapa]d(ā)yisa ⬦ (ra) ṇakoṭi … (dā) yis a Raghunath2001 • Reconstruction based on analogy with EIAD 40.

⟨3⟩ sirica(ṁ)tamu(la)[sa]siri caṁtamū(la) Raghunath2001.

⟨4⟩ vāsakanivaḍha(ka)sa k(a)mal[.][1×]vāsakativadantasa kamalaka Raghunath2001.

⟨4–5⟩ [to]salakosalapaṭuma(gha)dhisira(sā)salakosala patsaumayadhi (siri) Raghunath2001.

⟨5–6⟩ [saṁpaṭi]chitasāsanasa ⬦ …chitasāsanasa Raghunath2001.

⟨6–7⟩ vijha(sela)[1×]sa[4+]siripavatādhipatisa ⬦ …..... siripavatādhipatisa Raghunath2001 • Read or emend viṁjha-. The reading (sela) is very uncertain, and admittedly not supported by such literary parallels as Rājaśekhara’s Kāvyamīmāṁsā (chapter 17) vindhyadakṣiṇapādamahendramalayamekalapālamañjarasahyaśrīparvatādayaḥ parvatāḥ or Svacchandatantra (9.37) vindhye śrīparvate caiva tathā kolagirau priye | gaṅgāyamunāsaṁbādhe kurukṣetre varānane.

⟨7–8⟩ ba(hu)sa(mara)[2+](la)dhapatāpasa ⬦ bapusa ... ladhapatapasa Raghunath2001 • Restore bahusamarapaṭiladhapatāpasa?

⟨8⟩ maṭhariputasa ⬦ māṭharīputasa Raghunath2001.

⟨9⟩ 20 [1×]20 (4) Raghunath2001.

⟨10⟩ thap[i]tā pat[i]mā ⬦ thāpitā patimā Raghunath2001.

Translation

On the 7th day of the … in year 20 … Māṭharīputta Siri-Vīrapurisadatta, (son) of the Great King Siri-Cāntamūla — sacrificer of the Aśvamedha, giver of numerous tens of millions of [pieces of] gold, (hundreds of thousands of cows and hundreds of thousands of plows of land) —, who increased …, whose commands were received on the head by [kings of?] Tosala, Kosala, Paṭu, and Magadha, the overlord of the Viñjha (Vindhya) mountain ... and Siripavvata (Śrīparvata), who has obtained majesty ... in many battles — this image has been established.

Commentary

(3) 1

(4) k(a)mal[.]2

(4–5) [to]salakosalapaṭuma(gha)dhi-3

(5–6) -sira(sā)[saṁpaṭi]chitasāsanasa4

(7–8) ba(hu)sa(mara)[2+](la)dhapatāpasa5

Bibliography

First published by Raghunath2001. Re-edited here from our photos of the ASI estampages.

Secondary

No name. N.d. Indian Archaeology: a review. New Delhi: Archaeological Survey of India. Pages 1967–68: 52.

No name. 1887–. Annual report on Indian epigraphy. Madras; Calcutta; New Delhi: Government of Madras; Archaeological Survey of India. Pages 1967–68: 2–3, no. B.22.

Rosen_Stone1994

Notes

  1. 1. Our translation is based on the assumption that the word putasa has been lost in the lacuna at the end of this line.
  2. 2. This first epithet is at present obscure to us.
  3. 3. This compound is composed of four place-names, the first two of which form a pair commonly encountered in the literature, and discussed at length in Lévi1923. The third toponym, paṭu, is more obscure, but the paṭavas or people of Paṭu feature in Purāṇic lists of people living in the Vindhyas (cf. Sircar1971). Their exact location is uncertain. Finally, maghadhi seems to point to the inhabitants of Magadha, where the aspiration of the final consonant seems to have been imposed also on the second one. The form maghada with full inversion of aspiration is encountered in the manuscript tradition of the Śaktisaṅgamatantra, as noted in Sircar1971.
  4. 4. Our reconstruction here is informed by the occurrence of the phrase sirasā saṁpaṭicchitasāsana, meaning “whose rule/teaching has been accepted by [the bowing of] the head” in Pali commentarial literature. See Dīghanikāyaṭṭhakathāṭikā (ed. De Silva 1970) III 158.4–5: gahetabbavacano sirasā sampaṭicchitasāsano; Paramatthadīpanī (ed. Bose 1934–36) I 78.8–10: evaṁmahānubhāvo ti cakkaratanādisamannāgamena kassaci pi pīḷaṁ akaronto va sabbarājūhi sirasā sampaṭicchitasāsanavehāsagamanādīhi evaṁ mahānubhāvo.
  5. 5. However we reconstruct this compound, it is clear that it offers an interesting antecedent to royal epithets bore by Viṣṇukuṇḍin rulers and Pr̥thivīśrīmūla. See, for instance, EIAD 181, l. 5: cānekacāturddantasamaraśatasahasrasaṅghaṭṭavijayī; 186, st. II: bahusamarajayopāttonatataśrīr; 189, ll. 7–9: °asakr̥danekaniśitanistriṁśasahasrasaṁkulātibhīmasaṁgrāmabhūmipratilabdhavijayī. This feat of king Vīrapurisadatta is also likely hinted at in one of the two narrative reliefs preserved on the pillar itself, which shows the ruler riding an elephant and accompanied by soldiers.