Octagonal pillar from site 34 at Nagarjunakonda — reign of Siri-Ehavalacāntamūla, year 16

Editors: Anonymous editor.

Identifier: DHARMA_INSEIAD00053.

Language: Sanskrit.

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

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

Edition

Part Main

⟨1⟩ siddhaṁ <symbol><symbol>namo bhagavate mahādevasya puppabhaddrasvāminaḥ mahārājasya vāsiṣṭhīputtrasya ⟨2⟩ śryehavalacaṁtamūlasya saṁva 106gipa 2diva 5rājño vāsiṣṭhīputrasya °agniṣṭo{ḥ}ma⟨3⟩vājaveyāśvamedhabahusuvarṇṇakayājinaḥ naikahiraṁṇyakoṭipradātuḥ gośatasahasrahalaśatasahasrapradātu ⟨4⟩ svavīryyārjjitavijayakīrtteḥ °ikṣvākūṇāṁ śrīcaṁtamūlasya prapautrenā mahārājyasya māṭharīputtrasya °ikṣvākūnāṁ śrīvīrapuruṣadattasya ⟨5⟩ pauttreṇa mahārājasya sagaradilīpāṁbarīṣayudhiṣṭhiratulyadharmmavijayasya rāmasyeva sarvvajanābhirāmasya °ikṣvākūnāṁ ⟨6⟩ śryīhavalacaṁtamūlasya puttreṇa puṣyakaṁdīyānāṁ mahātalavarasya skaṁdagopasya naptryāḥ mahātalavarasya ⟨7⟩ khaṁdahālasya duhituḥ sesebamāgūrakadauhitryāḥ °utaramahātalavarabhāgineyyāḥ rājñaḥ śryehavalacatam(ū)lasya ⟨8⟩ mahiṣyāḥ mahādevyāḥ kupaṇaśryāḥ puttreṇa maharājakumāreṇa mahāsenāpatinā hāritīputreṇa °ikṣvākūṇāṁ ⟨9⟩ śrīvīrapuruṣadattena mahārājasya mahādevyā gottrasya ca [v]ijayavaijayike °āyurvvarddhane dvayor api ca mātāputrayo ⟨10⟩ dharmmaphalaṁ bhagavato puṣpabhadrasvāminaḥ devakulaṁ kāritaṁ dhvajastaṁbaś ca pratiṣṭhāpitaḥ grāmaś ca puḍokeḍaṁ °akṣayanivī ⟨11⟩ dattaḥ

Part Addition

śrīkākahalakākacaṁdraś ca bho <flourish>

Apparatus

⟨1⟩ puppa- • The engraver forgot to engrave the horizontal line in the middle of the upper element, that would have made it -. In light of l. 10, correct puṣpa-.

⟨3⟩ pradātu ⬦ pradātu(ḥ) Sircard • Understand pradātuḥ.

⟨4⟩ -kīrtteḥ • e-mātras are attached both to repha and to serif of t. — ⟨4⟩ prapautrenā • Understand prapautreṇa, taking into consideration the easy confusion between and ṇa. — ⟨4⟩ mahārājyasya • Emend mahārājasya. — ⟨4⟩ °ikṣvākūnāṁ • Emend °ikṣvākūṇāṁ.

⟨5⟩ °ikṣvākūnāṁ • Emend °ikṣvākūṇāṁ.

⟨6⟩ śryīhavala- • Emend śryehavala-.

⟨7⟩ -catamūlasya • Correct -caṁtamūlasya. We do not see the anusvāra read by Sircard. — ⟨7⟩ -gūraka- ⬦ -gūruka- Sircard • The apparent stroke to the right, upon closer inspection, is an unevenness in the stone.

⟨8⟩ kupaṇaśryāḥ • Understand kr̥paṇaśriyāḥ.

⟨9⟩ mātāputrayo • Emend mātāpitrayoḥ.

⟨10⟩ -staṁbaś • Emend -staṁbhaś.⟨10⟩ °akṣayanivī • Emend °akṣayanīvī.

⟨11⟩ śrīkākahalakākacaṁdraś ca bho <flourish>kaṁkaphala kaṁkacaṁdraś ca bho SircardSircard note on this segment: “The contraction bho seems to stand for a word like bhogikau or bhojakau. The first part of the two personal names may possibly be kāka also. The form of the akshara read pha in the first name is not regular for the period and may be also regarded as an irregularly shaped .” The final flourish consists of three dots arranged in a circle.

Translation

(1–2) Success! Homage to the Bhagavant, the Mahādeva Puṣpabhadrasvāmin. In year 16 of Great King Vāsiṣṭhīputra Śrī-Ehavalacāntamūla, in the 2nd fortnight of summer, on the 5th day.

(2–11) The Great Crown-Prince, Great General Hāritīputra Śrī-Vīrapuruṣadatta of the Ikṣvākus — great-grandson of the king Vāsiṣṭhīputra Śrī-Cāntamūla of the Ikṣvākus, sacrificer of Agniṣṭomas, Vājapeyas, Aśvamedhas and Bahusuvarṇakas, giver of many tens of millions of (pieces of) gold, giver of hundreds of thousands of cows and hundreds of thousands of plows (of land), who obtained the fame of victory by his heroism (vīrya); grandson of Great King Māṭharīputra Śrī-Vīrapuruṣadatta of the Ikṣvākus; son of Great King Śrī-Ehavalacāntamūla of the Ikṣvākus, whose victories of Dharma resemble (those of) Sagara, Dilīpa, Ambarīṣa and Yudhiṣṭhira, who delights all people like Rāma; son of Queen Kr̥paṇaśrī, granddaughter of the Great Talavara Skandagopa of the Puṣyakandīyas, daughter of the Great Talavara Khandahāla, maternal granddaughter of Sesebamāguraka, maternal niece of the Great Talavara Utara, chief queen of King Śrī-Ehavalacāntamūla — caused to be made (this) temple (devakula) of the Bhagavant Puṣpabhadrasvāmin, established a flagstaff and gave as perpetual endowment (akṣayanīvī) the village Puḍokeḍaṁ, for the conferring of victory after victory and for the increase of the lifespan of the Great King, (his) Queen and (his) gotra and as meritorious fruit for both mother and son (i.e. Vīrapuruṣadatta himself).

(11) Śrī-Kākapāla and Kākacandra (are) the (two) bho (?).

Commentary

(3) bahusuvarṇṇaka1

(6) puṣyakandīya2

(7) rājñaḥ śryehavalacatam(ū)lasya3

(10) dhvajastambha4

Bibliography

First described and edited by Sircard. Re-edited here from the available documentation and after autopsy of the stone.

Secondary

No name. N.d. Indian Archaeology: a review. New Delhi: Archaeological Survey of India. Pages 1956–57: 36.

No name. 1887–. Annual report on Indian epigraphy. Madras; Calcutta; New Delhi: Government of Madras; Archaeological Survey of India. Pages 1957–58: 3–4, no. B.4.

Srinivasan1979a

Raghunath2001

Soundara_Rajan2006

Notes

  1. 1. On this term, see Chhabra1947.
  2. 2. This seems to be a Sanskritization of the ethnonym Pūkīya/Pūkiya found in several Nagarjunakonda inscriptions: see our commentary on EIAD 4.
  3. 3. It is perhaps merely an inadvertence on the part of scribe or engraver that the monarch is here designated as rājan and not as mahārāja, as he was above.
  4. 4. Sircar1966 translates this word as “flagstaff”, which is perhaps a bit misleading. As is clear from the occurrence of the same word on another pillar inscription of ancient India (the Eran pillar inscription of the time of Budhagupta), the word designates the stone pillar on which it is engraved. Cf. also the use of dhvaja in pillar inscriptions EIAD 84 and 104, both composed in Sanskrit like the present one.