Memorial pillar from site 24 at Nagarjunakonda — reign of Siri-Ruddapurisadatta, year 11

Editors: Anonymous editor.

Identifier: DHARMA_INSEIAD00083.

Language: Prakrit.

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

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

Edition

⟨1⟩ mahārājasa °asamedha(yā)jisa °anekahiraṁnakoḍigosa⟨2⟩tasahasahalasatasahasapadāyisa svāmisiricaṁtamūlasa ⟨3⟩ pasunhāya mah(ā)rājasa (svām)isirivīrapuri(sa)[datasa] ⟨4⟩ su(ṁ)nhāya mahārājasa (svāmi)siri°ehavalacaṁtamūlasa ⟨5⟩ pattīya raño vāsiṭhīputtasa °ikhākunaṁ siriruda⟨6⟩purisadatasa mātūya mahādevīya mahākhatapadhūtuyaṁ ba(ha)⟨7⟩phalasagotāya sirivaṁmabhaṭāya saṁvacharaṁ °ekkāraṁ 101 ⟨8⟩ vāsāpakhaṁ pathamaṁ 1divasaṁ °aṭhamaṁ 8sag(e)gatāya chāya⟨9⟩khaṁbho <symbol><symbol>

Apparatus

⟨3⟩ (svām)isirivīrapuri(sa)[datasa](svām)isirivīrapuri(sadatasa) Sircard.

⟨5⟩ °ikhākunaṁ ⬦ °ikhākūnaṁ Sircard. — ⟨5⟩ siriruda- ⬦ siriruḍa- Sircard.

⟨6⟩ -dhūtuyaṁ ⬦ -dhūtūya Sircard.

⟨8⟩ sag(e)gatāya ⬦ sagagatāya Sircard.

⟨9⟩ -khaṁbho :– ⬦ -khaṁbho || Sircard • Sircar and Krishnan note: “The full-stop is indicated here by a curve slanting towards the lower right and having a dot above and another dot below its beginning. This may be compared to the punctuation indicated by a horizontal stroke with a dot above and another below, as found in the copper-plate grants of the Śarabhapura kings. See [EI] Vol. XXXIII, p. 157, note 9; p. 158, note 1.”

Translation

Memorial pillar of Great Queen Siri-Vaṁmabhaṭā of the Br̥hatphalagotra, daughter of a Mahākṣatrapa — mother of King Vāsiṭṭhīputta Siri-Ruddapurisadatta of the Ikṣvākus, wife of Great King Lord (svāmin) Ehavalacaṁtamūla, daughter-in-law of Great King Lord Siri-Vīrapurisadatta, granddaughter-in-law of Great King Lord Siri-Cāntamūla, sacrificer of the Aśvamedha, giver of many ten million (pieces of) gold, of a hundred thousand cows and a hundred thousand plows (of land) — who deceased (lit. went to the heavens, svargagata) in the eleventh — 11th — year, in the first — 1st — fortnight of the rainy season, on the eighth — 8th — day.

Commentary

The occurrence of geminate consonants tt and kk in this inscription is very unusual for the Nagarjunakonda corpus.

(5) vāsiṭhīputtasa1

(5) °ikhākunaṁ2

Bibliography

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

Secondary

No name. N.d. Indian Archaeology: a review. New Delhi: Archaeological Survey of India. Pages 1955–56: 24.

No name. 1887–. Annual report on Indian epigraphy. Madras; Calcutta; New Delhi: Government of Madras; Archaeological Survey of India. Pages 1956–57: no. B.26.

Srinivasan1979a

Settar1982b

Tsukamoto1996

Raghunath2001

Soundara_Rajan2006

Notes

  1. 1. Seeing as the king is said to be the son of a lady of the Vāsiṣṭha gotra, whereas the woman in question is explicitly stated to be bahaphalasagotā, Sircard states that “[i]t is thus clear that the Śaka princess Varmabhaṭā was a step-mother of the king and not his real mother”. Trautmann approves of this argument, citing use of mātā to refer to multiple women in relation to Cāntamūla in his memorial pillar inscription (EIAD 30) as supporting evidence. On the Br̥hatphalagotra, see EIAD 172.
  2. 2. the °i has a very unusual cursive shape.