EIAD 259, fragment from the Amaravati stūpa

Authors of digital edition: Arlo Griffiths (argr), Vincent Tournier (vito).

Palaeographic description: Lettering compatible with a dating to the 3rd century CE.

Language: Middle Indo-Aryan (pra) [Southern Brāhmī (other) (brāhmī_southern_other)].

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

Identifier: DHARMA_INSEIAD00259.

File path: texts/xml/DHARMA_INSEIAD00259.xml.

Version: 2026-05-06 08:36 (906f5ff), last modified 2026-05-03 22:11 (659910f).

Edition

⟨1⟩ […][*](ta)yasa cetiya(ṁ) madhā vetika ca pa[ṭa][…]

Apparatus

⟨1⟩ [1×](ti)yasa ⬦ yasa C S. — ⟨1⟩ cetiya(ṁ) ⬦ cetiya C; ceti(ya) S. — ⟨1⟩ madhā ⬦ madhā C; (ma)dhā S • The meaning of this word is unclear at the moment, and the reading is not entirely certain. Chanda 1919–1920 suggests it stands for Skt. madhya, but one would rather expect majha. A possible alternative would be medhi/medhī, meaning a pillar (Rhys Davids and Stede 1921–1925, s.v. medhi) or a concentric gallery of a stūpa (Edgerton 1953, s.v.). As far as we know, this term is however not attested in the epigraphic corpus. — ⟨1⟩ ca pa[ṭa] ⬦ ca(pa) C; capa S • The term paṭa was likely followed by deyadhama. This reconstruction is supported by EIAD 274.

Translation

[Pious gift] of a madhā and a vedikā slab for the Shrine of …

Bibliography

This edition by Arlo Griffith and Vincent Tournier. Encoded in XML by Fu Fan in March 2025.

Primary

[C] Chanda, Rama Prasad. 1919–1920. “Some unpublished Amaravati inscriptions.” EI 15, pp. 258–275. Page 268, item 29.

[S] Sivaramamurti, C. 1942. Amaravati sculptures in the Madras Government Museum. Reprints 1956, 1977, etc. Bulletin of the Madras Government Museum New Series, General Section, 4. Madras: Government Museum. [URL]. Page 270, items IV G, 17, page 304, item 125.

Secondary

Tsukamoto Keishō 塚本啓祥. 1996. インド仏教碑銘の研究 I, Text, Note, 和訳 Indo Bukkyō himei no kenkyū I: Text, Note, Wayaku [A comprehensive study of the Indian Buddhist inscriptions, Part I: Text, Notes and Japanese Translation]. Kyōto-shi 京都市: Heirakuji Shoten 平楽寺書店. Page 222, item Amar 7.

ARIE 1912–13. G.O. No. 961, 2nd August 1913. Epigraphy. Recording the progress report of the Assistant Archaeological Superintendent for [Epigraphy], Southern Circle, for the year 1912-1913. Edited by H. Krishna Sastri. No place, 1913. Item B.498.

Francis, N. J. 2016. A source book of the early Buddhist inscriptions of Amarāvatī. Golden jubilee series. Shimla: Indian Institute of Advanced Study. Page 86, item 90.

Display Options Word Wrap Line Numbers Comments Processing Instructions

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