EIAD 457. Pillar fragment from the Amaravati stūpa

Authors of digital edition: Ingo Strauch, Vincent Tournier (vito), Fu Fan (fufa).

Palaeographic description: Lettering compatible with a dating to the 1st–2nd centuries BCE.

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

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

Identifier: DHARMA_INSEIAD00457.

File path: texts/xml/DHARMA_INSEIAD00457.xml.

Version: 2026-07-17 15:34 (ce35bbc), last modified 2026-07-17 15:34 (ce35bbc).

Edition

⟨1⟩ cāpālacetiye māro yācate Osacit(u)

Apparatus

⟨1⟩ cāpālacetiye ⬦ cāpālacetiya G&S. — ⟨1⟩ yācate Osacit(u) ⬦ yācate osaṭhita G&S • Ghosh & Sarkar 1964–1965 suggest reconstructing osaṭhiti, but the proposed reading as an infinitive form makes better sense. We indeed understand osacitu as standing for osajjitu⟨ṁ⟩ (Skt. ava√sṛj). The intervocalic evolution ja > ca is attested elsewhere in the corpus, see for instance EIAD 319, pavaci[ta] (Skt. pravrajita). Likewise, EIAD 394 has the feminine pavacitāyā.

Translation

“At the Cāpāla shrine, Māra requests ⟨the Buddha⟩ to relinquish ⟨his vital compositions⟩.”

Bibliography

This edition by Ingo Strauch and Vincent Tournier. Encoded in XML by Fu Fan in November 2025.

Primary

[G&S] Ghosh, A. & H. Sarkar. 1964–1965. “Beginnings of sculptural art in south-east India: A stele from Amaravati.” AI 20 & 21, pp. 168–177. Page 171, item B, plate XLIII.

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. Item Amar 206.

ARIE 1959–60. Annual report on Indian epigraphy for 1959-60. Edited by Dines Chandra Sircar. Delhi: Manager of Publications (Department of Archaeology), 1963. Item B.57 (B).

Ghosh, A. 1979. “The early phase of the Stupa at Amaravati, South-East India.” Ancient Ceylon — Journal of the Archaeological Survey Department of Sri Lanka 3, pp. 97–103. Page 103, item 41.

[S] Sarma, I. Karthikeya. 1985. “Early sculptures and epigraphs from South-East India: New evidence from Amarāvatī.” In: Indian epigraphy: Its bearing on the history of art. Edited by Frederick M. Asher & Govind Swamirao Gai. New Delhi: Oxford & IBH; American Institute of Indian Studies, pp. 15–24. Pages 19–20, plate 26.

Gupta, S. S. 2008. Sculptures and antiquities in the Archaeological Museum, Amarāvatī. New Delhi: D.K. Printworld. Pages 47–48, item 273, figure XV(c).

Display Options Word Wrap Line Numbers Comments Processing Instructions

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