Karamdanda Liṅga of the Time of Kumāragupta I

Author of digital edition: Dániel Balogh (daba).

Language: Sanskrit (san) [Southern Brāhmī (unspecified) (brāhmī_southern_unspecified)].

Repository: SIDDHAM (siddham).

Identifier: DHARMA_INSSiddham00025.

File path: XML-Provisional/DHARMA_INSSiddham00025.xml.

Version: 2026-09-16 10:40 (3083d2d), last modified 2026-09-16 09:24 (c200993).

Edition

⟨1⟩ namo mahādevāya| ma(hārājādhirāja-śrī-ca)[ndragupta-pādā]-
⟨2⟩ nudhyātasya catu¿dhu?dadhi-salilāsvādita-ya[śaso mahārājā]-
⟨3⟩ dhirāja-śrī-kumāraguptasya vijaya-rājya-saṁvatsara-(śa)[te] saptadaśo(ttare)
⟨4⟩ kārttika-māsa-daśama-divase syā¿n? divasa-pūrvvāyāṁ cchand(ogyācāryyā)śvavāji-
⟨5⟩ -sagottra-kuram(ā)ra(v/ṇ)ya-bhaṭṭasya putro viṣṇupālita-bhaṭṭas tasya putro mahārā-
⟨6⟩ ¿jadhijājā?-śrī-candraguptasya mantrī kumārāmātyaś śikharasvāmy abhūt tasya putraḥ
⟨7⟩ pr̥thivīṣeṇo mahārājādhirāja-śrī-kumāraguptasya mantrī kumārāmātyo na-
⟨8⟩ ntaraṁ ca mahābalādhikr̥taḥ bhagavato mahādevasya pr̥thivīśvara Ity evaṁ samākhyātasy¿a?-
⟨9⟩ syaiva bhagavato yathā-karttavya-dhārmmika-karmmaṇā pāda-śuśrūṣaṇāya bhagavac-chai-
⟨10⟩ leśvara-svāmi-mahādeva-pāda-mūle Āyodhyaka-nānā-gottra-caraṇa-tapaḥ-
⟨11⟩ -svādh[y]āya-[mantra-sū?]t[r]a-bhāṣ(ya)-(p?)[ravacana-pāraga?] [**] [.]i [*] (s)[.](s)[.]d[.] d(e)vad(r)oṇ[y](āṁ)

Bibliography

First noticed in 1908 by Kunwar Kamta Prasad, Collector of Faizabad (says Bhandarkar et al. 1981, p. 280 and Konow 1909–1910, p. 70 - but neither gives any reference to a publication). Summary of contents in Vogel 1908, p. 23, 39. First edited in Bandyopādhyāya 1909, pp. 457–459, re-edited in Konow 1909–1910.

Originally encoded for Siddham in the project Beyond Boundaries (Grant Agreement No. 609823) by Dániel Balogh (2019, № IN00025). Encoding updated to DHARMA conventions by Dániel Balogh.

Secondary

Bhandarkar, Devadatta Ramakrishna, Bahadur Chand Chhabra & Govind Swamirao Gai. 1981. Inscriptions of the early Gupta kings. Corpus inscriptionum indicarum 3, revised edition. New Delhi: Archaeological survey of India. Item 21.

Bhandarkar, Devadatta Ramakrishna. 1927–1936. A list of the inscriptions of northern India in Brahmi and its derivative scripts, from about 200 A. C.: Appendix to Epigraphia Indica and record of the Archaeological Survey of India, volumes XIX to XXIII. Calcutta: Archaeological Survey of India. [URL]. Item 1270.

Sircar, Dines Chandra. 1965. Select inscriptions bearing on Indian history and civilization. Volume I: from the sixth century B.C. to the sixth century A.D. 2nd edition revised and enlarged. Calcutta: University of Calcutta. Book III, item 17.

Agrawala, Prithvi Kumar. 1983. Imperial Gupta Epigraphs (गुप्ताधिराजलेखमण्डल). Ancient Indian Epigraphical Sources (प्रत्नाभिलेखसंहिता) 10, pt. 1 / 2. Varanasi: Books Asia, Distributed by Prithvi Prakashan. Item 25.

Goyal, Śrīrām. 1993. गुप्तकालीन अभिलेख/Guptakālīna Abhilekha (Inscriptions of the Gupta Age). Jodhpur: Kusumanjali Prakashan. Items 162-165.

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<p><lb n="1"/>namo mahādevāya|</p><!--

The punctuation mark is "expressed by a curve" according to Bhandarkar (1981:281n3). It is very unclear on the facsimiles I have, but may look like a question mark without a dot.

--><p>ma<unclear>hārājādhirāja-śrī-ca</unclear><supplied reason="lost">ndragupta-pādā</supplied><lb n="2" break="no"/>nudhyātasya catu<choice><sic>dhu</sic><corr>r-u</corr></choice>dadhi-salilāsvādita-ya<supplied reason="lost">śaso mahārājā</supplied><lb n="3" break="no"/>dhirāja-śrī-kumāraguptasya vijaya-rājya-saṁvatsara-<unclear>śa</unclear><supplied reason="lost">te</supplied> saptadaśo<unclear>ttare</unclear> <lb n="4"/>kārttika-māsa-daśama-divase syā<sic>n</sic> divasa-pūrvvāyāṁ cchand<unclear>ogyācāryyā</unclear>śvavāji<lb n="5" break="no"/>-sagottra-kuram<unclear>ā</unclear>ra<choice><unclear>v</unclear><unclear>ṇ</unclear></choice>ya-bhaṭṭasya putro viṣṇupālita-bhaṭṭas tasya putro mahārā<lb n="6" break="no"/><choice><sic>jadhijājā</sic><corr>jādhirāja</corr></choice>-śrī-candraguptasya mantrī kumārāmātyaś śikharasvāmy abhūt tasya putraḥ <lb n="7"/>pr̥thivīṣeṇo mahārājādhirāja-śrī-kumāraguptasya mantrī kumārāmātyo na<lb n="8" break="no"/>ntaraṁ ca mahābalādhikr̥taḥ bhagavato mahādevasya pr̥thivīśvara Ity evaṁ samākhyātasy<choice><sic>a</sic><corr>ā</corr></choice><lb n="9" break="no"/>syaiva bhagavato yathā-karttavya-dhārmmika-karmmaṇā pāda-śuśrūṣaṇāya bhagavac-chai<lb n="10" break="no"/>leśvara-svāmi-mahādeva-pāda-mūle Āyodhyaka-nānā-gottra-caraṇa-tapaḥ<lb n="11" break="no"/>-svādh<supplied reason="lost">y</supplied>āya-<supplied reason="lost" cert="low">mantra-sū</supplied>t<supplied reason="lost">r</supplied>a-bhāṣ<unclear>ya</unclear>-<unclear cert="low">p</unclear><supplied reason="lost" cert="low">ravacana-pāraga</supplied> <gap reason="illegible" quantity="2" unit="character"/> <seg type="component" subtype="consonant"><gap reason="illegible" quantity="1" unit="component"/></seg>i <gap reason="illegible" quantity="1" unit="character"/> <unclear>s</unclear><seg type="component" subtype="vowel"><gap reason="illegible" quantity="1" unit="component"/></seg><unclear>s</unclear><seg type="component" subtype="vowel"><gap reason="illegible" quantity="1" unit="component"/></seg>d<seg type="component" subtype="vowel"><gap reason="illegible" quantity="1" unit="component"/></seg> d<unclear>e</unclear>vad<unclear>r</unclear>oṇ<supplied reason="lost">y</supplied><unclear>āṁ</unclear><!--

Bhandarkar (1981:282n4) dismisses Konow's reading of mantrī in lines 6 and 7 and asserts that the correct reading is mantri. The diacritic is in fact different from both the standard i and the standard ī of the inscription, being a horizontally mirrored version of ī. My impression is that it resembles ī more than it does i, and in any case śrī in line 7 is inscribed with an identical diacritic, so my vote is for ī.

--><!--

As Bhandarkar (1981:282n6) points out, the erroneous sya at the end of l8 is followed by a horizontal strike at the height of the top of the character, "perhaps placed there wrongly instead of being placed vertically as a top mātrā." I might add that this sya extends beyond the right margin observed in the other lines, so we probably have eyeskip here: samākhyāta/syaiva was first inscribed, and then corrected by the addition of sy(ā) at the end of l7. A less likely scenario would be that samākhyātasyaiva is the intended reading, and the engraver began syai at the end of l7, then decided it was outside the margin, marked it for deletion with the horizontal stroke and re-inscribed it at the beginning of l8. However, asyaiva bhagavato seems to make good sense, referring to the liṅga on which the inscription is placed.

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<p>First noticed in 1908 by Kunwar Kamta Prasad, Collector of Faizabad (says <bibl><ptr target="bib:Bhandarkar1981_01"/><citedRange>280</citedRange></bibl> and <bibl><ptr target="bib:Konow1909-1910_01"/><citedRange>70</citedRange></bibl> - but neither gives any reference to a publication). Summary of contents in <bibl><ptr target="bib:Vogel1908_01"/><citedRange>23</citedRange></bibl>, 39. First edited in <bibl><ptr target="bib:Bandyopadhyaya1909_01"/><citedRange>457-459</citedRange></bibl>, re-edited in <bibl><ptr target="bib:Konow1909-1910_01"/></bibl>.</p>

<p>Originally encoded for Siddham in the project Beyond Boundaries (Grant Agreement No. 609823) by Dániel Balogh (<bibl rend="omitname"><ptr target="bib:Balogh2019_03"/><citedRange unit="item">IN00025</citedRange></bibl>). Encoding updated to DHARMA conventions by Dániel Balogh.</p>

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