Supia Pillar Inscription of the Time of Skandagupta

Author of digital edition: Dániel Balogh (daba).

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

Repository: SIDDHAM (siddham).

Identifier: DHARMA_INSSiddham00037.

File path: XML-Provisional/DHARMA_INSSiddham00037.xml.

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

Edition

⟨1⟩ (śrī)-ghaṭ(o)tkaca⟨ḥ⟩⟨.⟩ tad-va¿n?śe prava[rttamā?] ⟨2⟩ (ne) mahāra(rā)ja-śrī-samu(dragu)pta⟨ḥ⟩⟨.⟩ ta(t-pu) ⟨3⟩ (tra)⟨ḥ⟩ śrī-vikkramā(ditya)⟨ḥ⟩⟨.⟩ ta(tputra)⟨ḥ⟩ mahārā[ja] ⟨4⟩ -(śrī)-mahe(ndrāditya)⟨ḥ⟩⟨.⟩ tasya (pu)tra⟨ḥ⟩ cakkra-(va) ⟨5⟩ (rtti)-tu(lyo) (mahā)-bala-vikkrameṇa r(āma) ⟨6⟩ -(tu)lyo dha(rmma)-pa(ra)tayā yudhiṣṭira sa(tye) ⟨7⟩ n(ā)c(ā)ravi(naya) mahārāja-śrī-ska(nda) ⟨8⟩ guptasya rājya-(samva)tsara-śate Eka ⟨9⟩ -catvāri(nśotta)rake(asyāṁ) divasa-pū ⟨10⟩ rvvāyā¿ṁ? Avaḍara-vāstavya-kuṭumbi[kaḥ] ⟨11⟩ kaivartti-śreṣṭhi-¿naptr̥? hari-śreṣṭhi-pu(tra)⟨ḥ⟩ śrīda ⟨12⟩ (tta)⟨ḥ⟩⟨.⟩ tad-¿bhrātr̥? vargga⟨ḥ⟩⟨.⟩ ta(d-bhrā)¿ta? ¿ccha?ndaka [***] ⟨.⟩ ⟨13⟩ sva-puṇy-āpyāyan-ārthaṁ yaśaḥ-kī ⟨14⟩ (rtti)-pravardhamāna-gottra-śailikā bala-ya ⟨15⟩ ¿ṣṭhi? pratiṣṭhāpitā vargga-grāmikeṇa ⟨16⟩ ¿je?ṣṭha-māse śukla-pakṣasya dvitī ⟨17⟩ (yāyāṁ) ti(thau)

Bibliography

First noticed and described in Chhabra 1948. Mentioned in Sircar 1949, p. 6. Edited in Sircar [1963] 1959–1960, pp. 306–308. There is an editorial note in Bhandarkar et al. 1981, n. 317, p. 5 saying “D. R. Bhandarkar’s manuscript does not contain his article on this inscription though he was aware of its discovery and possessed an impression of it.” Thus I suppose the edition in Bhandarkar et al. 1981 is Chhabra’s and/or Gai’s.

Originally encoded for Siddham in the project Beyond Boundaries (Grant Agreement No. 609823) by Dániel Balogh (2019, № IN00037). 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 32.

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 26A.

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 34.

Goyal, Śrīrām. 1993. गुप्तकालीन अभिलेख/Guptakālīna Abhilekha (Inscriptions of the Gupta Age). Jodhpur: Kusumanjali Prakashan. Items 256-259.

Display Options Word Wrap Line Numbers Comments Processing Instructions

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<p>Encoded in TEI/EpiDoc according to the <ref target="https://hal.science/halshs-02888186">DHARMA Encoding Guide for Documentary Editions, version 2</ref></p>

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<change who="part:daba" when="2023-05-15" status="draft">Additional global changes for compatibility with DHARMA</change>

<change who="part:axja" when="2021-07-06" status="draft">Updating toward the encoding template v03</change>

<change who="part:daba" when="2020-08-04" status="draft">Initial import: harmonising file structure with DHARMA inscription template v02. Text and comments as inherited from the Siddham archive of January 2019, unless otherwise indicated (by a name and date in the comment). Comments are offered "as is" and do not represent a thoroughly considered or researched opinion.</change>

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<p><lb n="1"/><unclear>śrī</unclear>-ghaṭ<unclear>o</unclear>tkaca<supplied reason="omitted">ḥ</supplied><supplied reason="subaudible">.</supplied> tad-va<sic>n</sic>śe prava<supplied reason="lost" cert="low">rttamā</supplied><lb n="2" break="no"/><unclear>ne</unclear> mahāra<unclear>rā</unclear>ja-śrī-samu<unclear>dragu</unclear>pta<supplied reason="omitted">ḥ</supplied><supplied reason="subaudible">.</supplied> ta<unclear>t-pu</unclear><lb n="3" break="no"/><unclear>tra</unclear><supplied reason="omitted">ḥ</supplied> śrī-vikkramā<unclear>ditya</unclear><supplied reason="omitted">ḥ</supplied><supplied reason="subaudible">.</supplied> ta<unclear>tputra</unclear><supplied reason="omitted">ḥ</supplied> mahārā<supplied reason="lost">ja</supplied><lb n="4" break="no"/>-<unclear>śrī</unclear>-mahe<unclear>ndrāditya</unclear><supplied reason="omitted">ḥ</supplied><supplied reason="subaudible">.</supplied> tasya <unclear>pu</unclear>tra<supplied reason="omitted">ḥ</supplied> cakkra-<unclear>va</unclear><lb n="5" break="no"/><unclear>rtti</unclear>-tu<unclear>lyo</unclear> <unclear>mahā</unclear>-bala-vikkrameṇa r<unclear>āma</unclear><lb n="6" break="no"/>-<unclear>tu</unclear>lyo dha<unclear>rmma</unclear>-pa<unclear>ra</unclear>tayā yudhiṣṭira sa<unclear>tye</unclear><lb n="7" break="no"/>n<unclear>ā</unclear>c<unclear>ā</unclear>ravi<unclear>naya</unclear> mahārāja-śrī-ska<unclear>nda</unclear><lb n="8" break="no"/>guptasya rājya-<unclear>samva</unclear>tsara-śate Eka<lb n="9" break="no"/>-catvāri<unclear>nśotta</unclear>rake <!--

Bhandarkar suggests pravarttamāne or pravarddhamāne to restore the lacuna in line 1, but also notes that the damaged letter at the beginning of l2 looks more like nāṁ.

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In line 6, understand yudhiṣṭhira-tulyaḥ.

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In 6-7, understand satyenācāravinayaiḥ or better, satyācāravinayaiḥ (although this still looks garbled; if Ācāravinaya were a name, then the pattern would remain intact.

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In line 8, understand °guptaḥ| tasya.

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In line 9, understand catvāriṁśaduttarake

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<p><unclear>asyāṁ</unclear> divasa-pū<lb n="10" break="no"/>rvvāyā<sic>ṁ</sic> Avaḍara-vāstavya-kuṭumbi<supplied reason="lost">kaḥ</supplied> <lb n="11"/>kaivartti-śreṣṭhi-<choice><sic>naptr̥</sic><corr>naptā</corr></choice> hari-śreṣṭhi-pu<unclear>tra</unclear><supplied reason="omitted">ḥ</supplied> śrīda<lb n="12" break="no"/><unclear>tta</unclear><supplied reason="omitted">ḥ</supplied><supplied reason="subaudible">.</supplied> tad-<choice><sic>bhrātr̥</sic><corr>bhrātā</corr></choice> vargga<supplied reason="omitted">ḥ</supplied><supplied reason="subaudible">.</supplied> ta<unclear>d-bhrā</unclear><choice><sic>ta</sic><corr>tā</corr></choice> <choice><sic>ccha</sic><corr>cha</corr></choice>ndaka <gap reason="illegible" precision="low" quantity="3" unit="character"/> <supplied reason="subaudible">.</supplied> <lb n="13"/>sva-puṇy-āpyāyan-ārthaṁ yaśaḥ-kī<lb n="14" break="no"/><unclear>rtti</unclear>-pravardhamāna-gottra-śailikā bala-ya<lb n="15" break="no"/><choice><sic>ṣṭhi</sic><corr>ṣṭiḥ</corr></choice> pratiṣṭhāpitā vargga-grāmikeṇa<lb n="16"/><choice><sic>je</sic><corr>jye</corr></choice>ṣṭha-māse śukla-pakṣasya dvitī<lb n="17" break="no"/><unclear>yāyāṁ</unclear> ti<unclear>thau</unclear><!--

Sircar restores the end of line 12 as chandakaś ceti. Bhandarkar (1981:319n1) remarks that there are three letters, most likely śalavyāṁ, probably a place name. Agrawala, however, thinks the most likely restoration is tadbhrātuś cchandakabhadrasya. In line 14, both Bhandarkar and Agrawala print pravardha[#ya]māna. There is certainly nothing like ya there, so apparently they want to emend the text to pravardhayamāna. I think that would be rather awkward and leave the text as it is; if we emend, then maybe we should be bolder and emend to pravardhanāya. Agrawala (1983:66n10) opines that balayaṣṭi means "a memorial pillar raised over a spot that enshrined the remains of the deceased" because bala is attested as meaning "enclosure," therefore "cavern, cave." Agrawala also adds that traces of a few more akṣaras after tithau at the end are visible, probably giving the date in numerals.

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<p>First noticed and described in <bibl><ptr target="bib:Chhabra1948_02"/></bibl>. Mentioned in <bibl><ptr target="bib:Sircar1949_01"/><citedRange>6</citedRange></bibl>. Edited in <bibl><ptr target="bib:Sircar1959-1960_07"/><citedRange>306-308</citedRange></bibl>. There is an editorial note in <bibl><ptr target="bib:Bhandarkar1981_01"/><citedRange unit="note">317</citedRange><citedRange>5</citedRange></bibl> saying “D. R. Bhandarkar’s manuscript does not contain his article on this inscription though he was aware of its discovery and possessed an impression of it.” Thus I suppose the edition in <bibl><ptr target="bib:Bhandarkar1981_01"/></bibl> is Chhabra’s and/or Gai’s.</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">IN00037</citedRange></bibl>). Encoding updated to DHARMA conventions by Dániel Balogh.</p>

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