Eran Pillar Inscription of Goparāja

Alternative title: Eran Stone Pillar Inscription of Bhanugupta, year 191.

Author of digital edition: Dániel Balogh (daba).

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

Repository: SIDDHAM (siddham).

Identifier: DHARMA_INSSiddham00050.

File path: XML-Provisional/DHARMA_INSSiddham00050.xml.

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

Edition

⟨01⟩ (si)ddha(ṁ)
⟨1⟩ *saṁvatsara-śate Eka-navaty-uttare srāvaṇa-bahula-pakṣa-sap(t)amy(āṁ)
⟨2⟩ saṁvat 100 90 1 śrāvaṇa ba di 7|| (śulakkha?)-va¿ṅ?śād utpanno [**]
⟨3⟩ rājeti viśrutaḥ tasya puttro tivikkrānto nāmnā rājātha mādhavaḥ|| goparāja(ḥ)
⟨4⟩ sutas tasya śrīmān vikhyāta-pauruṣaḥ śarabharāja-dauhittraḥ sva-va¿ṅ?śa-tilako [dbhutaḥ?] [||]
⟨5⟩ śrī-bhānugupto jagati pravīro rājā mahān pārtha-samo ⟨’⟩tiśūraḥ tenātha sārddha¿n? tv iha gopar(ā)j(o)
⟨6⟩ m(i)t(t)rānu(v)[r̥]t(t)yā (ca kilā)nuyā(ta)ḥ|| kr̥tvā [ca] y(u)ddhaṁ sumahat-prak(ā)śaṁ svarggaṁ gato divya-(v)ar(e?)[ndra-kalpaḥ|]
⟨7⟩ bhaktānuraktā ca priyā ca kāntā bh(ā)r(yy)ā(va)lag(n)ānugatāg(n)i-r(ā)śi(M||)_(*)

Bibliography

First reported in Cunningham 1880, pp. 89–90. Edited in Fleet 1888. Summarised in Trivedi & Trivedi 2001, pp. 21–22 (No. 7). Further details about the support and its history in Mirashi 1955, pp. 605–608.

Originally encoded for Siddham in the project Beyond Boundaries (Grant Agreement No. 609823) by Dániel Balogh (2019, № IN00050). Encoding updated to DHARMA conventions by Dániel Balogh.

Secondary

Fleet, John Faithfull. 1888. Inscriptions of the early Gupta kings and their successors. First edition. Vol. 3. Corpus Inscriptionum Indicarum. Calcutta: Superintendent of Government Printing. Item 20.

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 43.

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 1290.

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 38.

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 59.

Goyal, Śrīrām. 1993. गुप्तकालीन अभिलेख/Guptakālīna Abhilekha (Inscriptions of the Gupta Age). Jodhpur: Kusumanjali Prakashan. Items 317-321.

Display Options Word Wrap Line Numbers Comments Processing Instructions

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<?xml-model href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/erc-dharma/project-documentation/master/schema/latest/DHARMA_Schema.rng" type="application/xml" schematypens="http://relaxng.org/ns/structure/1.0"?>

<?xml-model href="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/erc-dharma/project-documentation/master/schema/latest/DHARMA_SQF.sch" type="application/xml" schematypens="http://purl.oclc.org/dsdl/schematron"?>

<?xml-model href="https://epidoc.stoa.org/schema/latest/tei-epidoc.rng" schematypens="http://relaxng.org/ns/structure/1.0"?>

<?xml-model href="https://epidoc.stoa.org/schema/latest/tei-epidoc.rng" schematypens="http://purl.oclc.org/dsdl/schematron"?>

<title>Eran Pillar Inscription of Goparāja</title>

<title type="alt">Eran Stone Pillar Inscription of Bhanugupta, year 191</title>

<forename>Dániel</forename>

<surname>Balogh</surname>

</persName>

</respStmt>

<funder>European Research Council (ERC), grant agreement no 809994</funder>

</titleStmt>

<authority><ref target="https://dharmalekha.info">DHARMA</ref></authority>

<pubPlace>Berlin</pubPlace>

<idno type="filename">DHARMA_INSSiddham00050.xml</idno>

<!--

If this file is moved into a named DHARMA corpus, retain the Siddham identifier as <altIdentifier>

-->

</publicationStmt>

<repository>DHARMAbase</repository>

<idno/>

</msIdentifier>

</msContents>

<p/>

</handDesc>

</physDesc>

</msDesc>

</sourceDesc>

</fileDesc>

<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>

</encodingDesc>

<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>

</revisionDesc>

</teiHeader>

<body>

<ab><lb n="01"/><unclear>si</unclear>ddha<unclear>ṁ</unclear><!--

Not noted in editions I've consulted, but I think siddham is written in letters above the first line. ddha is clear; sa is conspicuous but indistinct; there may be an anusvāra or a small subscript m after it. However, the "dha" part of what I see as ddha may in fact be the anusvāra of saṁvat written as a circle, and the sa is very unclear, so perhaps these are just random cracks in the stone.

--><!--

A NOTE TO SELF: What if Goparāja was not a local ruler, but someone from Gwalior? Possibly ousted from there by Mihirakula?

--></ab>

<p><lb n="1"/><g ref="sym:unclassified" type="symbol">*</g><!--

The mangala symbol at the beginning seems to look like a bass clef or a mirrored C leaning to the right, with a serif at the top right and possibly a dot or some mark above. Editors transliterate it as oṁ. If I'm right that siddham is there in letters above the line, then oṁ is warranted.

-->saṁvatsara-śate Eka-navaty-uttare srāvaṇa-bahula-pakṣa-sap<unclear>t</unclear>amy<unclear>āṁ</unclear> <lb n="2"/>saṁvat <num value="191"><g type="numeral">100</g> <g type="numeral">90</g> 1</num> śrāvaṇa ba di <num value="7">7</num>||<!--

The punctuation sign, which Bhandarkar omits (a typographic error), is a double daṇḍa; the first of the pair has a hook at the top left.

--></p>

<l n="a"><unclear cert="low">śulakkha</unclear>-va<sic>ṅ</sic>śād utpanno</l>

<l n="b"><gap reason="illegible" quantity="2" unit="character"/> <lb n="3"/>rājeti viśrutaḥ<!--

Bhandarkar, whom I follow here, reads the dynasty name as śulakkha and shows no uncertainty in his reading. He theorises (1981:353n6) that they may be identical to the Śūlikas mentioned as vanquished by Īśānavarman of the Maukhari dynasty. Fleet reads #(?la)kṣa (taking this somehow to mean bahulapakṣa), while Sircar reads ##kla. Agrawala does not hazard a decision. Neither do I except to note that the k in ligature is quite certain; the character before it looks more like sa or ma than la to me, and the one before that looks like a ligature beginning with pa. There may be original punctuation at the end of this line, consisting of a single daṇḍa.

--></l>

<l n="c">tasya puttro tivikkrānto</l>

<l n="d">nāmnā rājātha mādhavaḥ||<!--

rājātha in fact looks more like rājārthta or suchlike.

--><!--

I cannot make out the original punctuation at the end (what I see may be the "go" of goparāja or a double daṇḍa with a hook to the left; subsequent characters are illegible on the facsimile), but both Bhandarkar and Agrawala print the daṇḍas as original.

--></l>

</lg>

<l n="a">goparāja<unclear>ḥ</unclear> <lb n="4"/>sutas tasya</l>

<l n="b">śrīmān vikhyāta-pauruṣaḥ</l>

<l n="c">śarabharāja-dauhittraḥ</l>

<l n="d">sva-va<sic>ṅ</sic>śa-tilako <supplied reason="lost" cert="low">dbhutaḥ</supplied> <supplied reason="lost">||</supplied><!--

for my dbhutaḥ at the end, Bhandarkar's conjecture is bhavad; Agrawala (following Fleet and perhaps Sircar too) offers dhunā. Neither seem very convincing to me based on the facsimile, and the first character looks very much like dbhu, though taḥ is not discernible.

--></l>

</lg>

<l n="a"><lb n="5"/>śrī-bhānugupto jagati pravīro</l>

<l n="b">rājā mahān pārtha-samo <supplied reason="subaudible">’</supplied>tiśūraḥ</l>

<l n="c">tenātha sārddha<sic>n</sic> tv iha gopar<unclear>ā</unclear>j<unclear>o</unclear></l>

<l n="d"><lb n="6"/>m<unclear>i</unclear>t<unclear>t</unclear>rānu<unclear>v</unclear><supplied reason="lost">r̥</supplied>t<unclear>t</unclear>yā <unclear>ca kilā</unclear>nuyā<unclear>ta</unclear>ḥ||<!--

Bhandarkar reads m(ai)ttrān udaśyācakitānuyātaḥ (eager to see a battle against the Maitrakas). He translates "following (him) [#anuyātaḥ] without fear [#acakita], having overtaken the Maittras" and offers no explanation for the awkward phrasing or for tena sārdham anuyātaḥ, which I find unlikely. Agrawala (following Sircar) has mittrānu(gatyena) kilānuyātaḥ. Fleet's uninterpreted reading is mittrānuvatyāra kilānuyātaḥ. I'm far from sure about my reading, but if I'm right, it seems that Goparāja actually fought _against_ Bhānugupta, who pretended to join Goparāja as a friend then attacked him (though this is pretty awkward too, sārdham just does not fit).

--><!--

The punctuation sign is a clear double daṇḍa with a hook at the top left.

--></l>

</lg>

<l n="a">kr̥tvā <supplied reason="lost">ca</supplied> y<unclear>u</unclear>ddhaṁ sumahat-prak<unclear>ā</unclear>śaṁ</l>

<l n="b">svarggaṁ gato divya-<unclear>v</unclear>ar<unclear cert="low">e</unclear><supplied reason="lost">ndra-kalpaḥ|</supplied><!--

Agrawala (Sircar?) reads/restores narendrakalpam.

--></l>

<l n="c"><lb n="7"/>bhaktānuraktā ca priyā ca kāntā<!--

Note the metrical licence of reading ca as light in spite of following pr. Muta cum liquida, a rare case. Bhandarkar's editor (1981:353n4) says this is covered by "the rule prahare vā" (presumably a typo for prahre vā), which allows a vowel to remain short before pra and hra; he does not name his authority.

--></l>

<l n="d">bh<unclear>ā</unclear>r<unclear>yy</unclear>ā<unclear>va</unclear>lag<unclear>n</unclear>ānugatāg<unclear>n</unclear>i-r<unclear>ā</unclear>śi<unclear>M||</unclear><space/><unclear><g ref="sym:unclassified" type="symbol">*</g></unclear><!--

Neither the final m nor the closing punctuation are clear in the facsimile. There may be an ornamental flower or box something after a space of one character.

--></l>

</lg>

</div>

<lem/>

</app>

</listApp>

</div>

</div>

</div>

<p>First reported in <bibl><ptr target="bib:Cunningham1880_01"/><citedRange>89-90</citedRange></bibl>. Edited in <bibl><ptr target="bib:Fleet1888_01"/></bibl>. Summarised in <bibl><ptr target="bib:Trivedi+Trivedi2001_01"/><citedRange>21-22</citedRange></bibl> (No. 7). Further details about the support and its history in <bibl><ptr target="bib:Mirashi1955_01"/><citedRange>605-608</citedRange></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">IN00050</citedRange></bibl>). Encoding updated to DHARMA conventions by Dániel Balogh.</p>

</listBibl>

</listBibl>

</div>

</body>

</text>

</TEI>